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Curbs on social media continue in Kashmir

NewsCurbs on social media continue in Kashmir

Srinagar: The Kashmir Press Club, the elected body of various journalist organisations in Kashmir, on Monday issued a statement inviting the attention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to journalists’ difficulties in discharging their professional duties from Kashmir. This fresh war of words between journalists and police was triggered by the arrest of a local journalist in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on the charge of misusing social media; the journalist was later released.

Police is facing a tough time dealing with the situation, as despite a ban on the use of social media in Kashmir, hundreds of youths are managing to upload videos and other material which has resulted in a lot of chaos on the streets of Kashmir. Police has booked such users under the stringent law of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to stop the use of VPNs by youths in Kashmir.

Authorities in Kashmir have decided to act tough against social media users who recently uploaded some videos, leading to rumours and chaos on the streets of Srinagar.

Internet curbs are continuing in Kashmir and Kashmir-based journalists are getting no respite from the government as one of the journalists was detained in South Kashmir and later released by police on the suspicion of uploading some material and videos on social media.

Kashmir Press Club in a fresh statement has appealed to Home Minister Amit Shah and the local administration to see for themselves the “appalling conditions under which the press in Kashmir is working since 5 August last year”.

The statement was issued after police raided the house of a local journalist, Kamran Yousuf in Pulwama district, and detained him for questioning for using social media in the recent past. Police said that Yousuf was detained for questioning and was later released on the same night. Yousuf told his colleagues that he was detained by police after raiding his home and police checked his phones and searched his house. He said that they were asking him about some Kamran Manzoor and suspected that he was handling that Twitter account.

Meanwhile, police in Jammu and Kashmir have decided to slap the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to register a case against people using social media through proxy servers by getting past Internet firewalls, set up by the authorities as they fear that the use of social media can create law and order problems in Kashmir.

The fears of the authorities stem from a recent video uploaded through proxy servers of ailing Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, leading to chaos and rumours on the streets of Srinagar.

Police immediately filed an FIR and issued a statement that Geelani was stable in the hospital. Police in a statement to media said: “The FIR has been registered while taking cognizance of social media posts by miscreants by use of different VPNs, which are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario of the Kashmir valley, propagating secessionist ideology.”

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