J&K: Police detain Srinagar photojournalist Mukhtar Zahoor, release him later
The police did not provide reasons for the action against him.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday detained Srinagar-based photojournalist Mukhtar Zahoor from his house in Srinagar’s Dalgate area, The Kashmir Walla reported.
The police have now released him.
Zahoor’s family said that around 12.30 am, he got a call from someone asking him to go downstairs to the gate of his house, the magazine said.
The photojournalist’s sister Saima Zahoor said that when he opened the gate, he saw “a group of armed personnel and the police force”.
“They asked for his name and when he replied ‘Mukhtar’, they took him along,” she said. “After taking him, they also took his camera.”
Saima Zahoor said that a police officer also took her phone with him.
Tauseef Meer, the Station House Officer of the Ram Munshi Bagh police station, said that the police had some suspicions, and were questioning Zahoor in connection with them. But Meer reportedly did not mention any specific reason for the photojournalist’s detention.
Zahoor works as a stringer with the BBC. His photographs have also been published in the Wall Street Journal, Al-Jazeera, Caravan, Bloomberg, and TRT World.