There is a lot more to making travel plans in the land of the Ganges than meets the eye because, apparently, holding a valid passport and visa on top of an invitation to the most prestigious journalism award ceremony is not enough to catch a flight out of New Delhi. By putting up barricades in the way of celebrated photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo without offering any legal explanation, Modi’s India has once again laid bare the hollowness of its claims to a functional, civilised democracy. What Miss Mattoo cried to social media as being stripped of a “once in a lifetime opportunity” has drawn the ire of human rights organisations as a blatant display of bigotry. This is the second time that the journalist was stopped from travelling abroad in a matter of months and her unforgivable crime seems to belong to a doubly persecuted minority. That she is a Muslim already diminishes her worth as a citizen in the eyes of the authorities but add to that her identity as a Kashmiri and she becomes a sitting duck for daggers from all directions. More distressingly, the injustice meted out to her is a part of a larger, more vicious crackdown trend with the target landing on the backs of at least four more Kashmiri journalists in the last two years. The likes of the Public Safety Act continue to deny fundamental freedoms to those daring to raise their voice of dissent or report on the abject realities. Earlier in January, a highly-respected editor-in-chief of a leading news website, Fahad Shah, was detained on the grounds of “misguiding common masses by circulating fake news against the government.” Arbitrary detainments, police detentions and the Damoclean sword of assault are the part and parcel of being a member of the press in the disputed valley. To further twist the knife in, the government is also determined to bolt the doors shut on all who try to connect with the outside world. So, here is an idea for Mr Modi and his administration: scrap the legislation targetting these journalists and maybe, maybe, then you could succeed in painting a rosy all-is-well picture! *