New Delhi: A senior leader of the ruling National Conference and member of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly on Wednesday (March 5) alleged that some journalists were arbitrarily detained for reporting about the felling of trees in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Speaking in the assembly on Wednesday, Bashir Ahmad Veeri, who represents the Bijbehara constituency, decried the alleged detention of an unspecified number of Kashmiri journalists in Anantnag who had reported last month on the felling of chinar (Platanus orientalis) trees in the district’s Rani Bagh.
Veeri said that instead of acting against those “guilty of environmental vandalism”, the district administration had allegedly ordered the detention of journalists who reported on the issue.
He also urged speaker Abdul Rahim Rather to ensure press freedom for journalists in Kashmir so that they can carry out their professional duties without fear.
“A free press is essential in a democratic society and efforts should be made to protect journalists instead of suppressing them,” he said.
Sources said that at least three journalists who work with local news outlets were detained by the district administration last month following their reportage on the alleged felling of several chinar trees, some of them believed to be hundreds of years old.
Sources also said the district administration was “not happy” about the critical reporting by the journalists, who had reportedly failed to incorporate the official version in their reports about the alleged act of environmental vandalism.
The journalists, whose names have been withheld by The Wire over security concerns, were detained on February 27, but it was not immediately known whether any charges were brought against them.
“They were asked to report at a police station and held there for three days after which they were let off with a warning on March 1,” a source told The Wire.
Anantnag’s deputy commissioner Syed Fakhruddin Hamid could not be reached for comment. Anantnag’s senior superintendent of police G.V. Sundeep Chakravarthy said he was in a meeting and promised to call back ‘later’.
The Wire reached the officials through text and calls. This story will be updated if and when any response is received.
The alleged felling of chinar trees, a protected species under the Jammu and Kashmir Preservation of Specified Trees Act, 1969, had triggered public outrage in Kashmir, with Veeri and other political leaders along with some environmental activists demanding a high-level probe into the incident.
One of the photos that sparked outrage on social media showed three affected chinars in Rani Bagh, with their freshly cut tree tops and branches sawed into wooden logs and spread out in the public park that is located in the lap of a small hill in Anantnag district.
Veeri had urged the National Green Tribunal to take cognisance of the incident, while Peoples’ Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti castigated the administration for the “travesty”, terming the incident as “infuriating and puzzling”.
In a statement, the Srinagar-based Environmental Policy Group (EPG), a civil society formulation, had criticised the district administration for the wanton felling of chinar trees across Kashmir, noting that these trees hold “immense historical, cultural and ecological value”.
“Their destruction represents a blatant violation of the laws established to protect such heritage and a grave injustice to the legacy of Kashmir,” EPG convener Faiz Bakshi in a statement, adding that there was alleged insensitivity towards the chinar trees among authorities.
“It is highly alarming that this incident [in Rani Bagh] is not isolated. Recent infrastructure development projects … saw the uprooting of over 100 Chinar trees. Earlier also EPG protested the cutting of Chinar trees,” the group said.
Writer and environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat had also criticised the administration for felling the trees.
“Chinars that have been axed in Kashmir in last 30 ys were raised to ground under the Garb of Prunining not Axing ? Get pruning order and axe the Trunk . This is like Disposal Permits given by DCs for Riverbed or Clay Mining. Get Permit for something and Loot everything [sic],” he said in a post on X.
Following the public outcry, the district administration denied the reports of the felling of trees, saying that only “dry branches” of some trees were cut following due legal procedure.
“We had written a reminder to deputy commissioner and we had gotten permission from district administration for cutting dry branches,” said Mazhar Mustafa Ansari, a district floriculture officer in a statement.
Chinars are an essential motif in Kashmir’s cultural and environmental history. Under law, these trees can be felled only if they pose a threat to life or property and after obtaining permission from the district administration.
Last year, the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Research Institute launched “Tree Aadhaar”, an initiative to geotag the majestic trees that have often found themselves in the way of developmental projects in the valley in recent years, resulting in their shrinking numbers.
Once estimated at between 42,000 and 45,000, the study by Forest Research Institute revealed that the number of chinar trees has come down to about 28,500.
According to a 2018 census, there were around 6,222 Chinar trees in Anantnag district.
