On 8 July 1996, an Indian-backed counter-insurgency militia kidnapped and detained 19 journalists in Kashmir. The journalists, who were released unharmed that same evening, were held as hostages by the militia to secure a meeting with the editors of Kashmir’s leading newspapers. The 19 journalists were traveling together from Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, […]
On 8 July 1996, an Indian-backed counter-insurgency militia
kidnapped and detained 19 journalists in Kashmir. The journalists,
who were released unharmed that same evening, were held as
hostages by the militia to secure a meeting with the editors of
Kashmir’s leading newspapers. The 19 journalists were traveling
together from Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, to a press
conference called by the Muslim Mujahideen, one of several Indian-
backed militias in the region. They were intercepted at Anantnag,
a town 50 kilometres (35 miles) south of Srinagar, by gunmen of
another Indian-backed militia, the Jammu and Kashmir Ikhwan, and
taken to the nearby headquarters of Ikhwan commander Hilal Haider.
Haider segregated six journalists who worked for the Kashmiri
press: reporters Gulzar Ahmed and Abdul Qayoom of the Urdu daily
“Uqab”, Masood Ahmed of the Urdu daily “Wadi-ki-Awaz”, Shujaat
Bukhari of the English-language daily “Kashmir Times”, Zahoor
Shair of the Urdu daily “Al-Safa”, and photographer Maqbool Sahil
of the Urdu weekly “Chattan”. He said all six would be killed
unless the editors of Srinagar’s eight major daily newspapers
appeared before him by noon the following day. The eight editors
had disregarded a “ban” that Haider had ordered on their
newspapers the previous week for having given the Ikhwan
inadequate coverage. The editors, who were informed of the threat
by phone, said they would not heed the summons.
Haider told the other 13 journalists — mostly correspondents for
the Indian and international press — that they were free to
leave. The thirteen, however, insisted on staying until their
colleagues were released as well. Seven-and-a-half hours after the
abduction, and following protests to Indian authorities by
journalists in Srinagar, an elite commando unit known as the
Rashtriya Rifles intervened and secured the release of all 19
journalists.
A list of all nineteen journalists detained on 8 July by the Jammu
and Kashmir Ikhwan follows.
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Appeals To
His Excellency H.D. Deve Gowda
Prime Minister
South Block
New Delhi 110 011, India
Fax: +91 11 3016857His Excellency Indrajit Gupta
Minister of Home Affairs
Room 26, North Block
New Delhi 110 001, India
Fax: +91 11 3015750
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