Brussels: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly condemned the raid by Indian police on the Jammu office of the Kashmir Times, describing it as an attempt to muzzle independent media in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

The State Investigation Agency (SIA) carried out the operation on November 20, targeting one of the territory's last remaining independent newspapers. The SIA accused the outlet of promoting an 'anti-India ideology', alleging criminal conspiracy, spreading inflammatory narratives, and even recovering arms and digital devices-charges widely seen as pretexts to suppress dissent.

The editors of the Kashmir Times rejected the allegations, calling the raid 'yet another attempt to silence us' and stressed that criticizing the Modi government is vital for a functioning democracy.

Journalists' bodies in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, including the Muzaffarabad Central Press Club and the Capital Journalists Forum, condemned the raid as part of a systematic campaign to crush independent journalism through intimidation, raids, and false charges.

The IFJ noted that after India bifurcated the territory into two Union Territories, the Kashmir Times had been forced to shut down its physical operations in 2019 due to state pressure and loss of government advertising, moving fully online in 2022.

'The consistent state-led censorship in [occupied] Jammu and Kashmir continues to stifle press freedom and silence critical voices,' the IFJ said, urging India to uphold press freedoms guaranteed under its constitution and to end persecution of independent media in the territory.