Reporting Tips on South Asia > Reporting in Kashmir
Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979
last updated: Nov. 4, 2002

Tips and Ideas For Reporting in Kashmir
By Rafiq Kathwari
Former AFP stringer in Kashmir
Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979

June 18, 2002: Being a freelance photographer/reporter in Kashmir is a double-edged vocation: You can do a lot of good stories, but you are also on your own.Get yourself accredited. The sponsor must be willing to back you all the way, even in the unlikely event you get into trouble. Working with a U.S.-based media outlet is your best bet.

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CONTACTS FOR JOURNALISTS

KASHMIR CONTACTS
From Mannika Chopra
Veteran freelance journalist
Mannika@vsnl.com
Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979

Dialing Srinagar
From the US: 011-91(India)-194(Srinagar)+local number
Within India: 0194(Srinagar)+local number
All contacts male except when stated otherwise

Security Forces:
Indian Army
Public Relations:
Mukhtar Singh/ 467343; 465224
Lft Col Rathore: 573144
Major Ajay Pal Singh: 467012
Director General Border Security Force; Bhullar: 4590871
Border Security Force, Public Relations: T. Acharya 481176

Police:
Director General, Police, A.K. Suri, 452204/452196
Inspector General Police; Rajendar, 458735
Additional Director General Police (law and operations, A. Gill, 481629
Intelligence. Kuldeep Khoda 481630

State Administration:
Divisional Commissioner, Jammu and Kashmir; Pervez Dewan, 473135; 452643
Election Commissioner: P.K. Jain, 452654, 473609
Agricultural Secretary: Mohammed Shafi Pandit, :439057; 470357
State Information Department: Narender Singh: 452294; 452437
Director, Social Welfare: Feroz Ahmed; 473761

Politicians/Leaders
Abbas Ansari: 42509
Farooq Abdullah/ National Conference: /52540
Javed Shah/National Conference/former militant: 467536/4658500
Kuka Parrey/ President, Jammu and Kashmir Awami League/ 951954-65215 (Hajjan)
Omar Abdullah/National Conference, President/ 452514/452540
Omar Farooq Mirwais: Awami Action Committee/
Mufti Mohammed Sayeed/President/People's Democratic Party: 431027/438580
Mebooba Mufti/vice President/People's Democratic Party: 431027/438580
Abdul Ghani Bhatt/Chairman/ All People's Hurriyat Conference/ 434290
Sajjad Lone/President/People's Conference/ 495066/464971
Shabir Shah/President/People's Democratic Party/432825
Shahid ul Islam/spokesperson, Awami Action Committee/H: 471587
Ms. Sakhina Itoo/National Conference/H:476471; O: 479473
Usman Abdul Majid/Jammu Kashmir Awami League, spokesperson:
465147/465006

Local Journalists:
Altaf Hussain/BBC/452918
Asraf Wani, television journalist/Aaj Tak/H: 439660/474841/
Pager number: 9696/extension 864
Bashir Manzar/editor, Kashmir Images/ 481994/477750/
kasmirimages@hotmail.com
Faiyaz Ahmed Kaloo/editor, Greater Kashmir/ 455435
Mukhtar Ahmed/ The Telegraph and CNN/ 4527651/455881
Javed Shah/ Editor, Daily Watan/482299
Muzamil Jameel: Indian Express/434956
Sayeed Malik/ columnist/440168
Syed Nazakat Hussain/freelancer: 493618 syed.enn@hotmail.com
Sufi Ghulam Mohammed/editor, Srinagar Times/H: 451309 452041
Zahoor Malik, bureau chief, Kashmir Times O: 477301; H: 454547
Zafar Miraj, former editor/ Kashmir Monitor/ H: 452578/475820

Local drivers:
Shafique: 434974
Pervez: 462763

Academics
Bashir Ahmed Dabla/Heads the Department of Sociology/Kashmir University/
420078/extension 2138
Ms. Hameeda Nayeem/Associate Professor/Kashmir University/427044

Non-government Organizations:
Kashmir Foundation/Firdoz Sayeed Baba/H: 441374/ O: 481641
Project Hope:/ Zahoor Wani/459577
Project Hope: Mrs. Pandit/H: 4300665

Hotels:
Broadway:
459001-4

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IDEAS:

  • There is much to cover in Kashmir: the life of the natives behind Kashmir’s fabled scenery, the impact of the ongoing militancy on society, the refugees, the environment (dying Dal Lake), the crafts, the economy, the state of health, the state of education, human rights, etc. Be sure to read the SAJA Reporting Tips and the backgrounders about Indo-Pak tension in Kashmir.

Assuming you know what you want to do, here are some practical suggestions from the top of my head:

TRAVEL:

  • You’ll fly from New Delhi to Srinagar. Both Indian Airlines and Jet Airways have daily flights. Choose Jet, the private airline (more reliable and better service). Make sure it’s a direct flight, not hopping (via Chandigarh or Amritsar/Jammu). Direct flying time is 1 hour 10 minutes. If it’s a clear day, try getting a window seat on the right side for a spectacular view of the mountains as you approach the Kashmir Valley.
    Photography from the air is prohibited.
    Cameras, laptops, your pocketbook or even flowers are not allowed as carry-on baggage on flights from Srinagar to Delhi. All must be packed as checked baggage, hopefully in a sturdy suitcase.
  • As the plane prepares to land, you may be asked to pull down the window shades. Do not argue.
  • If you are an American citizen or an non-resident Indian (NRI), register with Foreigners Registration at the airport. It’s a hassle, but you have no choice.

  • Have your contact pick you up. Taxi wallahs in Srinagar have notorious reputations.

  • Broadway Hotel, off Maulana Azad Road, is open year round. It’s not bad, and is centrally located.

     

SAFETY & ETIQUETTE:

  • Remember, the bottom line is your own safety. Do whatever is necessary to assure it.

  • Try using your resourcefulness to win the confidence of both the security forces as well as the militants.

  • Women must wear a burqa these days when they venture out. See "The Valley of Vanishinig Women" by Luke Harding in The Guardian, Sept. 4, 2001 ("In Kashmir, women dare not show their faces for fear of increasingly violent Islamic extremists").
INTERNET ACCESS:
  • Of the many Internet cafés in Srinagar, the most reliable one is diagonally opposite Lloyds/Grindlay’s bank, on the third floor walk-up in a decrepit building on Residency Road, but the server is 200 miles away, across the mountains in Jammu. The speed is agonizingly slow. It’s as if one were covering Kabul from Islamabad.
PHOTOGRAPHY:

 

  • Take as many rolls of films India customs will permit. Replenish your stock in Delhi; no Kodakchrome (slide film) available in Srinagar.

  • Do not assume you can readily photograph government buildings, bridges, street vendors, army vehicles, mosques or even billboards, however tempting the shot may seem.

OTHER TIPS:

  • Electricity supply is spotty. Take an extra battery for your laptop, if indeed you plan to carry it in addition to your cameras, of which there should be at least two. Make sure the laptop is compatible with 220 volts electricity.
    If you are traveling October through March, think wool, hot water bottles at night. There is no central heating.
  • There is no nightlife in Srinagar. Absolutely none. Take a good book.

Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979

Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979