Kashmiri journalists face the heat as Kashmir continues to boil

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir), [India], Sept 13 (ANI): With clouds of unrest looming over of Jammu and Kashmir which has been hit by the worst unrest in the last 60 years, state based journalists are finding it hard to bring out the truth. From facing the heat of the violent protestors to stringent restrictions put by the government, the journalists have to bear it all for delivering news. "We have to work under very severe conditions. Curfew affects our work a lot. Though we have curfew passes, but a lot of times when the situation deteriorates, the security forces do not even accept them. Plus, when we cover protests the protestors also vent out their anger on us accusing us of filing anti-reports. We put our lives on danger many times," said a journalist Reyaz Rehan. Circulation of papers gets affected; the local journalists are always trapped between forces and stone pelters. "Circulation of papers gets affected. Our lives generally remain in danger. Work of newspapers start very late. Initially it was all the more difficult, however the curfew passes has made things bit easier for us," said Muhammad Shafi, distributer of papers. According to reports, the circulation of all newspapers, both in English or Urdu, has dropped drastically as no distribution takes place of these newspapers from capital Srinagar to rural areas of the valley due to volatile situation. Few times during in the past two months of unrest in Kashmir, the BJP-PDP Government clamped down news channels for "fomenting' trouble" in the Valley. Normal life remained affected for the 66th consecutive day on Monday in violence-hit Kashmir, where authorities imposed restrictions on the movement and assembly of people in some areas on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. More than 80 people have been killed and thousand left injured in the aftermath of July 8 encounter in which Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by the security forces. (ANI)