Inside Kashmir’s media crisis: The REAL story no one is talking about this election

In Srinagar, journalists often quip: there’s freedom of expression in Kashmir, but no freedom after expression.

It is a region long accustomed to restrictions, whether enforced through strikes, curfews, or the looming threat of militancy. Yet, today’s climate feels distinctly different.

During five days of conversations in and around the city, one theme recurs – a deep sense of suffocation after the centre’s August 5, 2019 decisions. And cautious phrases reveal the pervasive sense of fear.

“Yahan bolne ki azadi nahin hai (There’s no freedom to speak here).” “Bolenge toh phone aa jaega (If we speak, we’ll get a call).” “Humain raat ko ghar jana hai, Tihar nahin (We want to go home at night, not to jail).” Yahan ke journalist band hai… (So many journalists here are behind bars).”
And, most commonly: “Yahan sab theek hai (Everything is fine here).”

Unlike the slow erosion of press freedom in mainland India, the situation is far more severe in the valley. Here, journalists speak not of their craft but of surviving an interrogation by one or the other many agencies operating – being asked to come for police verification for the second time in a month, coerced into revealing sources, placed on no-fly lists, or having passports revoked. Some have been interrogated by counterinsurgency forces; others languish in jails under the Public Safety Act or anti-terror.

“Ground reporting in one way is criminalised,” said independent Anees Zargar.

The big challenge though of reporting on this intense scrutiny is the silence it breeds. Few journalists are willing to go on record, and fewer still offer specifics that could make them identifiable. This deliberate vagueness makes it harder to hold authorities accountable, leaving only the signs of a society slowly slicing itself apart.

Journalists are meant to be fearless and are protected by the Constitution of India. But when those protections fade, the impact ripples far beyond newsrooms. As one man noted, “If mainstream politicians can be jailed, if journalists can be arrested under harsh terror laws, what chance do we have?”

This is a familiar refrain across the valley: the jailing of mainstream Kashmiri politicians, activists, and journalists has delivered a clear message to the average Kashmiri – you’re nobody.

Watch the full story on the media crisis unfolding in the valley.

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