ISLAMABAD, Sep 1 (APP):The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has expressed great dismay at the continued targeting of journalists and media organizations in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) by the Indian authorities, as the website of The Kashmir Walla, an independent news outlet, was blocked and its office closed down recently.
According to the Kashmir media service, the APHC in a statement issued in Srinagar said press freedom has been completely eroded in Jammu Kashmir. Local newspapers and outlets are coerced and intimidated to become state mouthpieces. Even its press statements are not published anymore by local newspapers and outlets, it added.
It said that the archives of local news websites had disappeared, and articles and news items from these websites have been erased and deleted which is unbelievable. Such highhandedness is being completely ignored by the mainstream media in India and in the world press it is hardly highlighted, it is deplored.
The APHC appealed to the defenders of a free press in India and outside to take up this issue urgently to help restore the sanctity and freedom of the press in Jammu and Kashmir.
It also asked for the prevention of persecution and harassment of journalists and demanded the immediate release of detained journalists.