|
|
|
|
Attacked
March 4
Aftab, ATTACKED
Al-Safa, ATTACKED
Uqab, ATTACKED
Armed men claiming to be members of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant group entered a printing plant owned by the Srinagar daily newspaper Aftab and ordered its operators to immediately cease printing Aftab and its fellow Urdu dailies Al-Safa and Uqab. Srinagar's press community responded with a solidarity strike that was lifted two days later, after Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leaders denied responsibility for the closure order. CPJ condemned the raid in a press release and called on the Indian government and separatist leaders to cooperate in identifying the assailants.
March 6
Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Pakistan Television (PTV), ATTACKED
Khayal, a correspondent for PTV, survived a grenade attack on his house in the Rawalpora area of Srinagar, Kashmir. Three unidentified armed men stormed Khayal's residential compound and ordered him to leave with them. He refused and went into the house, closing the door behind him. The assailants opened fire on the house and threw two grenades at the building before leaving the compound. One of the grenades exploded, damaging the house but causing no injuries. The following morning, police recovered and defused the second, undetonated grenade. Though police officials claimed unspecified Kashmiri separatists were responsible for the grenade attack, Khayal told colleagues that Rawalpora is heavily patrolled by Indian troops and would have been difficult for armed separatists to enter. CPJ condemned the attack in a press release and called on Indian authorities and separatist leaders to cooperate in identifying the responsible parties.
May 23
Tauseef Mustapha, Agence France-Presse (AFP), ATTACKED, HARASSED
Qaisar Mirza, Associated Press (AP), ATTACKED
Troops of the Border Security Force (BSF), a paramilitary group of the Indian army, beat AFP photographer Mustapha and AP correspondent Mirza while they were covering demonstrations against local elections in Baramulla, north of Srinagar, in the state of Kashmir. The troops smashed two of Mustapha's cameras and confiscated his film. Protestors called the elections an attempt by India to legitimize its claim to Kashmir.
May 30
Santosh Gupta, Hindustan Times, ATTACKED
Ravi Batra, Indian Express, ATTACKED
Ali Mohammad Sofi, Press Trust of India (PTI), ATTACKED
Shankar Chakraborti, Hindu, ATTACKED
Meraj-ud-din, Associated Press Television (APTV), ATTACKED
Prabhat Banber, Press Trust of India (PTI), ATTACKED
Six journalists: Gupta, a reporter for the Hindustan Times; Batra, a reporter for the Indian Express; Chakraborti, a reporter for the Hindu; Meraj-ud-din, a camera operator for APTV; and Banber and Sofi, both photographers for PTI were beaten by troops of the Border Security Force (BSF), a paramilitary group of the Indian army. The journalists were in Srinagar, Kashmir, covering demonstrations against local elections in Baramulla, a Kashmiri town north of Srinagar. Protesters called the elections an attempt by India to legitimize its claim to Kashmir. Sofi required two stitches in the head after being struck with a rifle butt. The journalists attempted to lodge a complaint with the election commissioner, but he refused to meet with them. In response, members of the media boycotted a press conference that evening by the State Chief Secretary of Kashmir.
August 1
Ashraf Shaban, Al-Safa, ATTACKED, THREATENED
Shaban, editor in chief of Al-Safa, an Urdu-language daily published in Kashmir, was abducted by three unidentified men--one armed with a pistol--from Al-Safa's Srinagar offices and forced into an auto-rickshaw taxi. Shaban was taken to a private residence in the town of Chadoora, about 12 kilometers (eight miles) north of Srinagar. For nearly 24 hours, Shaban's captors repeatedly beat him and threatened him with death. They released him at the insistence of a woman whom he suspected was the landlord of the house. He then made his way back to his office in Srinagar, where he fainted and was immediately taken to a local hospital. Doctors released him later that afternoon. Local journalists speculated that an Indian-backed militia may have been involved in the kidnapping, since the place where Shaban was detained is near the base camp of one such militia.
October 25
Isar Ahmed, BiTV, ATTACKED
Maya Mirchandani, New Delhi Television, ATTACKED
Renuki Puri, Indian Express, ATTACKED
Anil Sharma, Pioneer, ATTACKED
Ashutosh Gupta, Aaj Tak Television, ATTACKED
Other journalists, ATTACKED, HARASSED
Followers of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Kanshi Ram assaulted at least five journalists in front of Ram's home. The five were among a group of reporters who wanted to question Ram about what his party planned to do after elections for the assembly in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh proved inconclusive. An enraged Ram slapped Gupta, a correspondent for Aaj Tak Television, and called on his followers to beat and shoot the journalists. Ram's staff and security detail--which included plainclothes members of the Delhi police--immediately attacked the reporters. Two of them were severely beaten, including Gupta and BiTV correspondent Ahmed, who was hospitalized for chest injuries. Delhi Television correspondent Mirchandani, Indian Express photographer Puri, and Pioneer photographer Sharma were also assaulted. Police made no arrests, and the Home Ministry referred the matter to the Press Council of India, which has the authority to make only nonbinding recommendations. On Oct. 26, local journalists organized a march to the Home Ministry to protest the government's failure to take action in response to the assaults. Delhi police violently suppressed the procession. When the protesters overran barricades the officers had set up, police fired tear gas shells and used a water cannon to disperse them. Two days later, police arrested and briefly detained 300 journalists who were attempting to hold a related protest march from the Indian Newspapers Society building to Parliament House.
December 14
Mahanagar, ATTACKED
Nikhil Wagle, Mahanagar, HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION
Nishikant Bahaleroh, Mahanagar, IMPRISONED, HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION
Some 500 activists from the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena Party, which governs Maharashtra state, stormed the offices of the Marathi-language daily Mahanagar in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) after the paper published critical remarks by G. R. Khairnar, a former municipal commissioner, about Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray. While their fellow party members demonstrated outside, a number of activists entered the editorial office of Mahanagar through a rear window and disconnected phone lines, damaged office equipment, and attempted to set a fire. Six of the activists who broke into Mahanagar's office were arrested for causing a civil disturbance. All were released on bail. The police also registered charges against two editors of Mahanagar. On Dec. 18, the police charged Wagle, the paper's editor in chief, with defaming political leaders and causing civil unrest. Bahaleroh, an editor at Mahanagar, was charged on Dec. 20 with inciting civil unrest; he was held in jail for two days. Wagle said he viewed the charges merely as a form of harassment, and did not believe that either he or Bahaleroh would face trial.
For more information contact asiaweb@cpj.org