Srinagar, July 07, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, journalists believe that a reporter is forced to do fact check a dozen times before breaking any news item and ‘breaking news’ concerning Indian forces is a tough task for them.

Umar Rashid from Shopian who has been covering south Kashmir since a decade said that there were times when accessing information from law enforcing agencies and police was easy to break any story but since new dictates came to them, a reporter is forced to do fact check a dozen times before breaking any news item.

In a conflict region, no news is as tough as the breaking news, says Umar Rashid. “It is akin to walk on the edge of a sword. Any party can sue us even for a minor mistake or a misunderstanding over the context of the particular news story,” he said.

Umar Rashid is currently working for Srinagar-based news gathering service Global News Service (GNS) and has formerly been with Kashmir Despatch and many news organisations since a decade. He is among the few journalists in south Kashmir who cover the incidents of violence, be it encounters, law and order situations, or killing of civilians or Indian forces’ personnel.

“I wouldn’t negate the efforts of investigative reporters but this form of news in conflict areas can leave a reporter in jail. Threats, abuses and intimidation never stopped me and I do all this to inform people on right time,” he said.

Rashid said that he chose journalism as a passion, not as job. “My father used to tell us news stories which were aired on BBC, Voice of America and veteran Yousuf Jameel was reporting from Kashmir and that very thing inspired me towards the field,” he added.

For more information, contact:

Kashmir Media Service

Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549

Fax: +92-51-4861736

Email: info@kmsnews.org

Website: www.kmsnews.org