Journalists rally against Kashmir communications shutdown

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 28 August 2019

Pakistani journalists have staged a series of protests to demand an end to the persecution of local media in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The rallies — organized by IFJ affiliate the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) — condemned the Modi government in India for the communications blackout which has been imposed on the region since early August.

Up to 500 journalists from cities across the country staged several rallies, including at the Lahore Press Club and outside Parliament House in Islamabad in conjunction with the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ).

Speakers condemned the impact of the communications blackout on journalists’ ability to do their work and on media’s ability to publish or broadcast and thanked the IFJ for highlighting concerns over the persecution of local journalists and disinformation.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “The IFJ continues to call for the ending of the communications shutdown and for the right of all journalists to work free from threat and harassment”.— IFJ media release/Photo: AFP