Valley awaits photojournalist’s return
SRINAGAR : ‘Welcome back’ messages were splashed on Facebook pages supporting Kamran Yousuf, a young photojournalist of Kashmir accused of stonepelting by the National Investigation Agency(NIA), who was released on bail from Delhi’s Tihar jail on Tuesday.
Additional sessions judge Tarun Sherawat on Monday allowed the bail plea of Yousuf, asking him to furnish two sureties of ₹50,000 each.
People close to Yousuf said that as many as 35 Kashmiri journalists in Delhi contributed to organise his bail surety.
“It is so heart-warming to see the solidarity of Kashmiri journalists and photojournalists working in New Delhi, who came together and contributed towards the surety bond to secure the release of Kamran Yousuf... Some had even offered their cameras but the court refused to take it a surety bond,” wrote photojournalist Altaf Qadri from The Associated Press on Facebook.
“We don’t even know him personally. It is pure solidarity between journalists along professional lines,” another senior fraternity member said.
Journalists across Kashmir have been protesting the detention of Yousuf and had asked the NIA to come clear on the charges against him.
A plastic banner ‘Kamran Yousuf is a journalist, not a stone-pelter’ still lies splashed at Press Enclave in the heart of capital Srinagar even as journalists await his return to the Valley in a day or two.
Yousuf, 23, a native of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district and raised by his mother from the age of two, was arrested on September 4 by the NIA on charges of stone-pelting.
He was booked under Unlawful Activities (prevention) Act along with 11 other people.