A Srinagar-based photojournalist Mukhtar Zahoor who works as a stringer with the BBC and has been published in Al Jazeera, The Caravan, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal, was detained in a mid-night raid from his residence in Dalgate area of the city last night.
“They (policemen) asked for his name and when he replied ‘Mukhtar’, they took him along. After taking him, they also took his camera,” jorunalist’s sister Saima Zahoor told The Kashmir Walla.
The raid and subsequent detention occurred last night at around 12:30am.
Family alleged that the cops had seized his camera, press ID card, and mobile phones including his sister’s.
“A police officer asked me to get my phone and he took that with him. He then asked me to clear all the things that were scattered in my brother’s room,” Saima alleged.
27 year old journalist Zahoor was picked up from his house and kept inside the lockup for whole night in Ram Munshi Bagh police station.
He was released around 2 pm Wednesday, after 12 hours of interrogation.
“We are questioning him at the moment. Everything is almost clear and most probably he will be released soon,” the Station House Officer (SHO), Ram Munshi Bagh, Tauseef Meer had said to The Kashmir Walla.
Family members, journalists and activists in the valley alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir police didn’t give any exact reasons for the journalist’s detention and midnight raid of his house.
