Srinagar: The Kashmir Working Journalists Association (KWJA) on Tuesday condemned the continuous incarceration of photojournalist Kamran Yousuf who it said was being victimized only for carrying out his professional duties that “somehow embarrassed the government.”
The 23-year-old photojournalist from south Kashmir has been held in detention for the past 169 days.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), while opposing his bail plea, told a Delhi court on Thursday last that covering development activities of government departments was a “moral duty” of journalists which the Kamran had “never” performed.
“KWJA believes that Kamran’s arrest and framing is aimed only to muzzle the press in Kashmir, and that all charges against him are baseless and motivated,” KWJA said in a statement issued here.
At the same time, KWJA also expressed aghast at the efforts of NIA to define the working of a journalist. “The pathetic standards of journalism that NIA aims to thrust are not just childishly naive but also reflect a dangerous conspiracy to dis-empower the fourth estate,” it said and strongly contest NIA’s definition of journalism and affirmed that it was not the job of a journalist to cover bridge inaugurations or birthday parties of government and political functionaries. “If NIA does not understand the basics that separate PR from journalism, it puts its own investigating capabilities into question.”
