NEWSLINKS US EDITION NEWS DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ARCHIVES
For journalists in the Kashmir valley, life is not just about scoops, by-lines, deadlines and page one stories.
While reporting from the strife-torn valley, journalists, especially the photo-journalists, are always treading on a thin life between life and death.
Journalists in J&K are often at the scene of a bomb blast, an encounter between security forces and militants, and sometimes meet with dangerous people as part of their routine duties.
Besides that, invisible censors, who try to choke the voice of the journalist, mostly with warnings of dire consequences or assassination, have to be dealt with.
On Tuesday evening, the ugly face of this stark reality was once again visible to the rest of the world when Ghulam Mohammed Sofi, editor the 33-year-old Urdu daily Srinagar Times, was shot at by unidentified gunmen.
"Around 7 p.m., a young man came to my office and talked about learning computers. After a few minutes, another youth walked in, took a pistol from his jacket and shot at me," Sofi told rediff.com.
"I saw him taking out the pistol and jumped at him across my table. He lost aim and the bullet hit my hand," Sofi said.
He believes he was plain lucky to survive.
Many others have not lived to tell their stories; they became the subject of stories.
Like Mushtaq Ali, the ANI videographer, who was killed in a parcel bomb attack on the then BBC and Reuters correspondent, Yousuf Jameel (now with The Asian Age). Jameel had survived two other attacks earlier.
Hindustan Times photojournalist Pradeep Bhatia lost his life on August 10, 2000, while capturing the scene at the site of a bomb blast.
Zee TV's cameraman, Irfan Ahmad, was injured in the incident and had to be hospitalised for eight months.
Sixteen policemen died in the attack.
Ironically, AP photojournalist Rafi Maqbool won the prestigious Robert Capa award for his picture of a burning policeman, taken at the blast site.
Ever since militancy reared its ugly head in Kashmir, journalists have been working with a sword hanging over their heads.
Militant outfits insist that their reports should give importance to the 'interests of the freedom movement', while the government uses overt and covert curbs to prevent 'misuse' of the freedom of speech.
In early 1989, Mohammed Azam Inquilabi, a senior separatist who later became leader of a militant outfit, sent a bullet with a letter asking local editors to change 'as the times have changed'.
It was difficult to ignore messages like that.
"You could not dream of writing like this in 1996," a senior journalist told rediff.com pointing to a report on the unpopularity of the state's first counter-insurgent Kuka Parrey.
Not to be left behind, then governor Jagmohan ordered the arrest of AFP correspondent Surinder Singh Oberoi and personally sought details of the funding of his weekly Global Topic. He went on to order the closure of three newspapers, seal their printing presses and registered cases against the editors under the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA).
While the writers had to weigh their words, it was the photojournalists who suffered the most.
Meraj-ud-Din, a senior photojournalists, now with AP TV, lost one of is eyes during the early days of militancy when a grenade splinter hit his eye. Abdul Qayoom, a photojournalist with The Kashmir Times, had two ribs broken by a security guard outside a Srinagar hospital last year. There are examples galore.
Interestingly, the state police has failed to find the culprits in any of these cases - be it the killing of editor Mohammed Shaban Vakil in the early nineties, or that of Mushtaq Ali or the attack on Kashmir Images sub-editor Zafar Iqbal earlier this year.
Mediapersons are caught in the crossfire between the government and the militants. The State dubs them as 'militant conduits' and the militants 'Indian agents'.
Despite the odds, the institution of journalism has survived in Jammu and Kashmir, though at a heavy cost.
Having seen several colleagues and others die, scores injured and being roughed up every now and then, by both militants and security forces, journalists carry both psychological and physical wounds.
However, this has not stopped them from telling the world of the bloody conflict in the state. And, recognition has come from all over the world.
Yousuf Jameel was presented with the International Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ) award in 1996, Aijaz Rahi (AP) bagged the third position in an international press photographers contest for one of his pictures from the Kargil war and AFP correspondent S S Oberoi was honoured by the Freedom Forum, a US-based NGO fighting for the freedom of the press.
But, of course, even recognition offers no protection from the danger - of a reporter becoming the subject of a report.
Jammu and Kashmir Elections 2002: The complete coverage
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