Police in occupied Kashmir have asked journalists to refrain from live coverage of gun battles with fighters opposing Indian rule in the region or protests, calling such reports a provocation amounting to interference in their duties. India has deployed tens of thousands of police and soldiers to keep the peace in the occupied region after revoking its constitutional autonomy in 2019 to weld the region more tightly to the country. In an order this week, the police chief in the occupied Kashmir Valley set out new guidelines for journalists covering the insurgency, in which fighters have targeted security forces. “Press freedom is the cornerstone of a democracy and any attack on it undermines the democratic setup of which media is the fourth pillar,” the Kashmir Press Club said in a statement. “Any such attack on press freedom and journalism is highly distressful.”

Source: Pakistan Today April 09, 2021 09:56 UTC