Press Statement

IJU condemns police attack on journalists in Sopore

06 May, 2017

The Indian Journalists Union strongly condemned the police attack on the journalists at Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. The police ruthlessly have beaten up journalists while they were covering protests after the Friday prayers in the town. The Station House Officer (SHO) of Sopore Mudasir Geelani reportedly led the police attack, in which the photojournalists of Varmul post Eeshan Peer and Mohd Younis of Gulistan were seriously injured.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) President S N Sinha, Secretary-General Amar Devulapalli, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Vice-President Sabina Inderjit and Press Council of India member K Amarnath said the repeated attacks on journalists covering the on-going volatile situation in Kashmir valley was a matter of deep concern to the working journalists in the country.

“We demand that those responsible for the attack on working in the state should be dealt with sternly. It should be noted that journalists in Kashmir valley are targets of attacks by the security forces and agitators. The journalists are discharging their duty of reflecting the ground situation which may not be palatable to either of the sides, thus becoming victims of violence from state and non-state players. The Union and state governments should take stern steps to prevent recurrence of such attacks,” the statement said.

The IJU leaders said they would be filing a complaint with the Press Council of India (PCI) to take suo motu cognisance of the incident and take appropriate action.