He had left it shut for six years, but one cold morning in March 2021, Zubair (not his real name) finally decided to open his late father’s tailoring shop once again and restart the business. His father would have been pleased.
However, there was no joy in Zubair’s heart as he dusted off the sewing machines, wiped the floor, and painted the walls. “Giving up on your dream leaves you with intense feelings of regret and disappointment,” Zubair tells Asia Democracy Chronicles. “But when the obstacles that get in the way of your journey become insurmountable, you are left with no option.”
When he was in his 20s, Zubair had a burning ambition to become a well-known professional journalist. He underwent six months of training at Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, and upgraded his photography skills. In 2011, he began working as a freelancer with local news outlets.
“I always wanted to do something where I couldn’t only earn name and money, but help my own people,” says Zubair. “So I decided to take up journalism as my profession.”
He spent the next 10 years as a photojournalist, enjoying the job even though it was exhausting and sometimes even painful. He covered mostly human rights abuses and politics from South Kashmir districts, with many of his articles published by well-known media outlets such as The Guardian, Telegraph, and TRT World.
Now, however, Zubair is among the hundreds of journalists in Kashmir who have switched to other professions. Dozens of their colleagues meanwhile have moved to other places and scores of others have signed up for further studies.
As writing assignments dried up, journalist Zubair felt he had no choice but to shift from writing news reports to reopening his family’s tailoring shop in order to put food on the table. (Photos by Adil Kumar)
Turning point
The beginning of the end for many journalists in Kashmir came in August 2019, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party abrogated the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir and put the disputed region under six months of clampdown and communication blackout. With the intensified crackdown on media during the last few years, a lengthy internet shutdown in 2019, and frequent summoning and harassment of journalists by police, journalists in the Muslim-majority region have been forced to think about their safety and survival.
These developments moved even former Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to file a complaint with the Press Club of India (PCI) in September 2021, asking it to take note of the harassment of journalists in the region. In response, PCI constituted a team of three members who investigated Mufti’s claims; it came up with its fact-finding report in early March.
The report’s findings have been disheartening although unsurprising, revealing that the media in Kashmir are being choked slowly because of extensive curbs imposed by the local administration. The report says, for one, “There is a long list of journalists who have been individually harassed. The object is to create fear and intimidation to fall in with the government line.”
According to the PCI team, the local administration in Kashmir suspects journalists of being militant sympathizers and having anti-national persuasion. It adds, “Journalists in Kashmir function with a high level of stress and are constantly facing pressure, both from government agencies and police, as well as militants.”
The PCI report states that from 2016 till mid-October 2021, 49 cases were registered against journalists in Kashmir. Eight of these journalists were charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which allows detention for 180 days without trial. Seventeen journalists were charged with criminal intimidation, and 24 were charged with extortion and other crimes. The report also lists the ouster of journalists and news outlets from government-allotted accommodation, putting journalists on the no-fly list, and profiling journalists as among the various techniques the administration in Kashmir has adopted to put pressure on the local media.
Escalating state pressure on the media has even forced journalists to self-censor. In the region’s media circles, journalists, mostly freelancers, talk of how they refrain from doing stories that they fear will land them in trouble. But as the list of “taboo topics” grows, their wallets have become lighter. A Srinagar-based journalist admits to ADC: “It has become difficult for journalists in Kashmir to manage even basic family expenses.”
“The daily harassment of journalists has put pressure on our families,” the journalist also says. “They are worried for our safety and future. My parents often advise me to look for other opportunities.”
Harassed, imprisoned, killed
Journalists in Kashmir have been working on the razor’s edge since the armed insurgency broke out against Indian rule in the late 1980s. The disputed Himalayan region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan, is rife with stories of journalists being questioned, harassed, imprisoned, or killed. At least 20 have been killed by the parties to the conflict over the last three decades. Dozens have been detained and subjected to constant harassment.
Yet despite working in an extremely hostile environment, journalists have always shown courage and dedication to bringing out stories from Kashmir. India has stationed more than half a million soldiers in the region, making it one of the world’s most militarized zones.
But things just got worse. Since August 2019, authorities have adopted new ways to allow them to file criminal cases against journalists, as well as forced reporters and editors to reveal sources and subjected them to physical assault. Then in June 2021, the government announced a new media policy in Kashmir that empowers the authorities to decide what is “fake news, plagiarism, and unethical or anti-national activities” and to take punitive action against media outlets, journalists, and editors. According to Human Rights Watch, the policy contains vague and overbroad provisions that are open to abuse and could restrict and penalize legally protected speech.
In August 2020, a report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) revealed how detentions, legal cases, restrictions, direct and indirect intimidation, and dwindling advertisement revenues have placed pressure on Kashmiri media.
Nearly two years later, CPJ’s findings are being echoed by the PCI report, which notes that with the advertising revenues of local newspapers drying up, the news business in Kashmir is “hardly sustainable.” The Information Department of Kashmir had also told the PCI team that advertisements in 26 of the 259 publications in the Hindu majority Jammu region and 17 of the 166 publications in the Kashmir region have been suspended on “various grounds.”
With the news business in Kashmir dogged by diminishing viability, jobs in media have become insecure. One journalist says that he was fired three years ago by a local newspaper after it began experiencing financial instability due to the internet shutdown and lack of advertisements. “When trouble intensified, I was asked to leave the job for some time by my editors,” says the journalist who wishes to remain anonymous. “However, they never called me back.”
He says that media outlets have instead been hiring beginners on very low salaries. “Journalists in Kashmir have gotten frustrated because of the atmosphere of terror created by the state,” he says. “I take part in the family business and sometimes do freelance work.”
Zubair’s story
Zubair himself was beaten and abused when he was still a photojournalist. Sometimes paramilitary forces and other people of authority would also break his equipment. But he kept going because he knew he was good at his job and that what he was doing had a purpose. He admits that he did pause when his father suddenly passed away in 2015. Being the eldest, he had to assume the responsibility of looking after his entire family.
“The sudden death of my father stunned me,” recalls Zubair. “It was the first time I thought I should quit journalism because I had to play the role of breadwinner for my family.”
Yet he kept on and was often among the first journalists to reach sites of gun battles between armed rebels and the Indian military in South Kashmir. He says, “If any event would take place, we would go in a group to cover the incident. I would mostly cover live encounters. But all that is gone now.”
In August 2019, severe restrictions and a total communications blackout left hundreds of journalists like him jobless. After more than two months, mobile calling buzzed back to life, but the internet would not be restored for four more months. It was the longest ever internet shutdown in any democratic country.
There was a lone internet access point for journalists in Srinagar, but Zubair says that it was cumbersome for him to travel around 150 kms each way amid restrictions. He also had to spend around INR 500 (US$6.62) just to send story ideas to editors. “Life became difficult for me, especially for my family,” says Zubair. “All my savings went down to zero, and there was no possible way to resume work. That’s when I realized it would now be difficult to practice and even survive on journalism in Kashmir.”
He survived the clampdown by working as a laborer at construction sites. “I had to do something to feed my family and look after my elderly mother,” says Zubair, who got married in 2018.
Zubair resumed his journalistic work when the internet was restored. But when his daughter was born in 2020, he started to weigh his options. “I began thinking more on what would happen to my family if I would be arrested or booked under any law,” he says. “I finally decided to switch my profession.”
Having no expertise in tailoring, Zubair is collaborating with two professional tailors. For every suit they make, he gets INR 50 to INR 100 (US$0.66 to US$1.32). He says he spends his days at the shop learning tailoring.
Kashmiri journalists hold a protest rally in Srinagar in 2019 after they were barred from entering a venue where the Republic Day of India program was being held.
“I hardly earn INR 300 to INR 400 (US$3.97 to US$5.29) per day,” says Zubair. “But when you see your senior colleagues aren’t being spared despite massive international support, you become worried for yourself. Being the eldest and only income earner for your family places a double burden on you.”
Running the shop, though, has not quite satisfied his desire to help others. In 2021, when Kashmir was hit hard by COVID-19, Zubair joined a small local group of volunteers who dug graves and assisted families in burying their loved ones.
The number of new COVID-19 cases has gone down since in Kashmir, but Zubair still digs graves whenever someone dies in his locality. The money Zubair and his group earn is spent on people in need. “I do grave digging just to help my people when they are in trouble,” Zubair says. “It gives me satisfaction.”
He also remarks, “Journalists in Kashmir aren’t living. They are just surviving and breathing without any purpose.” ●
Adil Kumar is a Kashmir-based independent journalist.
