A public meeting on “media blackout and state repression in Kashmir” at the Gandhi Peace Foundation here on Wednesday was canceled following police intervention. The meeting was planned by various organizations under the banner of campaign against state repression.
In a letter, the Station House Officer (SHO) of IP Estate police station requested the foundation to cancel the booking of its venue for the event. “Information/local input has been received that some anonymous group is planning a public meeting on ‘Media Blackout in Kashmir’ on March 15, 2023 at 3 PM at Gandhi Peace Foundation. Attempts have been made to obtain details of the members of the unknown group but the same could not be confirmed,” the letter said.
It added that the police had received information about “disturbance in the law and order situation” in view of the holding of the meeting.
Delhi University professor Nandita Narayan, retired Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice Hussain Masood, CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, filmmaker Sanjay Kak, United Peace Alliance President Mir Shahid Saleem and senior journalist Anil Chamadia were among those who spoke at the event. ,
“This outrageous cancellation at the last minute serves to reinforce a widely known fact about the suppression of free speech, not just in Kashmir, but across India, including Delhi,” Ms. Narayan said. He said the police had earlier tried to cancel the Bharat Bachao event at HKS Surjit Bhawan on March 11 and 12, but the organizers had managed to get a court order allowing the event to be held.
Mr Kak said it was an obvious remark that a seminar on media blackout in Kashmir was canceled on the grounds that it could lead to a “law and order situation”. “It is through such authoritarian moves that the abject silence around the situation in Kashmir has been manufactured. This silence is not just a matter of stifling self-expression. It is fast strangling democracy.