Choudhary Lal Singh.
Choudhary Lal Singh, former minister in Mehbooba Mufti cabinet and BJP legislator from Basohli, in Kathua district, has warned journalists in the Valley to “fall in line” while reporting, and reminded them of the fate of Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari, who was killed in Srinagar recently.
The remarks drew condemnation from political parties and media organisations in the Valley, with some demanding his arrest.
Addressing mediapersons in Jammu on Friday, the BJP leader had said, “Ab to main Kashmir ke patrakaron ko kahunga ki aap bhi line draw kariye ab journalism ki….Aagey kaisey rehna hai. Aisey rehna hai jaisey woh Basharat (Shujat Bukhari) ke saath hua hai? (Now I will tell journalists from Kashmir also to draw a line as to how they want to live in future. Do they want to have the same fate Basharat [Bukhari] had?).”
Singh, who had earlier this year taken part in a rally demanding a CBI probe into the Kathua gangrape and murder case, asked Kashmiri journalists to “draw a line’’ so as to avoid creating a similar situation that led to Bukhari’s death, and so that communal amity is not damaged.
Reacting to the remarks, Peerzada Mansoor of PDP, the BJP’s erstwhile alliance partner, on Saturday said, “He (Lal Singh) is a serious threat to the state’s communal harmony. We urge Governor N N Vohra to immediately book and arrest (him) for his derogatory remarks against Kashmiri journalists.”
National Conference leader and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Dear journalists, your colleagues in Kashmir just got threatened by a @BJP4India MLA. It seems Shujaat’s death is now a tool for goons to use to threaten other journalists.”
In a statement, the NC called Singh a habitual offender and termed the threat as a “brazen attempt to muzzle the media” in Kashmir.
NC spokesperson Junaid Azim said. “We condemn this outrageous threat…. It should be treated as a criminal attempt to incite violence against journalists and the J&K Police should register an FIR under relevant statutes of the law.”
Media organisations in the Valley also condemned the BJP MLA for his remarks. “Journalists don’t need any lessons from anybody on journalism and professional ethics,” Kashmir Journalists Association said in a statement. “We feel Singh’s statement is an open threat to journalists in Kashmir as his role was questionable in the past also”.
Earlier, when he was Forest minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government, Singh had ostensibly threatened a visiting delegation of Gujjars and Bakerwals and reminded them of the massacre of Muslims in 1947. He later denied having made any threat, and said that he was talking about that day’s temperature, which was recorded at 47 degrees Celsius.