The Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested the editor and owner of an Urdu daily in a midnight raid at his home in Srinagar in a 27-year-old case, The Hindu reported on Tuesday. The police said Ghulam Jeelani Qadri, the editor of Aafaq, was summoned by a Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court.
Qadri was arrested at 11.30 pm after he reached home from work. “TADA court had issued a warrant against him but he did not cooperate,” Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police Haseeb Mughal told Greater Kashmir. “He will be produced in the court today [Tuesday].”
The case was registered during a ban on circulation of newspapers in Kashmir in 1992 during the peak of militancy in the state. Qadri’s news agency J&K News allegedly distributed news and press releases issued by militant outfits.
The journalist’s brother Morifat Qadri told The Hindu that his brother was not allowed to step inside the house or change his clothers. “He would have presented himself before the police in case of any summons,” Morifat Qadri said. “The way the arrest was made shows that the aim was to harass him and his family without any rhyme or reason.”
Qadri’s family said the police told them that he was “absconding” in a case registered in 1992 against eight people. “All these years, Mr Qadri has been going to his office on a daily basis,” Morifat Qadri said. “How can he be shown as an absconder? Besides, two journalists, who faced similar charges in the case, have won state awards and become legislators.”
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