Jailed Kashmiri journalist gets US Press Freedom Award.

NEW YORK -- The National Press Club, a Washington-based professional and social club for working journalists, has honoured Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan - who has been jailed in India for over a year now for his reporting - with its annual John Aubuchhon Press Freedom Award.

Aasif Sultan, who was imprisoned by Indian security agencies last year in August, is accused of aiding insurgents even though he merely reported on them, the Press Club said.

The police seized his electronic devices and notebooks. They interrogated him about his sources and asked him to become an informant, his editor has said, according to a news release.

"Sultan's case reflects worsening conditions for the press and citizenry in (occupied) Kashmir, a region in northern India that is partly controlled by India and partly by Pakistan," the NPC said in the announcement.

The Indian-controlled section of Kashmir had been semi-autonomous for decades, the Press Club announcement said.

"But the current Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, moved earlier this month to bring the region fully under the central government's control. Modi's government has instituted a crackdown and a communications blackout that has left journalists struggling to report the news, and many have been incarcerated or beaten,"A the NPC said.

"It is completely unacceptable for India to violate the basic human rights of reporters and to...