**For background to recent incidents, see IFEX alert dated 21 July 1995** The CPJ recently called upon the organizational body of the Kashmir separation movement, the All-Party Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference (APHC), to condemn attacks on the press by militant groups, and to expel member parties whose militant allies continue to threaten journalists and news organizations. […]
**For background to recent incidents, see IFEX alert
dated 21 July 1995**
The CPJ recently called upon the organizational body of the
Kashmir separation movement, the All-Party Hurriyat (Freedom)
Conference (APHC), to condemn attacks on the press by militant
groups, and to expel member parties whose militant allies
continue to threaten journalists and news organizations.
Following the APHC condemnation of the murder of Norwegian
tourist Hans Christian Ostro by the militant group Al Faran, the
CPJ called for APHC to issue a statement condemning the frequent
attacks on journalists and news organizations in the Kashmir
Valley by other militant groups.
Since the armed uprising began in Kashmir in 1989, militant
groups have claimed responsibility for the killing of a news
reader for the state-run Radio Kashmir, and have been implicated
in the slayings of a prominent Kashmiri newspaper editor and of
the director of Srinagar’s television station. They have
periodically fired rockets at Srinagar’s broadcast media
facilities and have pressured most local radio and television
reporters into leaving the profession. In addition, they have
repeatedly forced the temporary closure of local newspapers for
refusing to carry their press statements or printing offending
statements by rival militias.
Many of the militant groups that have perpetrated these abuses
are aligned with political parties represented in the APHC.
While senior APHC leaders, on a number of occasions, have quietly
negotiated an end to conflicts between militant groups and the
local print media, the APHC has never issued a statement
categorically denouncing attacks on the press.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the leadership of the APHC:
non-combatants and expressing opposition to all attacks on the
media, print and broadcast alike
press by militant groups, and to expel member parties whose
militant allies continue to threaten journalists and news
organizations
Appeals To
His Excellency Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
Chairman
All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC)
Mirwaiz Manzil
Rajauri Kadal
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
