Indian authorities detain journalist Hilal Mir for sharing poem on social media

International journalist accused of 'contact with foreign numbers linked to suspicious activity.'

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WORLDWIDE:

A senior journalist based in Srinagar city of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) has been detained by Indian authorities for posting a poem on social media.

Hilal Mir, who has worked with Indian and international outlets including as a freelancer for Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency news agency, was taken into custody by the Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) wing last week. He was questioned over a Facebook post he shared on May 1 and later deleted.

The post featured a photograph of an elderly woman walking through the debris of homes reportedly demolished by security forces in south Kashmir following a recent Pahalgam terrorist attack.

The image was accompanied by Mir's text:

“My schizophrenic Kashmiri soul, don’t spread yourself thin. Think. The side you should be on has already been chosen for you. Focus. Don’t look elsewhere. You are the victim. You have been trampled upon, dispossessed, brutalised, humiliated, maimed, for no sin of yours. You are being erased. You don’t owe anything to anyone, least of all to those who revel in your misery, who have on their mind the medieval Spain and Gaza as templates for your annihilation. Take rest, or a 15-day chilla if you may. Contemplate. You alone are in danger, vulnerable, weakened. You alone are the target.”

According to a police statement released on Monday, Mir was detained for allegedly “inciting sentiments among young minds and instigating secessionist sentiment by portraying Kashmiris as victims of systemic extermination” through social media.

CIK statement described Mir as a “radical social media user” accused of sharing “extremist and distorted content with an intention to disturb peace and promote disaffection and secessionist ideology and present India in a bad shape.”

Authorities claim Mir’s content “reflects a veiled attempt to cultivate public resentment which is a threat to security/sovereignty” of India. Mir's laptop and phone have also seized by police.

“A preliminary inspection of the ‘digital devices’ revealed access to the radical account along with incriminating materials and other extremist, distorted content and propaganda,” the CIK statement,

Adding that Mir was “found in touch with some suspected foreign based cell numbers involved in suspicious activities.”

A family member told local media that Mir, who has worked as a free lancer for TRT world and also work as an editor at prominent Kashmir based English newspaper was in contact with Anadolu news Agency colleagues and also a part of jouranlist Whatsapp group.

Police said Mir was “presumably taking dictation from the adversary for disturbing the peace and tranquillity in the valley which is a matter of investigation”. It said that Mir has been “brought within the ambit of investigation and further probe is in progress."

"In a 2019 article for Turkey-based TRT World titled 'How India silenced Kashmir's leading newspaper columnists,' published after the revocation of Article 370, Hilal Mir wrote about how authorities 'arm-twisted' the local press in J&K, forcing critical opinion writers to either moderate their write-ups or 'stop writing'."

Mir was also one of four journalists whose homes were searched by IOJK Police in 2021 during an investigation into a controversial post by the blog ‘Kashmir Fight’.

The blog had pointed out several individuals, including journalists, and alleged their collaboration with security agencies and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.