US must stand up for free expression in IOK: CNN report
US must stand up for free expression in IOK: CNN report
UNITED STATES (Web Desk) – American news channel Cable News Network (CNN), in its report, has highlighted the plight of people living in curfew-hit occupied Kashmir and urged its government to stand up for free expression in the valley.
In the report, the channel mentioned, “Imagine for a moment that nearly all residents of the US state of Virginia -- population roughly 8.5 million -- were blocked from communicating with each other or the outside world. Imagine that their movements within their neighborhoods were highly restricted due to military-enforced curfews and checkpoints. And imagine they could not access reliable information because, due to the clampdown, journalists were largely prevented from reporting or publishing the news. This may sound like the plot of a dystopian novel, but it is almost exactly what’s happening in the Kashmir Valley right now.”
The communications blackout in Kashmir has accompanied the Indian government’s announcement of plans to revoke a constitutional provision that granted Jammu and Kashmir’s governing autonomy and change it from a state to a union territory, essentially bringing it under federal control. As a result of the blackout, many Kashmiris were kept in the dark about a major news story impacting their lives -- and unable to make their opinions known outside the borders of Kashmir -- leaving the rest of the world to debate the measures without insights from the people it would affect, the report added.
Fortunately, senior US officials will have a golden opportunity to address this human rights crisis this week when Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells visit India for diplomatic meetings. They must take advantage, the channel urged.
It further added, “The blackout has left the rest of the world in the dark, too. Human rights organizations trying to track potential violations have struggled to reach or maintain contact with local sources; the Committee to Protect Journalists has only been able to reach one source currently in the region, and international news organizations have had difficulty accessing Kashmir. Most information has come from journalists and others who have been able to leave.”
Kashmiris have displayed admirable courage in the face of this crisis, and their voices should be heard, the report concluded.
