• Investigation agency brands Kashmir Times ‘anti-national’; editors call the measure ‘another attempt to silence us’
• AJK PM slams action as bid to stifle voices against human right abuses
• Journalist groups decry ‘deeply troubling’ move as an assault on press freedom

MUZAFFARABAD: India-held Kashmir’s State Investigative Agency (SIA) on Thursday raided the office of occupied Kashmir’s oldest English newspaper, the Kashmir Times, as part of a widening crackdown on media outlets officials accuse of “aiding separatist narratives”.

The raid was conducted after a FIR was filed alleging the organisation was involved in “anti-national activities and attempts to spread disaffection against the country”, Indian Express reported.

The investigation is scrutinising alleged communications that pose “potential threats to the sovereignty and integrity of India,” the report said, citing official sources.

During the raid, which began at 6am, officials seized documents, digital equipment and other materials.

In a joint statement, Kashmir Times editors Prabodh Jamwal and Anuradha Bhasin called the raid “yet another attempt to silence us” and said the accusations were an attempt “to intimidate, to delegitimise, and ultimately to silence”.

For its part, the SIA claimed that no platform could be permitted to advance “seditious or anti-national content”.

Condemnations

Meanwhile, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and press freedom organisations condemned the raid and the filing of a case against its veteran editor, Anuradha Bhasin, describing the move as another assault on press freedom in the region.

AJK Prime Minister Mumtaz Rathore said the Kashmir Times had consistently supported the right of Kashmiris to self-determination and exposed human rights violations. He accused India of trying to silence dissent in the territory.

“India was suppressing every voice in the occupied territory that sought to document or highlight its ‘crimes against humanity,” Rathore said in a statement.

He noted that pro-freedom leaders, human rights defenders like Khurram Parvez, and several journalists were imprisoned on “baseless charges”.

He said India could not crush the Kashmiri struggle “through force, intimidation or censorship” and added that “the day is not far when India-occupied Kashmir will be liberated and the vision of a complete Pakistan will be realised”.

Journalist bodies in the AJK capital also condemned the raids.

The Central Press Club (CPC) and the Capital Journalists Forum (CJF) recalled the unexplained sealing of the newspaper’s Srinagar office in October 2020, which they said dealt a major blow to press freedom and forced the paper to cease its print edition.

Both organisations described the action as ‘deeply alarming and undemocratic’, urging India to cease its pressure on independent media and called upon global press freedom and human rights organisations to ensure that journalists in the region could report without fear.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) termed the raid “deeply troubling” and demanded that police explain the legal basis for the action and return any seized property.

“The raid on the Kashmir Times office is deeply troubling and raises concerns about increasing pressure on media outlets in Jammu and Kashmir,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator Kunal Majumder. “News outlets should not face punitive action simply for doing their journalistic work.”

Ms Bhasin informed CPJ of her unawareness of any case against her and said the newspaper’s Jammu office has been inactive since 2022 due to financial difficulties, containing only old computers and archives from its founding in 1954 by her father.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2025