On April 22nd, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced moves by the Indian government and renegade-militants to censor Kashmir's press in the run­up to parliamentary elections. The moves prompted Srinagar editors on Friday, April 19th, to suspend publication of their newspapers indefinitely.

In a letter dated April 17th, Kashmir's Indian­administration threatened to press criminal charges against local newspaper editors who published statements by the All-Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders, material deemed "prejudicial to the unity and integrity of the State [Kashmir] and the country [India]," or articles that "directly or indirectly express lack of faith" in the State and federal [Indian] constitutions. The directive also barred "inflammatory matter likely to foment . . . regional tension" and, in a vaguely­worded provision, appeared to ban reports that would deter government employees from participating in the election process.

Indian Authorities also banned distribution of Indian national newspapers in Kashmir, and began confiscating bundles of The Indian Express, Al-Awan, The Tribune of Chandigarh, The Kashmir Times of Jammu and other Indian newspapers at the Srinagar airport, a few weeks prior to the so-called Indian parliamentary elections.

"The directive potentially encompasses any questioning of the electoral process in Kashmir, and it completely silences debate over the issue of sovereignty," said Vikram Parekh, CPJ's program coordinator for Asia, who visited Kashmir last year.

Following another incident, the CPJ condemned the slaying of Ghulam Rasool Sheikh, a newspaper editor, whose body was found in Kashmir's Jhelum River on Wednesday, April 10th, 1996. Sheikh is the sixth journalist to be killed in the Indian­occupied Kashmir since October 1989's mass uprising against Indian occupation.

Sheikh had been missing since late March and family members said he was kidnapped by soldiers accompanied by Indian-backed militants. The editor of two newspapers, the Urdu daily Rehnuma-e-Kashmir and the English-language weekly Saffron Times, had recently spoken out against an increase in brutalities and arson incidents in the vicinity of his hometown, Pampore. Sheikh's colleagues in the Kashmir press called for a judicial inquiry into his murder.

"Sheikh's murder hints at a new ruthlessness in stamping out press freedom in Kashmir," said Parekh. "Certainly, by failing to fully investigate such slayings, the Indian government is abetting that process," he added.

The editor's slaying closely parallelled the recent murder of Kashmiri lawyer and human rights activist Jalil Andrabi, whose body was discovered floating in the Jhelum river on March 27th. Andrabi's wife reported that her husband had not been seen since his arrest by Indian army officers on March 8th.

Meanwhile, three unidentified armed men stormed into residential compound of Ghulam Nabi Khayal, a correspondent for Pakistan Television (PTV) and a veteran member of the local press community, in Rawalpora, Srinagar, on the evening of March 6th, and ordered the journalist to come with them. He refused, shut the door behind him and ran to phone the police, while his family members shouted for help. The assailants opened fire on the house and threw two grenades at the building, before exiting the compound. One of the grenades exploded, damaging window panes but causing no injuries. The following morning, police recovered and defused the second, undetonated grenade. Like many of his colleagues, Khayal had previously been threatened by Indian-backed militant groups that were displeased with his coverage of their barbarities.

The latest incidents follow two other unresolved attacks on the Kashmiri press. Both have signalled a dramatic escalation in attempts to intimidate Srinagar's beleaguered press community. In December, unidentified men abducted and shot Zee Television correspondent Zafar Meraj, as he was returning from an interview with an Indian­backed renegade leader, Koka Parray. Meraj is currently recovering in New Delhi. Three months earlier, on September 7th, a local photojournalist, Mushtaq Ali, was killed when a bomb exploded in the offices of the Srinagar correspondent for the BBC and Reuters.