Indian authorities raid offices of Kashmir Times in crackdown against ‘anti-national’ content
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The State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the India-0ccupied Kashmir on Thursday raided the office of the region’s oldest English news agency, Kashmir Times, as part of the SIA’s action against media networks that are allegedly “aiding separatist narratives”, Indian media reported.
A statement issued by Kashmir Times editors Prabodh Jamwal and Anuradha Basin said that “coordinated crackdown on the Kashmir Times [is] yet another attempt to silence us”.
According to The Indian Express, the raid was carried out following the registration of a first information report (FIR) alleging the “organisation’s involvement in anti-national activities and attempts to spread disaffection against the country”.
As per “official sources, the FIR mentions alleged activities and communications that are under scrutiny for ‘potential threats to the sovereignty and integrity of India’”, the news agency said.
During the raid, SIA officials went through “documents, digital equipment and other material as part of the investigation,” adding that it began at 6am when the SIA officials called the newspaper’s manager, Sanjeev Kern, from his home to unlock the office.
The Indian Express quoted officials as saying that the SIA “is likely to question Anuradha”.
“The operation is part of the agency’s continuing action against networks suspected of aiding separatist narratives or unlawful propaganda.
“The SIA maintains that no platform — media or otherwise — can be permitted to be used for advancing seditious or anti-national content,” The Indian Express reported.
‘Another attempt to silence us’
In their statement, the editors of Kashmir Times called on the authorities to cease their activities against the news agency and termed the accusations made by the FIR as “baseless”.
They stressed that “criticising the government is not the same as being inimical to the state”.
The statement continued: “In fact, it is the very opposite. A robust, questioning press is essential to a healthy democracy. Our work of holding power to account, investigating corruption, and amplifying marginalised voices strengthens our nation. It does not weaken it.”
The editors claimed that they were being targeted because of their work.
“In an era when critical voices are increasingly scarce, we remain one of the few independent outlets willing to speak truth to power,” the statement said.
They alleged that the accusations against them were an attempt “to intimidate, to delegitimise, and ultimately to silence.”
“We will not be silenced,” the Kashmir Times’ editors said.
“We call on the authorities to immediately cease this harassment, withdraw these unfounded allegations, and respect the constitutional guarantees of press freedom,” they said, calling on the media fraternity to stand with them.
“We call on civil society, on citizens who value their right to know, to recognise that this moment is a test of whether journalism can survive in an environment of increasing authoritarianism,” the statement said.
The editors asserted that Kashmir Times — in circulation since 1954 — had always stood as a “pillar of independent journalism”.
“We have chronicled the region’s triumphs and failures with equal rigour. We have given voice to communities that would otherwise go unheard. We have asked difficult questions when others remained silent,” the statement read.
Vowing to continue their operations, the editors stressed that “journalism is not a crime; the state may have the power to raid our offices, but it can not raid our commitment to the truth”.
In 2020, the administration of India-occupied Kashmir sealed the offices of Kashmir Times “without any due process of cancellation and eviction”, its editors recalled.
“Our print edition was suspended in 2021-2022 after relentless targeting, but we continue the operation digitally,” the statement said.
‘India cannot crush Kashmiris’ spirit of freedom’
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore also condemned the raids and the registration of a case against the Kashmir Times editor.
In a statement, Rathore said the newspaper had long supported the Kashmiris’ UN-recognised right to self-determination and consistently exposed grave human rights violations in the India-occupied region.
He said India was attempting to silence every voice in the occupied territory that sought to highlight “its crimes against humanity“ and noted that the entire “pro-freedom leadership” in the region had been incarcerated.
Rathore also highlighted that human rights defender Khurram Parvez and several journalists were languishing in jail under what he described as “baseless charges”.
“India cannot crush Kashmiris’ spirit of freedom through force and oppression,” he said.
The AJK premier urged international human rights bodies and global journalist organisations to take notice of the situation. He added that the day was “not far when India-occupied Kashmir will be liberated and the vision of a complete Pakistan will be realised.“
Press freedom bodies condemn raid
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) termed the raid “deeply troubling” and demanded that the police “return any documents or other property seized” and ensure that the members of Kashmir Times are “not threatened with criminal charges for their work”.
“The raid on the Kashmir Times office is deeply troubling and raises concerns about increasing pressure on media outlets in Jammu and Kashmir,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Programme Coordinator Kunal Majumder in a statement.
“Authorities must clearly explain the legal basis for this action and ensure that any investigation is conducted with transparency and full respect for due process. News outlets should not face punitive action simply for doing their journalistic work.”
Bhasin told CPJ in a phone call that she was not aware of any FIR filed against her and that Kashmir Times’ Jammu office has not been operational since 2022 due to financial difficulties.
She said the office contained only old computers and archival material from the publication, which was started by her father Ved Bhasin in 1954.
In separate statements, the Muzaffarabad Central Press Club (CPC) and the Capital Journalists Forum (CJF) recalled that the unexplained sealing of the newspaper’s Srinagar office in October 2020 had dealt a major blow to press freedom, forcing the publication to shut down its print edition the following year and shift entirely to digital operations.
The organisations said that India had launched a “systematic campaign” to stifle independent journalism by raiding, intimidating and falsely implicating media houses and professionals.
“Targeting one of the few remaining independent media outlets in the occupied territory is deeply alarming because silencing free voices not only restricts access to information but also undermines democratic values,” the CPC and CJF said.
Expressing solidarity with the newspaper’s editors, Jamwal and Bhasin, and their team, the bodies urged the Indian government to end its pressure on independent media and called upon global press freedom and human rights groups to ensure that journalists in India-occupied Kashmir could report “without fear”.
The media has always been tightly controlled in occupied Kashmir. Under incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, press freedoms in India have steadily shrunk since he was first elected in 2014.
In 2020, India was ranked 142nd in the global press freedom index by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, below Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
Additional reporting by Tariq Naqash
