India has dropped two places on the World Press Freedom Index, as Reporters Without Borders rank India at 142 out of 180 countries.
Reporters Without Borders maintain that communications blackout in Indian-occupied Kashmir has caused India lose two places on the World Press Freedom as the months-long lockdown made it increasingly difficult for journalists to report on what is happening in the region in order to keep the world in oblivion about the Kashmir issues.
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The World ranking report by Reporters Without Borders also terms Indian-occupied Kashmir as “vast open prison”.
However, Indian government continues to propagate that there is nothing short of absolute media freedom in Kashmir.
The Kashmir valley is the site of a long-running insurgency against the Indian rule and the current communication blackout is among the measures imposed by India after revoking the region’s semi-autonomous status through Article 370.
Apart from curbs on mainstream media, the mobile internet and social media also remain largely blocked in Indian-administered Kashmir despite a global pandemic engulfing the entire World.
