Threats – Journalists

Separatists also attempt to intimidate the media in the Valley. Threats – subtle and some blatant, are issued to pressurise the media outlets to carry their statements. Intimidating messages are also sent to reporters who refuse to reveal their sources, and they are threatened with being blacklisted. There is a complete lack of accountability and non-state actors continue to pressurize the media with impunity. To cite only one example, in May 2018, Zakir Rashid Bhat aka ‘Zakir Musa’, self-styled leader of Al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind issued a threat to journalists who took photos of women who participated in funerals of militants. This threat gave a green signal to vigilantes and mobs to attack photojournalists.