Passengers rescued from stricken Indonesia ferry; 31 dead
US diplomat visits Pakistan India journalists killings alarm media watchdog
NEW DELHI, July 4, (Agencies): Media watchdog Reporters without Borders expressed alarm on Wednesday about India, with seven journalists killed in the past 18 months and a sharp rise in online abuse and harassment.
“In 2017, the deaths of at least three journalists killed in connection with their work were recorded and a fourth case is still under investigation. In 2018, four journalists were killed in the country in the first six months,” RSF said.
“In addition, there has been a sharp increase in online abuse and harassment, and in the self-censorship which looms over the environment in which journalists carry out their work in ‘the world’s largest democracy’.”
RSF issued an “Incident Report”, an alert to warn about the deterioration of press freedom, the first time the organisation has done so for any country.
It also warned India that it risked falling even further down its World Press Freedom Index from its current place of 138th out of 180.
The latest murder of a journalist was that of Shujaat Bukhari, editor of an English language daily in the disputed region of Kashmir, gunned down outside the paper’s office on June 14.
More than 40 journalists have been killed in India since 1992, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Reporters in India often face harassment and intimidation by police, politicians, bureaucrats and criminal gangs.
RSF also took the Indian government to task over online hate campaigns and harassment by “armies of trolls” associated with Hindu nationalists loyal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It cited the case of journalist Rana Ayyub being subjected to a “hellish nightmare” of online hate messages, sexist insults, faked pornographic videos and calls for her to be gang-raped and murdered.
Ayyub’s recent book “Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up” alleges government complicity in antiMuslim violence during the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat when Modi was its chief minister.
Ayyub’s ordeal has also earned the Indian government criticism from the United Nations special rapporteurs.
Modi In this July 3 photo, rescuers remove a victim of the sinking ferry Lestari Maju from the water off Selayar island, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Passengers trapped for
a night on the stricken ferry were rescued early Wednesday, an official said. (AP) Passengers trapped for a night on a stricken ferry off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi were rescued early Wednesday, officials said, as the death toll rose to 31 with three people missing and believed drowned inside the vessel.
The latest in a succession of boat tragedies in Indonesia began on the same day that officials called off a search for 164 people presumed drowned when a wooden ferry sank on June 18 in a deep volcanic crater lake on the island of Sumatra.
The Sulawesi ferry, with 139 passengers aboard according to its manifest, began sinking Tuesday afternoon in rough seas. In a desperate bid to save lives, the vessel’s captain steered it toward shore, grounding it between 200-300 meters (985-655 feet) from land.
Indonesia’s director-general of sea transportation, Agus Purnomo, said in a statement that people trapped on the ferry overnight were rescued early Wednesday.
He didn’t specify how many but said the captain and the boat owner were the last two people to leave the vessel.
Amiruddin, chief of the South Sulawesi search and rescue agency, said there were 164 people on the vessel including crew. Amiruddin, who uses one name, said 130 survived.
“We are still searching for three others who we strongly believe are still inside the ship,” Amiruddin said. (AP)