By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday, September 5 arrested a freelance photojournalist Kamran Yusuf on allegations of instigating stone pelting.
Yusuf is a resident of volatile Pulwama district in South Kashmir and was well known among his peers for covering conflict and funerals of militants. He was a regular contributor to newspaper Greater Kashmir.
The arrest comes after NIA announced that it has identified 117 Kashmiris who it believes have been spreading unrest in the Valley. As part of its investigation, the group had identified 6,386 phone numbers and 79 WhatsApp groups who allegedly manage the stone-pelting incidents.
Importantly, the NIA is probing the terror funding case against Kashmiri separatists and has arrested many separatist leaders and workers in this regard.
In August 2017, Yusuf was named among nine emerging photographers in Jammu and Kashmir by With Kashmir, a digital media company.
According to a report published in Indian Express, NIA sources have said Yusuf was involved in stone-pelting incidents besides organising groups of youths who would throw stones at security personnel involved in counter-insurgency operations.
The officer added that the duo was among 40 youths identified by the NIA who have been regularly indulging in stone-pelting and organising youths to disrupt security operations. They have been identified through numbers associated with 128 WhatsApp groups the agency found to be active in organising disruptions in the Valley. Sources said the two accused also circulated on social networking sites pictures and videos that sparked rumours in the Valley.
Meanwhile, Journalists in the Valley have expressed their apprehensions over the arrest of a photojournalist and termed it a tool to create an atmosphere of fear by harassing them.
“This is shame in the name of democracy that a journalist was detained by the NIA on the charges of stone pelting without any proper verification. Had he been a stone-pelter, why didn’t local police detain him in all these years? We demand an immediate release of Kamran and want these agencies to stop harassing journalist in the Valley,” said Auqib Javeed who works as a correspondent for newspaper Kashmir Observer.
The journalist in the restive Pulwama district also took out a protest march against the arrest of Yusuf.
Another Journalist, Aakash Hassan who works for Kashmir Life said, “Kamran’s arrest has posed a big question mark at the working of press in Kashmir. The organisation he was ‘contributing’ for didn’t even mention his name or that he used to work for them.”
“His involvement in the alleged case is a matter of investigation but how most of the vernacular dailies reports hiding that he was a photographer itself depicts the fear prevalent. As a young journalist it is a big discouragement to see what the Kashmir media is witnessing,” he added.
The heads of three separatist groups in the Valley announced on Wednesday about their plans to fly to Delhi on September 9, to volunteer arrest before the NIA. This decision according to them was taken to end harassment by the NIA in Kashmir.
“This is a joint decision and this is the only way out to end the terror that NIA has unleashed in nook and corner of Kashmir,” Yasin Malik said in his speech while addressing a gathering inside Jamia Masjid.
The arrest comes two days after High Court Bar Association President Advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom was summoned by NIA to its Delhi headquarters in a funding case.