US-based scholars and activists have said that Kashmiri right defenders and journalists are being targeted for the bringing to light rights violations, a crackdown on ordinary freedoms of Kashmiris, and the fact that all is not hunky-dory in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Rohit Chopra, an associate professor at Santa Clara University in the US, in a media interview mentioned the arrest of Kashmiri journalist Irfan Meraj said his arrest is “another indication of the erosion of rights and democracy in India” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“Like all regimes that seek to consolidate power at the expense of rights, the Modi regime wishes to control the flow of information and censor stories of state repression and rights violations. Meraj’s deep understanding of Kashmiri society and his record of work challenges the official narratives about Kashmir trotted out by the government,” Chopra said.
With elections set for next year in India, “Modi is keen to project an image as a hypernationalist strong leader and immobilize any sources of criticism,” he added.
Daniel Bastard, head of the organization’s Asia-Pacific desk called Meraj “an experienced, respon-sible and careful reporter who has no place being in prison.”
“Special laws intended to combat terrorism should not be used to suppress the activities of jour-nalists,” he said.
Angana Chatterji, a University of California at Berkeley scholar who has long worked on Kashmir human rights issues, said, Meraj’s arrest “for his principled articulations is grievous”.
“The strategy of the Indian government to brand certain Kashmiri journalists and human rights de-fenders as agents of ‘terror’ is an assault on freedom of speech and seeks to effectively silence reportage on the egregious political violence and human rights abuses in Indian-administered Kashmir,” Chatterji told a US news agency.—KMS
