Yusuf Jameel

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Yusuf Jameel, born in Srinagar (Kashmir) on March 3, 1958, is a well-known journalist of South Asia. Formerly a correspondent for the BBC, he is currently the Special Correspondent with Indian global newspaper The Asian Age (www.asianage.com)and its sister publication Deccan Chronicle (www.deccan.com)based in the restive Himalayan region besides regularly contributing to the New York Times, Time magazine and the Voice of America.

For journalists in Kashmir every day has been struggle ever since the separatist campaign in the disputed Himalayan State burst into a major violence in 1989. Though the situation for them has improved after the key characters of the conflict realized the role of the media and came out of their ideals and illusions, the anamnesis of the past events is painful. Journalists in Kashmir have endured undeclared censorship, imprisonment, attempts on their lives, or the assassination of a close colleague as a result of their efforts to report on the news, the government and the militants candidly. Some reporters landed in prison or their graves for writing the truth.

Yusuf Jameel is one of the victims of this bigotry. Like many other reporters on Kashmir, his career has been marked by violent reprisals-beatings, grenade attacks, and then a letter bomb addressed to him that killed a colleague, Mushtaq Ali. After spending a couple of years in London and Delhi, he returned to Kashmir in September 1996 to report on the first state-assembly elections since the militancy began in 1989. But getting the story was not the only purpose of Jameel's trip. He returned to attend a memorial service for Mushtaq Ali, who was a cameraman with Asian News International and Agence France-Presse. Mushtaq was fatally injured on September 7, 1995 when he opened a letter bomb addressed to Jameel, who sustained only minor injuries. Also wounded in the incident was Habibullah Naqash, a photographer with The Asian Age.

After the attack, Jameel relocated to London, where he was treated for the injuries sustained in the parcel bomb explosion and on recovering completely continued working for the BBC for several months before rejoining The Asian Age.

Jameel has had to withstand pressure from all parties to the Kashmiri conflict, which pits Indian security forces and government-backed militias against an array of guerrilla groups fighting for the state's independence or its merger with Pakistan. The combatants view the local press as biased in favor of their adversaries and retaliate through violence and intimidation. To date, twelve Kashmiri journalists have been murdered in the course of their work; in five of those cases-including Mushtaq Ali's-the perpetrators' identities remain unknown.

Srinagar-based newspapers have frequently been forced to suspend publication under pressure from the various warring parties. And numerous local journalists have survived abductions, including Yusuf Jameel. As a reporter for the BBC and Reuters-news organizations widely respected as nonpartisan in Kashmir-Jameel was a conspicuous target.

On June 2, 1990, Indian Army’s 11 Gurkha Rifles seized him, took him blindfolded to Uri close to the border with Pakistan and held him incommunicado for interrogation about his and a colleague's alleged contacts with militants. The ordeal lasts for nearly 30 hours before the officer, Lt. Col. Bhanwar Singh, who had ordered his arrest, is convinced of his innocence. Unlike most cases involving attacks on Kashmiri journalists, Jameel's ‘abduction’ by the troops resulted in disciplinary action for three of the officers involved including Lt. Col. Singh. On two separate occasions in 1992, unidentified assailants threw grenades at Jameel's home and office in Srinagar. Luckily, there were no casualties in either strike. Subsequent investigation revealed the pro-independence JKLF and pro-Pakistan Jamiat-ul-Mujahedin were behind these attacks aimed at twisting his arm. He refused to budge. In addition to the violent reprisals, he has periodically faced threats from militant separatists who were displeased with his coverage of the war.

Some of the outfits even chose to issue ‘death warrants’ on him. One case in point is that of the Jamiat itself. Unhappy at one of his reports on the BBC, the outfit asked him to appear before its qayadat or leadership within 48 hours failing, which he was, threatened execution. On another occasion, Jihad Force, yet another pro-Pakistan militant outfit accused him of being involved in so-called political process initiated by the then Indian junior minister on Kashmir affairs, Mr. Rajesh Pilot, and asked him to leave the state within two days. He did not and after initial hullabaloo the perpetrators had to eat humble pie.

In summer 1994, security officers severely beat him on the head while he was attempting to cover a protest march by a Kashmiri women's organization Dukhtaran-e-Millat. He was hospitalized for four days following the assault. Many well-wishers-concerned for his safety-insisted he should part with the profession or leave Kashmir, at least till the dust is settled. But his reply to all would be "I believe that such risks are part of my profession.”