60 Days & Counting: Scribes Protest Communication Gag in Kashmir

They demanded that communication & internet connectivity be restored as the gag is not letting them do their job.

Kashmiri journalists stage silent protest against communication blockade in Kashmir. 

(Photo Courtesy: Masrat Jan)

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar

Kashmir’s journalists staged a silent protest on Thursday, 3 October, against the restrictions on communication and internet connectivity in the area since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.

Calling it a communication ‘gag’, journalists held placards that read, “Journalism is not a crime’ and ‘End communication blockade’.

They demanded that communication and internet connectivity be restored as the blockade is not letting them do their job.

“We are protesting the now over 60-day communication gag. We, journalists, are dependent on the government-run media centres to do our jobs.”

Quratulain Rehbar, Journalist 

Kashmiri journalists stage silent protest against communication blockade in Kashmir. 

Kashmiri journalist Quratulain Rehbar at the protest against communication blockade.

For the last two months, mobile phones and internet services have been shut down in the Valley. The government has said they have restored landline phones, however, there’s no information on when the mobile and internet services would be restored.

The government has set up a media centre with computers and only a few of them have internet connection. The journalists complain that it’s not enough for them to do their job.

Talking to The Quint Kashmiri journalist Rashid Maqbool said:

“There are some 200 local newspapers. Besides that, there are national as well as International journalists. Local video and photo journalists. With just eight compute systems available at the media centres, and limited internet facility how is it possible for so many to carry out their jobs?”

The government decided to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on 5 August.