Volume 3, No. 10, October 2002

On the evening of June nine, the security forces swooped down on a South Delhi house and picked up Iftikhar Geelani, a journalist of repute. Geelani is the Delhi Bureau Chief of the Kashmir Times (Jammu), Resident Editor of two Pakistani papers The Nation and The Friday Times, a regular contributor to the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and writes for many other papers. The trouble with him is that he is the son-in-law of the Hurriyet leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, whose opposition to the current "democratic process" in Kashmir has been irking the government. In the morning of June ninth Syed Geelani was arrested from his home in Kashmir and in the evening Iftikhar was arrested in Delhi. Iftikhar is neither a political activist nor a supporter of the Hurriyet. He often criticises the Hurriyet standpoint in his articles and has his own understanding of the things. Reputed as an unbiased and a true professional journalist of good and humble standing he earned his place through fifteen years long labour. He made one mistake: of marrying the daughter of man who is known for his strong opposition to the forcible Indian occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.

When Syed Geelani was arrested under POTA the police wanted to annoy him further through arresting his son-in-law, Iftikhar Geelani. It is routine in the Indian ‘democratic’ set-up to rope in and terrorise whole clans of anti-state leaders and activists so as to pressurise the latter to drop their opposition to the state. It is an additional and important part and parcel of the working of the state structure that tramples over human and democratic rights of the people through such highly undemocratic measures. The attack on the Geelanis has come in the wake of the "democratic exercise" in J&K.

While in the morning the JK police accused Syed Geelani and his relatives of receiving funds and helping the "terrorist outfits" with that money, the Delhi police acted on the same lines in the evening and took officials of the Income Tax department to Iftikhar Geelani’s house to show that he had disproportionate wealth compared to his sources of income. Though the police "transformed" his desktop computer into a laptop, yet the IT officials did not find anything disproportionate in his house. Then the Delhi police decided to ransack Iftikhar Geelani’s residence and his professional records, to look for some other pretext to book him. And there they "found" on his computer the "incriminating documents" that could be used to slap him under the provisions of India’s Official Secrets Act (OSA) of 1923.

That was really a grave charge that could lead to even the charge of sedition and spying for the enemy. What else would a state need in order to implicate a person it so earnestly wants to indict! And the judge accepted the demand of the police for a police remand of five days, and sent the incriminating documents, handed over by the police to her, to the Military Intelligence (MI) for study and investigation. Though Iftikhar Geelani and his advocate, VK Ohri pleaded that the said documents were downloaded from an internet site and were obsolete, as they belonged to 1993-94 period, yet the judge wanted to establish whether they were really incriminating or not. In the next hearing, the MI told the Judge that the documents were really incriminating. But, in the meantime, the defence advocate had found that the police had not handed over the full document to the court but only some torn out parts of it that were out of context and were prone to be easily interpreted as falling under the provisions of OSA. He demanded a second opinion from the MI, on the complete document.

He also informed the court that the said document was available to the whole world and could be accessed by anybody on the website <http://www.issi.org.pk>.

The said article is based on a report by a certain US based human rights group on the assessment of Indian troops and their positions, which was published in the newspaper The Hindu in 1997. The website is run by a Pakistani defence organisation and the article was part of a published paper of The Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad. Iftikhar had accessed it as part of his professional requirements to write articles and counter-check the facts. This is normal for any responsible journalist. Moreover, this information was also published in a booklet in 1996 and the Indian defence forces could not have remained in the same positions after everything was out. Ohri argued that if the MI looks at the whole booklet, the right context could be established. And then, how could a material published in 1996 be treated as "secret." The Police prosecutor was against seeking a second military opinion, and had no answer when the court wanted to know whether the book was published in 1996 or not and why it could not be verified.

Kashmir Times reports that Ohri said in the in-camera hearing that if a second opinion of the Military Intelligence is obtained, the Court will have no option but to close the case, as the published material cannot be treated as "secret" by any stretch of imagination, to continue with the case under the Official Secrets Act. He also argued that the published material was not relevant even in 1996 when it was published as otherwise, the Government would have registered a case at that time and hence it cannot become suddenly relevant to harass Iftikhar.

Downed by Geelani’s lawyer, the police went further into falsehood and whacked another charge pertaining to pornography on Iftikhar alleging that they found pornographic CDs at his residence. The police changed the FIR and added the provisions of the Pornographic Act to it. But on July 18 the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, pulled up Delhi Police for slapping this additional charge, under Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, without obtaining permission of the court. Meanwhile, Iftikhar‘s judicial remand was further extended. The police’s dirty tactics only further exposed the state. Iftikhar continued to be put behind bars despite representations to the central government and protests from vast sections of the print and electronic media in Delhi.

From day one, when police arrested Geelani, the journalist community on both sides of the border knew that the Indian State was up to a mischief. On June 13, the Valley based journalists took out a silent march and submitted a memorandum to the state governor Girish Chander Saxena demanding fair investigations into the case of the detained journalist. A four-member team comprising, Nizam-ud-din of ETV, Yousuf Jameel of The Asian Age, Abdul Rasheed Shah of Nida-e-Mashriq and Ahmad Ali Fayaz of Daily Excelsior met the Governor Girish Chander Saxena and handed over a memorandum. A signature campaign was started by the press corps before this. In the appeal, "the journalists also demanded that any information in the possession of detained journalist must be evaluated in the light of his professional requirements as a journalist and any evidence or charge the police has against him must be made public." The press corps also demanded a fair and impartial probe into all attacks on journalists in Kashmir in which several scribes were killed or wounded while performing their professional duties. The most recent case was the assassination bid on one member of the fraternity Zafar Iqbal who still was in the hospital.

On June 14, a delegation of senior journalists met the Minister of State for Home Affairs I D Swami to "impress upon him" the need for a "fair and open trial" in the case of Iftikhar Geelani. The delegation included Sidharth Vardarajan, deputy chief of bureau of The Times of India, Rama Lakshmi special correspondent of The Washington Post, Aasha Khosa and Poornima Joshi of The Indian Express, Javed Naqvi, bureau chief of The Dawn and Barkha Dutt of New Delhi Television and was led by Prabodh Jamwal, editor of the Kashmir Times. Jamwal told Swami that Iftikhar Geelani is a "fair, impartial, and responsible journalist" Siddarth Vardarajan suggested that the members of the Editors Guild could be asked to go through the documents that the police have seized from the residence of Iftikhar Geelani and decide whether there is a case against him or not. The delegation handed Swami a letter signed by more than 200 journalists asking the government to ensure an "open and fair trail" to Iftikhar Gilani.

Meanwhile, International journalists’ rights organisation Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) protested to Indian authorities over the arbitrary arrest of Iftikhar Ali Geelani, also in general over the regular roughing up by Indian officials of journalists attempting to do their job in Kashmir. In a letter to the Indian Interior Minister Lal Krishan Advani, the RSF called for the immediate release of Geelani, and has suggested that his arrest was "an attempt to restrict coverage of events in Kashmir."

According to RSF secretary general Robert Menard, "charging a Kashmiri journalist under the Official Secrets Act in the present circumstances would seem an effort to intimidate any media which tries to report independently on the conflict in the province."

In a letter to Lal Krishan Advani, the International Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed concern about the arrest of Iftikhar Geelani, under India’s Official Secrets Act, a draconian law that is a legacy of British colonial rule. They said that the only evidence against Geelani cited by the government so far is a public document released in 1995 by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry that includes a report titled "Indian repression in Kashmir."

The CPJ letter further added, "Any information in his possession must also be evaluated in the light of his professional requirements as a journalists." "As a nonpartisan organisation of journalists dedicated to the defence of our colleagues worldwide, CPJ condemns the use of the Official Secrets Act to harass journalists who may collect sensitive information in the course of their professional work," the letter said. "We call on your government to make public the findings of the investigation into Iftikhar Geelani’s case. If he has been arrested on the basis of his reporting, CPJ demands his prompt and unconditional release."

On June 15, according to a Kashmir Times reporter, a meeting of South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) in Lahore (Pakistan) demanded the release of Iftikhar Geelani and condemned "the killing of a journalist in a crossfire across the LoC." SAFMA also called upon the two governments of India and Pakistan to take all-sided measures to de-escalate the current military standoff, including an end to the ongoing propaganda warfare. The journalists asked the people of the subcontinent to press their governments to retreat from the brink of a potentially devastating war. They demanded from the two governments to lift restrictions on road and rail links and revive people to people contacts. Those who signed the statement included Imtiaz Alam, secretary general SAFMA, Irshad Ahmed Haqani, senior editor Jang, Khalid Ahmed, Friday Times, Zaffar Iqbal Mirza, Resident Editor Dawn, Mujeebur Rehman Shami, Editor Pakistan, Salim Bokhari, Editor The News, Munno Bhai, columnist, Hussain Naqi, columnist Nation, Ahmed Bashir, columnist Maidan, Kamila Hyat, journalist, Sheerin Pasha, TV producer, Abdul Qadir Hassan, columnist, Anjum Rashied, Editor Reporting Jang, Atthar Nadeem, Assistant Editor Din, and Mushtaq Soofi, Prime TV.

On June 20, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) moved the Press Council of India urging its intervention for the release of the Kashmir Times’ Delhi Bureau chief Iftikhar Geelani from illegal detention under the fictitious charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act. In its complaint, filed with documents to show how an independent journalist is being held in custody without any concrete evidence, the DUJ urged the Press Council to direct the authorities to stop the ‘fishy’ investigation mounted to implicate Iftikhar in insurgency. The DUJ contented that all that the Delhi Police had seized from him was a Pakistan Government’s published document on the deployment of the Indian Forces in Jammu and Kashmir ten years ago which in no way comes under the purview of the Official Secrets Act, used to arrest Iftikhar. "Such published information is gathered by journalists as a matter of routine for fulfilling one’s professional duties." DUJ further argued, "If mere possession of such information is sufficient cause for detention under the Official Secrets Act, we are afraid it will be a gross violation of the freedom of the Press as the Act can be misused and abused to haul up any journalist."

Urging effective intervention of the Press Council, DUJ pointed out that Delhi Police has chosen a course in the case of Iftikhar Geelani "which has much wider and lasting implications for the Fourth Estate in India as it could lead to irreversible abridgment of the Freedom of Press and perhaps irreparable damage to the profession which has to be pursued in a free society without fear."

Again on July 12, when the special cell of the Delhi Police picked up 13 people, including four Nepalese journalists, Editors and civil liberty activists without any warrants or official communication, the DUJ, while condemning their detention, demanded from the Delhi Chief minister Sheila that Geelani be shifted to a jail ward where he could read and write rather than be made to languish in the company of criminals. The DUJ described the attitude of the government towards dissenting journalists and intellectuals as one of "vindictiveness and intimidation."

The Editors Guild of India, On June 19, demanded a "fair and open trial" of Iftikhar Geelani. In a statement the Guild president, Hari Jaisingh, said, "Denial of this basic democratic right to him will be a blow to the very concept of the freedom of the press." Singh also demanded that a delegation of journalists, either from the Jammu-based Kashmir Times or from the Editors Guild, be allowed to meet Geelani. Kashmir Times reported on June 19: Singh said, Geelani has had contacts with senior functionaries of the ministries of external affairs, home and defence as also with officials of the Pakistan High Commission. "But there would be many Indian journalists, most of them non-Muslims, who are equally close to officials in the Pakistan High Commission." "If he is detained indefinitely without trial, it will amount to curtailing the freedom a journalist enjoys in a democracy. If the government has incriminating evidence against him, it should be made public in the interest of transparency, or else one would be compelled to draw the inference of a witch-hunt."

Many an article has appeared in the Indian press exposing the police conspiracy to prosecute Iftikhar of espionage. Ritu Sarin of the Indian Express, New Delhi, has written on June 19 that the documents are "not-so official, and little more than commonly available Pakistan propaganda." She also alleges "the staff in the Special Branch of the Delhi Police admit they are ‘nervous’ about the Official Secrets Act case they have booked him under."

She further writes, "Although the Military Intelligence is said to have claimed that the papers found on Geelani are ‘highly sensitive’ and indicate ‘espionage,’ it has added that it can’t [emphasis added] classify them since they aren’t part of its records." She says that the 12-page document, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, "is little more than yet another version of what is typical Pak propaganda on the break-up of troops in the Valley" and is "Sourced to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad.’’ It "also lists ‘torture cells in Indian Held Kashmir in 1992’ as per a French human-rights group’s estimates."

She writes, "In fact, the Delhi Police have now written to the Ministry of Home Affairs asking that the MEA should establish whether Pakistan’s Foreign Office indeed published the data." This indicates that neither the Indian government nor the army establishment are likely to prove that their ‘secret documents’ have been "stolen" by Iftikhar.

Moreover, the Kashmir Times editor Prabodh Jamwal says, "What relevance does this information have to the current situation?" While Ohri says, "The OSA case is nothing but harassment of a prominent Kashmiri journalist.’’

It is a typical case of forgery and falsehood by the Indian police department, which is unable to prove its charge. Of course, the state cannot prove that a thing that did not belong to it has been stolen from it. That a thing that is before the eyes of the whole world on the Internet cannot be described as a secret. Pushed to the wall, the police resorted to the mean method of implicating Geelani in obscenity. The alleged CDs did not belong to Geelani and the police got these from somewhere else. Can there be anything more obscene and disgusting in the police behaviour, barring its own behaviour with women? It even put up Geelani with petty criminals in the Tihar Jail of Delhi and refused him access to the Jail Library to degrade him and inflict mental torture on him. But, the police have not acted without permission from the highest authorities of the ministry of internal affairs, which Advani lords over. This can be seen easily from the behaviour of all the high-ups to whom the petitions have been made.

Meanwhile, the Parliament Press Gallery Committee has stood by Geelani and protested against impounding his parliament pass as he used to cover Parliament proceedings too for the Kashmir Times.

A look into the attitude of the rulers at different levels show a typical and age old stance that is stubborn ?? and betray an attitude that say: we recognize you well and know what to do and what not to do, hell with you all!

The J&K Governor, Girish Chander Saxena had assured the delegation that the concern of the press corps in Kashmir would be conveyed to the right people. He said, "I appreciate your concern for your colleague and I do assure you that it will be conveyed to proper quarters accordingly."

Swami told the delegation that he would consider their petition. "I would certainly look into the matter. We would not like a journalist to suffer if he is innocent."

When a deputation of 400 demonstrating journalists, including Kuldeep Nayar, met Advani in Delhi he started arguing that the documents recovered from the computer of Geelani were "quite serious" as they gave "minute details of military deployment in Jammu and Kashmir." The Kashmir Times reports that when he was countered by the delegation he "relented" and assured the deputation to issue the "needful orders" regarding Geelani. Advani also told the deputation "not to worry any further about him as he was issuing the necessary orders."

Now it is more than three months into Geelani’s arrest. Neither the "necessary orders" have been issued nor the demand of an open trial has been met. The court continues to sit in-camera. The "concerned quarters" are concerned only in forcing the dissent to withdraw its voice, otherwise, the incarceration shall continue. Even some members of Parliament have expressed shock at Geelani’s arrest. But everything has been to no avail as far as the BJP led government is concerned. The State continues its policy of oppression and persecution of the democratic opinion. The show of "democracy" goes on in Kashmir amid gagging and negativist attitude.

September 9, 2002

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