Srinagar, October 13, 2021 (PPI-OT): In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Indian police arrested three journalists including a photojournalist for “questioning”. Photojournalist Mukhtar Zahoor, was arrested in a midnight raid by police on his residence in Dalgate area of Srinagar on Tuesday night. Mukhtar, 27, works as a stringer with the BBC and has been published in Al Jazeera, The Caravan, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal.

Two other journalists Salman Shah, 30, editor of an online weekly magazine – Kashmir First and 21-year-old Suhail Dar, a freelance journalist, both the residents of Islamabad district, have been detained as per their families. Both continue to be in detention – one among them for the past five days.

As per photojournalist Mukhtar Zahoor’s family he received a phone call from someone asking him to come downstairs to the main gate of his house. His sister told media men that, when he opened the gate, there was a group of Indian armed personnel and the police force. They asked for his name and when he replied ‘Mukhtar’, they took him along,” she said.

After taking him, they also took his camera and mobile phone and lodged him in Ram Munshi Bagh police station in the morning. The Station House Officer (SHO), Ram Munshi Bagh, Tauseef Meer talking to media men claimed that the police had some suspicion and they are questioning him over the same.

“We are questioning him at the moment. Everything is almost clear and most probably he will be released soon,” he said. However, he didn’t give any exact reasons for his detention, the family said.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
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