Leading Pakistani journalist unions this week threatened to launch protests over the government in Azad Kashmir registering a case against a prominent local newspaper on charges of spreading “fake news” and “negative propaganda” against state authorities.
The Daily Jammu & Kashmir Times is an Urdu-language newspaper based in the area’s capital, Muzaffarabad, and describes itself as the oldest newspaper in Azad Kashmir.
Last year, the Azad Kashmir government passed a controversial amendment to Section 505 of the region’s Penal Code of 1860, making public criticism of government officials a punishable offense, with penalties including a minimum of 7 years in prison.
As per a copy of the complaint filed by the Azad Kashmir Home Department Affairs on Apr. 6, the Mar. 26 and 28 editions of the newspaper had published a report with incorrect details about a new paramilitary Rangers force being raised to manage security in several parts of the territory.
The home department accused the publication of spreading “fake news and negative propaganda” that was damaging to the government and public order and registered cases under several sections of the Azad Penal Code (APC) that relate to offenses such as defamation and public criticism of government officials.
“If this case is not withdrawn, then we will begin our protest movement,” Afzal Butt, president of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), said in a video message.
“This will begin from every village and city in Azad Kashmir to all of Pakistan’s provinces and capital.”
Butt said as per his knowledge, this was the first police case registered against a newspaper in the history of Azad Kashmir.
The Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) separately condemned the case, calling it an “open attack on the freedom of press and a cowardly act.”
“RIUJ demands that the FIR against Daily Jammu & Kashmir Times be withdrawn immediately,” RIUJ President Tariq Ali Virk said in a statement. “The RIUJ leadership has said that if such authoritarian tactics are not stopped, a protest plan will be prepared soon.”
