On August 5, 2019 the Indian government annexed the disputed territory of Kashmir. As international organizations and global governments scrambled to respond to the unfolding crisis, the autonomous state of Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded to a Union Territory of India, bifurcated into two with a new Union Territory being carved out of Ladakh, and a communications blockade was placed on the Kashmir Valley. Political leaders were arrested, the movement and reporting of journalists was curbed in the region, protests were suppressed and several areas were placed under curfew.

On August 10, 2019 a fact-finding team comprising of Kavita Krishnan, Jean Dreze, Maimoonah Mollah, and Vimal Bhai visited Kashmir and wrote the following report. When they tried to release their report and photographic and documentary evidence at the Press Club of India, they were disallowed from using the projector and showing the visuals. They have since, released the short documentary on YouTube. The Polis Project is in possession of the materials that were recorded by the fact-finding team and we are reproducing the visuals and the report in the interest of the public.

To quote the Indian Supreme Court’s judgment in Union of India vs. Association for Democratic Reforms, “One-sided information, disinformation, misinformation and non-information, all equally create an uninformed citizenry which makes democracy a farce. Freedom of speech and expression includes the right to impart and receive information which includes freedom to hold opinions.”