New Delhi: Threats, allegedly from the proscribed Lashkar-e-Toiba organisation, have led to five journalists based in Kashmir to resign from their jobs, reports say.
The Telegraph has reported that the threats were issued on a blog run purportedly by the LeT and its post-2019 offshoot, The Resistance Front.
Police have begun an investigation into the matter. Srinagar Police tweeted that a “direct threat letter” was issued by the bodies to journalists and reporters based in Kashmir.
Police have invoked section 13 of Unlawful Activities Protection Act along with sections 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 124A (Sedition) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
“We have rounded up suspects for being over ground workers (OGWs) of TRF. The detentions are not exactly linked to threats against media houses,” an officer told NDTV.
Telegraph has reported that while the blog itself cannot be accessed in Jammu and Kashmir, screengrabs of the purported letter published on the site was shared widely on social media.
In it, 21 owners, editors and reporters, mainly of three Srinagar-based organisations – the newspapers Greater Kashmir and Rising Kashmir and the news portal and social media TV channel Asian News Network – were mentioned, according to the report. The three are considered to be foremost among independent media houses in the region.
This story was originally published in thewire.in . Read the full story here
