J&K journos face terror threat: Five resign after named in terror hit-list, stakeholders confident of security

J&K journalists resign after being named in terror hit-list: Battered Media hit by another bullet death threats and fear of family forced five journalists to resign from their media publication after their names were part of the hit-list released by a militant group affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Jammu and Kashmir suspected The Resistance Front, a group associated with the LeT, to be behind the threats, and confirmed that message was circulated in the form of posters on messaging platforms Telegram and WhatsApp.

Police have invoked section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Protection Act along with sections 505 (Statements conducting to public mischief), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 124A (sedition) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

The alleged letter in access with The Quotes alleged the journalists in the region for running a campaign to change the narrative of resilience in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer talking to The Quotes (on request of anonymity) claimed that it’s an attempt to stop the development and restrict free press in Jammu and Kashmir, but security agencies are proving the case and are confident of arresting the accused.

While speaking to The Quotes, a senior journalist from one of the leading media publications in Jammu and Kashmir stated that we must not exaggerate the issue as it will fulfil the intentions of the terror groups, and we must refrain from even giving too much publicity to the matter.

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“I am confident that security agencies will take the right action and keep providing us with required security,” he said. In one of the reports published in Scroll.in, a journalist, who was among those who resigned, told NDTV that he had been accused of propagating the narrative of the Army.

“I have been reporting about civic issues, water, drains and transport. I have never reported anything on the Army or covered any army function so far. Yet, they have branded me as an Army officer,” he told NDTV.

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