Police in India-occupied Kashmir have asked at least three journalists working in the region to sign a pledge committing not to “disturb peace,” according to two of the journalists who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday.
A third journalist, an assistant editor with The Indian Express, was summoned to a police station in Srinagar, the capital of the federally administered territory, but declined to sign the pledge, the newspaper reported.
Since India revoked the region’s constitutional autonomy in 2019, authorities have imposed wide-ranging restrictions, including tighter regulations governing media coverage and reporting in the territory.
A spokesperson for Srinagar police did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Indian Express, one of India’s leading newspapers, said its journalist was summoned by police on four occasions between January 15 and 19, and was formally asked to sign the pledge on January 16.
“He has not signed the bond as demanded by the police,” The Indian Express chief editor Raj Kamal Jha said. “The Indian Express is committed to taking all necessary steps to uphold and protect the rights and dignity of its journalists.”
Two other journalists told Reuters they had also received police summons. One was out of town at the time, while the other chose not to appear at the police station. Both declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
According to the journalists and The Indian Express, the summons followed reports that police in the region were seeking detailed information from mosques regarding their funding, management and budgets.
The Press Club of Kashmir, a journalists’ association, said in a statement on Tuesday that several of its members had either been summoned or warned by police to stop reporting on the profiling of religious institutions.
“Using police powers to summon journalists for their legitimate reporting reflects a broader pattern of intimidation against the media in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Kunal Majumder, coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Asia-Pacific Programme, a non-profit organisation that advocates for press freedom.