New Delhi: The Wire has written to Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor (LG) Manoj Sinha objecting to his accusation that its Jammu and Kashmir correspondent Jehangir Ali is part of some so-called “separatist ecosystem”.
Ali had reported IAS officer Ashok Kumar Parmar’s allegations that the J&K administration under Sinha rejected the advice of the finance and law departments on the Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojna insurance scheme to amend a multi-crore contract midway to favour a private insurance company. He also filed a follow-up report which said that despite the J&K administration’s denial of the IAS officer’s claims, several questions about the insurance scheme remain.
At a public event in Jammu on October 14, as reported by the Daily Excelsior, Sinha “referred to a news item pertaining to AB-PMJAY Sehat Scheme and said writer of the article was himself an active part of separatist ecosystem.”
In the letter, The Wire‘s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan says the “baseless accusation” coming from the LG’s high office could have perilous consequences “for the journalist you are targeting and also for the media more broadly”.
“Among other things, it suggests a willingness on the part of your administration to interfere with freedom of expression and freedom of the press. A journalist has and exercises these rights not only in his or her personal capacity, but also because citizens at large have the right to information and a range of news and views,” the letter says.
This story was originally published in m.thewire.in. Read the full story here .
