SRINAGAR: The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Saturday asked Indian authorities to immediately release a journalist in disputed Kashmir, days after police arrested him for uploading a video clip of a protest against Indian rule.
Indian soldiers picked up Sajjad Gul from his home in northeastern Shahgund village on Wednesday night and later handed him over to the police, his family said. He had posted a video of family members and relatives protesting the killing of a rebel commander on Monday.
The media watchdog on Saturday said it was “deeply disturbed” by the arrest of Sajad Gul, an independent journalist and media student.
“CPJ is deeply disturbed by reports that Kashmiri journalist @SajadGUL_ was arrested days after posting a video of a protest on social media,” the CPJ said on Twitter.
“Authorities must immediately release Gul and drop their investigations related to his journalistic work.”
Initially, police said he would be released but on Friday, his family was told that a formal case was opened against Gul on charges of “criminal conspiracy and working against national integration.” If convicted, he faces life imprisonment or even death penalty.
Journalists have increasingly voiced concerns about harassment and threats by the police that have effectively restricted reporting after India revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomy and divided the region into two federally governed territories in 2019.
Many journalists have been arrested, beaten, harassed and sometimes investigated under antiterrorism laws.
The Kashmir Press Club, an elected body of journalists in the region, has repeatedly urged the Indian government to allow them to report freely, saying security agencies were using physical attacks, threats and summons to muzzle the press.
India’s decision to strip the region of its special powers in August 2019 brought journalism to a near halt in Kashmir for months. India began implementing a policy in 2020 that gives the government more power to censure independent reporting.
Fearing reprisals from government agencies, most of the local press has wilted under pressure. Journalists have also come under scrutiny through anonymous online threats the government says are linked to rebels fighting against Indian rule.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and both claim it in full.
Since 1989, a full-blown armed rebellion has raged in Indian-controlled Kashmir seeking a united Kashmir — either under Pakistani rule or independent of both countries. The region is one of the most heavily militarized in the world. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Media watchdog asks India to release Kashmiri journalist
https://arab.news/26ytb
Media watchdog asks India to release Kashmiri journalist
- Indian soldiers picked up Sajjad Gul from his home in northeastern Shahgund village on Wednesday
- On Friday, his family was told a formal case was opened against Gul on charges of ‘criminal conspiracy’
With murals, Indian artist transforms slums into ‘walls of learning’
- Rouble Nagi won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize at Dubai summit last week
- Her foundation set up 800 learning centers across more than 100 slums, villages
New Delhi: It was about a decade ago that Rouble Nagi began painting the walls of Mumbai’s slums with art and colors, turning the neglected spaces where India’s low-income communities live into vibrancy.
What started as a project of beautification quickly transformed into a mission of education through art, one that seeks to reach the most marginalized children in India.
Together with a team of locals, volunteers and residents, Nagi started painting the slums with interactive murals, which she calls the “Living Walls of Learning,” as an alternative way to educate children.
“The ‘Living Walls of Learning’ is our answer to the lack of infrastructure within the education pillar. In these communities, traditional schools are often physically distant or psychologically intimidating. We solve this by turning the slum itself into a classroom,” Nagi told Arab News.
An estimated 236 million people, or nearly half of India’s urban population, lived in slums in 2020, according to World Bank data.
“The abandoned, broken or dilapidated walls (are transformed) into open-air classrooms using interactive murals created by the students themselves. These aren’t just paintings; they are visual curricula teaching literacy, numeracy, science and social responsibility,” she said, adding that the initiative “treats education as a living, breathing part of daily life.”
Her Rouble Nagi Art Foundation has established more than 800 learning centers across more than 100 slums and villages in India, as the slum transformation initiative expanded beyond Mumbai and now includes parts of Maharashtra, the country’s second-most populous state.
“These centers provide safe spaces for children to begin structured learning, receive remedial education, emotional support, and creative enrichment,” Nagi said.
Over the years, RNAF said that it had helped bring more than one million children into formal education and reduced dropout rates by more than 50 percent, with the help of more than 600 trained educators.
Last week, the 40-year-old Indian artist and educator became the 10th recipient of the $1 million Global Teacher Prize, which she accepted at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
Nagi plans on using the money to build an institute that offers free vocational training and digital literacy.
“This project aims to equip (marginalized children and young people) with practical skills for employment and self-reliance, helping transform their life chances,” she said.
She believes that strengthening pathways from informal learning spaces to formal schooling and skill-based education can create “sustainable, long-term educational opportunities” that “empower learners to break cycles of poverty and become active contributors” to their communities.
“For me, this award is not just personal; it is a validation of the work done by the entire Rouble Nagi Art Foundation team, our teachers, volunteers and the communities we work with,” she said.
“It shines a global spotlight on children who are often invisible to the formal education system and affirms that creativity, compassion and persistence can transform lives.”
