'Ridiculous': Delhi police cancels media event on Kashmir, sites anonymous organisers

Counterview Desk
The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)* has said that the Delhi police decision to cancel the "Media Blackout and State Repression in Kashmir” event, which was scheduled for 15th March 2023 to address the question of continuing harassment and incarceration of journalists is an "undemocratic action" under the "frivolous pretext of law and order situation”.
In a statment, it said, as part of repression by the state, the attack on democratic/human rights activists and journalists like Khurram Parvez, Asif Sultan and Fahad Shah has been "ever intensifying, and many such people have been jailed for months and years, despite the international call for their release."

Text:

Campaign Against State Repression strongly condemns Delhi Police’s action of pressurizing the management of Gandhi Peace Foundation in form of notice by IP Estate Police Station and cancelling the event titled “Media Blackout and State Repression in Kashmir” scheduled for 15th March 2023. The program was to address the question of continuing harassment and incarceration of journalists in order to suppress the grim realities of state repression in Kashmir. This undemocratic action of cancelling the event on the frivolous pretext of “law and order situation” is also part of the same attempt at creating information blackout and narrative building. The reason cited for cancelling the event was that the intelligence input suggested that the program was being organized by the “anonymous groups” and that the information of the participants and organizers couldn’t be ascertained by the police. It is ridiculous to even claim that the Delhi Police and its so called intelligence unit couldn’t ascertain the identity of our panelists consisting of renowned Documentary Film Maker, Retired High Court Judge, Journalists, Academicians and Civil Rights Activists. Similarly, the organisers, a joint front of more than 30 progressive democratic organizations, who have organized dozens of programs against State Repression, have been conveniently labelled as “anonymous groups” by the state. Less than a week ago, a similar notice was sent to the management of HKS Surjeet Bhavan by the same police station to cancel the “Bharat Bachao: National Convention”, by giving the same argument down to the last word, except the name of the event and venue. The organizers of Bharat Bachao approached the High Court and got permission for the event. Interestingly, this time the police sent the notice to the management and the organisers only on the day of the event, just a few hours before it was to start, thereby denying any alternate remedies to the organisers. In reality, this has nothing to do with anonymity of the organisers and participants but everything to do with covering up the repression unleashed by the state on the people, democratic/political organisations, media and human right defenders.
A few days ago, the Army Court Martialed and awarded life sentence to an Army Captain for staging a fake encounter of 3 young Kashmiri boys in Amshipora in 2020, and later claiming them to be militants and which was subsequently hailed by the state/corporate media and the government. Such encounters and disappearances have been normalised for Kashmir to suppress their democratic assertion. A few months ago, a Kashmiri Youth named Rashid Ahmad Dar, who was picked up by the 41 Rashtriya Rifles and later claimed to have escaped their custody during a combing operation, was found dead and decomposed few days back. Rashid Ahmad Dar belonged to the Kunan Village of Kupwara district, which still longs for justice to the survivors of Kunan Poshpora Mass rape of at least 21 including girls as young as 8 year old, reportedly by the soldiers of Indian Army on 23 Feb, 1991. In 2014, the Division Bench of J&K High Court Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Hasnain Masoodi, one of the today’s speaker, accepted the State Human Rights Commission’s Report and directed the state to pay compensation to the victims.

Similar attacks on journalists are being unleashed in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern States

These multifold repressive tools unleashed on the people of Kashmir has been the order of decades in the government's repression of the democratic assertion of the Kashmiri people. As part of this repression by the state, the attack on democratic/human rights activists and journalists like Khurram Parvez, Asif Sultan and Fahad Shah has been ever intensifying and many such people have been jailed for months and years, despite the international call for their release. Similar attacks on journalists are being unleashed in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North-Eastern States to suppress the grim realities of state repression in these regions. The arrest and continued detention of Jharkhand journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh is a mirror image of the modus operandi of the State in Kashmir, and vice-versa. We believe that this undemocratic action of cancelling the event is an attack on the democratic and civil liberties of the people of Delhi and elsewhere, but most importantly it is an attack on the solidarity between the Indian People and the Kashmiri People. Furthermore, it is also an attack on the people’s right to information and access to truth. We, once again, strongly condemn this undemocratic act of the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist State Machinery and call upon all democratic progressive people everywhere, be it India or abroad to stand with the people of Kashmir and for press freedom everywhere, be it Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh or North Eastern States.
---
*AIRSO,AISA, AISF, APCR,BASF, BCM, Bhim Army, Bigul Mazdoor Dasta, BSCEM, CEM, CRPP, CTF, Disha, DISSC, DSU, DTF, Fraternity ,IAPL, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA,Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, Mehnatkash Mahila Sangathan, Morcha Patrika, NAPM, NBS, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Smajwadi lok manch, Satyashodak Sangh, SFI, United Against Hate, WSS,Y4S

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

The architect of Congolese liberation: The life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba

By Harsh Thakor* Patrice Émery Lumumba remains a central figure in the history of African decolonization, serving as the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo. Born on July 2, 1925, Lumumba emerged as a radical anti-colonial leader who sought to unify a nation fractured by decades of Belgian rule. His tenure, however, lasted less than seven months before his dismissal and subsequent assassination on January 17, 1961.

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog