Kashmiri journalist stopped from flying to Sri Lanka

Hassan, who has done his PG from Turkey, told reporters that he was going to Sri Lanka to report the present crisis in that country for the Guardian newspaper…reports Asian Lite News

Kashmir journalist Akash Hassan, put on the ‘no fly list’ by J&K Police, was to fly to Sri Lanka on Wednesday when his boarding pass was cancelled and he was offloaded from the aircraft.

Hasan belongs to south Kashmir Anantnag district and is the second local journalist restricted from travelling abroad.

Photojournalist Sanna Irshad was stopped from travelling to Paris on July 2 where she wanted to go to attend a photography exhibition. She has won the Pulitzer for her work as a photojournalist.

Hassan, who has done his PG from Turkey, told reporters that he was going to Sri Lanka to report the present crisis in that country for the Guardian newspaper.

“Immigration officials at IGI airport New Delhi barred me from boarding a flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. I was headed to report on the current crises in the country,” Hassan wrote on twitter.

“The immigration officials took my passport, boarding pass and have made me sit in a room for last four hours,” he said.

He said he was questioned for four hours and afterwards, given his boarding pass with a red rejection stamp.

The ‘no fly list’ prepared by J&K Police, according to sources, contains names of journalists, writers, academicians etc from Kashmir whose travel abroad is deemed to be against the country’s interest.

Meanwhile, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said it is no secret that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government wants to crush journalism, the fourth pillar of democracy.

“Immediately after CJIs remarks on the role of journalists in a democracy, @AakashHassan was barred from travelling abroad. Its no secret that GOI wants to crush the very backbone and fourth pillar of our democracy because of its intolerance to the truth,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said in a tweet.

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