Days After Blocking Reporting On Najjar's Murder, Indian Government Denies Visa Extension To Australian Reporter (image@AvaniDias)Avani Dias, South Asian bureau chief of ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News was told that routine visa would be denied. The Indian government made the announcement days after it blocked Dias reporting of the killing of Sikh separatists Hardeep Singh Najjar in Canada last year. Dias was notified about the decision via a phone call from an official at the Ministry of External Affairs, who claimed that her recent Foreign Correspondent episode “crossed a line”.
The said episode was about killing of Najjar which caused major global dispute between India and Canada, after the latter accused Indian government officials involvement in the murder. The episode is blocked in YouTube India, along with related news story.
Reportedly, India overturned the decision and renewed Dias’ visa for two months after weeks of lobbying by Australian diplomats and office of the Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. The decision was overturned in less than 24 hours before Dias was due to leave the country.
Taking to her X (formerly twitter), Dias sad she had to leave India abruptly because “The Modi government told me my visa extension would be denied”. She said they were also told that her election accreditation would not come through because of an “Indian Ministry directive. We left on day one of voting in the national election in what Modi calls “the mother of democracy”.
Last week, I had to leave India abruptly. The Modi Government told me my visa extension would be denied, saying my reporting “crossed a line”. After Australian Government intervention, I got a mere two-month extension …less than 24 hours before my flight. 1/2
— Avani Dias (@AvaniDias) April 22, 2024
In an episode of her podcast, Looking For Modi, Dias said it felt too difficult to do her job in India and was struggling to get into public events run by “Modi’s party, the government wouldn’t even give me the passes I need to cover the election and the ministry left it all so late, that we were already packed up and ready to go”.
She accused that the Narendra Modi government did everything by design. She said, “it’s by design. The Narendra Modi government has made me feel so uncomfortable that we decided to leave”.
Reportedly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has cracked down on international media who have reported on Najjar’s killing in recent months, ahead of the Lok Sabha election which commenced on April 19. Avani Dias was told that she breached her visa by making a “documentary”, despite her and other reporters of ABC has filed 30-minute long pieces for the program for years without any issues. It is to note that other channels also make episodes of same length on current affairs without any issues.
The ABC crew were questioned by the Indian Criminal intelligence officials about their reporting and were blocked from filming a public event in Punjab, said NEWS.
Reporters Without Borders has earlier warned that “press freedom is in crisis” in India. It is noted that an average of three-four journalists are killed in the country in connection with their work every year.
Earlier, the government of India blocked a BBC documentary which examined the role of PM Modi in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The Finance Ministry accused the British Broadcaster of tax evasion and three day search was held in the Delhi and Mumbai offices in last February, weeks after the documentary was aired.