On 8 July 1996, an Indian-backed counter-insurgency militia kidnapped and detained 19 journalists in Kashmir. The journalists, who were released unharmed that same evening, were held as hostages by the militia to secure a meeting with the editors of Kashmir's leading newspapers.
The 19 journalists were traveling together from Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, to a press conference called by the Muslim Mujahideen, one of several Indian- backed militias in the region. They were intercepted at Anantnag, a town 50 kilometres (35 miles) south of Srinagar, by gunmen of another Indian-backed militia, the Jammu and Kashmir Ikhwan, and taken to the nearby headquarters of Ikhwan commander Hilal Haider.
Haider segregated six journalists who worked for the Kashmiri press: reporters Gulzar Ahmed and Abdul Qayoom of the Urdu daily "Uqab", Masood Ahmed of the Urdu daily "Wadi-ki-Awaz", Shujaat Bukhari of the English-language daily "Kashmir Times", Zahoor Shair of the Urdu daily "Al-Safa", and photographer Maqbool Sahil of the Urdu weekly "Chattan". He said all six would be killed unless the editors of Srinagar's eight major daily newspapers appeared before him by noon the following day.
The eight editors had disregarded a "ban" that Haider had ordered on their newspapers the previous week for having given the Ikhwan inadequate coverage. The editors, who were informed of the threat by phone, said they would not heed the summons.
Haider told the other 13 journalists -- mostly correspondents for the Indian and international press -- that they were free to leave. The thirteen, however, insisted on staying until their colleagues were released as well. Seven-and-a-half hours after the abduction, and following protests to Indian authorities by journalists in Srinagar, an elite commando unit known as the Rashtriya Rifles intervened and secured the release of all 19 journalists.
