Police in Indian-administered Kashmir have “strongly objected” to an article published by the BBC on press freedom in the Muslim-majority region and threatened to take legal action for “unfairly castigating” its work.
The report by the British broadcaster, headlined “Any story could be your last” – India’s crackdown on Kashmir press, was published on Friday and highlights the case of several Kashmiri journalists incarcerated on “terrorism” charges, under which bail is difficult to get.
The report also documents the day-to-day harassment and intimidation other journalists have faced from security forces.
“The article unfairly castigates efforts of J&K Police in maintaining law and order and security in J&K as biased against journalists,” the Jammu and Kashmir Police said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The police force “condemned” the attempt by the BBC to misrepresent the situation on the ground, adding it maintains “the highest standards of professionalism”.
The yearlong investigation by the BBC was published just weeks after an independent Kashmiri news outlet, The Kashmir Walla, said Indian authorities had blocked access to its website.
This story was originally published in aljazeera.com. Read the full story here
