Indian Kashmir police pressure journalists to sign ‘peace’ pledges, sparking censorship fears

Police in Indian Kashmir have asked at least three journalists working in the region to sign a pledge vowing ‌not to “disturb peace” in the region, two of them told Reuters on Wednesday.A third ‍journalist, an assistant editor with the Indian Express newspaper, was summoned to a police station in Srinagar, the capital of the federal territory, but did not sign the pledge, the newspaper said in a report published on Wednesday.India has imposed ⁠several restrictions in the troubled Muslim-majority region after revoking its constitutional autonomy in 2019, laying out rules for how the insurgency in the region is covered and reported.A spokesperson for Srinagar police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Indian Express, one of India’s most respected dailies, said its journalist ‍was summoned four times between January 15 and 19 and asked to sign the pledge on January 16.Kashmiri Journalists work during surprise search of pedestrians by security forces in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir in January 2022. Photo: AP“He ‍has not signed the bond as asked by the police. The Indian Express is committed to doing what is necessary to uphold and protect the rights and ‌dignity of its journalists,” the paper’s chief editor, Raj Kamal Jha, said in the report.