The International Federation of Journalists yesterday condemned “government censorship, press blackouts and restriction of journalists’ social media accounts” in Punjab as a fallout of the search for Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh. It described these moves as “dire impositions on press freedom and democracy in India”.

In a statement, the group urged Indian authorities to “respect freedom of expression and access to information and immediately cease all restrictions on journalists and media workers”.

The crackdown on Singh has spanned two weeks so far. The fugitive leader went live on YouTube yesterday saying he won’t surrender, two days after the Punjab government told the high court it was “close” to arresting him.

Multiple Twitter accounts have been withheld in India during this search for Singh, including accounts belonging to journalists. Most recently, BBC Punjabi’s Twitter account was withheld in India on March 28 “in response to a legal demand”. Internet services were also shut down in some areas.

The International Federation of Journalists, which cited Newslaundry’s reports on the crackdown, said 2023 has seen “significant challenges to fundamental freedoms of expression and the press in India”, such as the raids on the BBC’s offices in India and detentions of journalists Sanjay Rana, Jaspal Singh and Irfan Mehraj. Mehraj was “arrested on spurious terrorism financing charges”, the federation said, and is “one of several Kashmiri media professionals arrested since the revocation of Kashmir’s special status in 2019”.

But before Amritpal Singh went on the run, he sat down with Newslaundry for an interview and said he does not “relate to this country”. Watch the interview here.