Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Shehryar Khan Afridi has extolled the journalist fraternity of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir for their resilience and courage to speak truth to the power despite intimidations by the fascist Indian regime.

He was speaking to a group of journalists from IIOJ&K working in Pakistan. The Kashmiri media delegation comprised of Mohammad Ashraf Wani, Ghulam Nabi Baig, Rais Ahmed, Hilal Ahmed, Shabbir Hussain and Zahoor Ahmed Sofi.  

On the occasion he congratulated Kashmiri photo journalist Masrat Zahra for winning the prestigious Peter Mackler Award. He said although Indian regime has lodged a case under anti-terrorism charges against Masrat but the brave journalist has defied all odds to report and reflect the ground situation.

The Chairman also showered praises on other Kashmiri journalists including Mukhtar Khan, Dar Yasin and Channi Anand who won Pulitzer Award recently and said that while the world was acknowledging the work of the Kashmiri journalists, Indian regime was trying its best to gag the Kashmiri media to hide the war crimes being committed by Indian forces in the Occupied Kashmir.

He said that dozens of Kashmiri journalists have been summoned to police stations and criminal investigations department of the local police in a bid to harass them. He said that such attempts are not only designed to criminalize independent journalism but also seek to muzzle whatever remains of the freedom of the press in a besieged Kashmir.

He said that the First Information Reports (FIR) against journalists in Kashmir signal the authorities’ attempt to curb the right to freedom of expression.