Srinagar, May 30 (KMS): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a freelance photojournalist, based in Pulwama, was harassed by the Indian forces’ personnel when he was on way to cover a military operation in Shopian’s Ganapora village on Friday.
The journalist, Irshad Reshi in a statement in Srinagar said that his phone and camera were seized by the forces’ personnel after being stopped near the operation site. He said that he told them that he was a journalist going to cover the operation but they refused to give any permission.
He said that as soon as he was about to leave the spot, an army officer arrived and told his guards to take his mobile phone and camera. He said, he was then told to report at a police station in Shopian for his belongings. On reaching the police station he was made to sign a document and only then the mobile phone and camera was given back to him, the journalist added.
Irshad, who works for different regional and Delhi-based media organizations, said that he had been in the field since 2017 but had not witnessed such harassment earlier.
Meanwhile, Pulwama Journalists Federation (PJF) spokesman in a statement condemning harassment of the photojournalist said that the attack comes when journalists are risking their lives amid the pandemic to keep the public informed.