Authorities in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on February 9, 2013, ordered citizens to remain indoors and restricted mobile Internet service and cable television across several districts in the lead-up to a controversial execution of a militant from the region, according to news reports.
The curfew was imposed in parts of Kashmir hours before the execution of a convicted militant for his role in the 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian parliament, news reports said. Clashes broke out between protesters and police and paramilitary forces after the execution, and at least two people were reported killed, news reports said.
The curfew led to the disruption in publication and circulation of nearly 60 newspapers in the state, according to news reports. Several editors reported being told by police not to publish, news reports said. Showkat Ahmed Motta, editor of the English-language Kashmir Reader, said the paper had printed its Sunday edition, but that police seized the copies and ordered staff not to publish the paper for four days, the reports said.
A local police officer denied that any papers had been prevented from publishing, but said the curfew could have prevented editions from reaching readers, the reports said.
A Kashmiri journalist was also briefly detained on February 9, 2013, according to news reports. Iftikhar Gilani, reporter for Daily News and Analysis and the son-in-law of a prominent separatist politician in Kashmir, was held for 10 hours by police in the Indian capital, news reports said. The Indian government criticized the detention.