Srinagar, Sep 20: The participants of the high profile all party delegation will arrive to a ‘no-newspaper state’ when they land in Srinagar Monday morning.
Their arrival and the subsequent engagements, however significant, would will go unnoticed in the Valley as the newspapers here are facing a virtual ban because the stringently imposed curfew, beating and harassment of newspaper staff and repeated cancellation of curfew passes has made their operations impossible. Besides this indirect gag on vernacular press, local TV networks as also a foreign news channel have been banned by an official embargo. To continue with the ban on Kashmir media is ostensibly to keep the members of All Party Delegation in dark. Newspapers would obviously publish the miseries of the people and the un-ending curfew in which millions of people have been caged for last three months particularly after Eid.
Press Guild of Kashmir (PGK) Sunday strongly condemned the ban imposed by the government on the publication of Kashmir-based newspapers and other media institutions.
JK Police/STF/CRPF later the evening ransacked the house of Writer-South Asia, editor Sheikh Gulzaar's residence on the Pampore by the CRPF/Police. The family accused the police of ransacked the our property and Van worth Rs. 5 lac, from the house besides thrashing them and Sheikh Gulzaar seriously injured by troops.
Editor's Conference strongly condemn the targeting of the journalists in Kashmir and said that while the state government is brining ‘embedded journalists’ from New Delhi to report what the government wants them to report, the local journalists who portray the actual picture of the current situation in Kashmir are being deliberately targeted.
The Kashmir writers/editors Conference strongly condemns the attack on the Pampore residence of the South Asia Stragic Affairs editor of “Writer-South Asia” .
The Kashmir writers/editors Conference while condemning the attack has termed it as attack on the freedom of the press in the Kashmir which has been under attack from the armed forces since the present turmoil erupted in the Kashmir valley.
At an emergency meeting held here under the chairmanship of PGK president Bashir Ahmad Bashir the meeting deplored the government action to create a situation under which the newspaper publication had been put to halt from September 13 to 18, 2010. A statement issued here by the PGK said even as some of the media houses tried to resume the publication on Saturday but a reign of terror was let loose on them making the distribution of newspapers impossible. “Several journalists and workers of Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Uzma and Buland Kashmir were ruthlessly beaten by the police and some of them were taken to hospital,” the statement said.
It further said that several thousand newspapers are lying in the respective offices as the police chased the distributors and hawkers in their offices during wee hours in the morning. “This has made the intentions of government clear that it does not want that the newspapers are published from Kashmir,” the statement said, adding, “This has not only resulted in huge losses to this industry but also deprived the masses of necessary information during this situation of crisis.”
The meeting, statement said, also condemned the recent attacks on the journalists and ban of local TV news networks. “The meeting was attended by the representatives of Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Uzma, Srinagar Times, Aftab, Uqab, Nida-e-Mashriq, Chattan, Kashmir Images, Kashmir Monitor, Buland Kashmir and Kashmir Life,” the statement said.
Responding sharply to the undeclared ban on local media in Kashmir, Srinagar-based newspapers today expressed inability to publish the newspapers. Online editions of only a few newspapers are being updated but they hardly reach to the majority of population. Hence the people have no choice but to be contended with the “filtered” flow of information from Delhi based channels and newspapers. Press Guild of Kashmir, a noted representative body comprising prominent Srinagar newspapers held a crucial meeting of the editors here on Sunday. “It’s an undeclared ban. The government issues passes, which the police and other forces do not honor. Several newspaper journalists and other staffers have been beaten. The administration has broken its own promise which it had made in July when we suspended publications in protest,” said a PGK functionary adding that it was impossible to publish newspapers. The Journalists are aghast at the indifference exhibited by the government, which is supposed to be a “popularly elected one”. Even as the State Information department does not lose any moment to mount pressure on media to accommodate the press releases of Chief Minister and Ministers but it does not have courtesy to ask about the welfare of the staff of newspaper offices who are facing the wrath of government forces. On Sunday also the department had cheeks to call the newspaper offices to cover the press conference of Law Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar showing disrespect to the institution of Journalism, which is facing worst ever onslaught of government in past 20 years.“This is worse than what we saw in early 90’s when then Governor Jagmohan took on us” said a senior journalist. Kashmir Press Association too has expressed anguish over what it described an “unwritten ban” on local media outlets. “It is ironical to note that the government has adopted a discriminatory attitude and not only facilitated entry of Delhi based journalists but has put all help, assistance and full government hospitality at their disposal so as to ensure the coverage of the events, as it deems suitable. And on contrary scores of local journalists have been thrashed while discharging their professional duties,” said a KPA functionary. The recurrent ban on Kashmir press and discriminatory treatment meted out to the local journalists is being widely condemned by the Kashmir-based media bodies. Five representative bodies of media fraternity of Kashmir viz Kashmir Press Association, Press Guild of Kashmir, Kashmir Writers/editors Conference, Kashmir Journalists Corps, Kashmir Press Photographers Association and Kashmir Video Journalists Association had in July unanimously decided to suspend publications as long as the government continues with its restrictive attitude toward Kashmir press. This is for the third time in last three months that newspapers could not be published due to restrictions imposed by the government. The industry is facing huge losses and many publications had to lay off the staff. “We are at the brink of closure as the strikes called by separatists are continuing coupled with this war on Kashmir media by the government” said an editor of a local daily (Writer-South Asia)
Their arrival and the subsequent engagements, however significant, would will go unnoticed in the Valley as the newspapers here are facing a virtual ban because the stringently imposed curfew, beating and harassment of newspaper staff and repeated cancellation of curfew passes has made their operations impossible. Besides this indirect gag on vernacular press, local TV networks as also a foreign news channel have been banned by an official embargo. To continue with the ban on Kashmir media is ostensibly to keep the members of All Party Delegation in dark. Newspapers would obviously publish the miseries of the people and the un-ending curfew in which millions of people have been caged for last three months particularly after Eid.
Press Guild of Kashmir (PGK) Sunday strongly condemned the ban imposed by the government on the publication of Kashmir-based newspapers and other media institutions.
JK Police/STF/CRPF later the evening ransacked the house of Writer-South Asia, editor Sheikh Gulzaar's residence on the Pampore by the CRPF/Police. The family accused the police of ransacked the our property and Van worth Rs. 5 lac, from the house besides thrashing them and Sheikh Gulzaar seriously injured by troops.
Editor's Conference strongly condemn the targeting of the journalists in Kashmir and said that while the state government is brining ‘embedded journalists’ from New Delhi to report what the government wants them to report, the local journalists who portray the actual picture of the current situation in Kashmir are being deliberately targeted.
The Kashmir writers/editors Conference strongly condemns the attack on the Pampore residence of the South Asia Stragic Affairs editor of “Writer-South Asia” .
The Kashmir writers/editors Conference while condemning the attack has termed it as attack on the freedom of the press in the Kashmir which has been under attack from the armed forces since the present turmoil erupted in the Kashmir valley.
At an emergency meeting held here under the chairmanship of PGK president Bashir Ahmad Bashir the meeting deplored the government action to create a situation under which the newspaper publication had been put to halt from September 13 to 18, 2010. A statement issued here by the PGK said even as some of the media houses tried to resume the publication on Saturday but a reign of terror was let loose on them making the distribution of newspapers impossible. “Several journalists and workers of Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Uzma and Buland Kashmir were ruthlessly beaten by the police and some of them were taken to hospital,” the statement said.
It further said that several thousand newspapers are lying in the respective offices as the police chased the distributors and hawkers in their offices during wee hours in the morning. “This has made the intentions of government clear that it does not want that the newspapers are published from Kashmir,” the statement said, adding, “This has not only resulted in huge losses to this industry but also deprived the masses of necessary information during this situation of crisis.”
The meeting, statement said, also condemned the recent attacks on the journalists and ban of local TV news networks. “The meeting was attended by the representatives of Greater Kashmir, Rising Kashmir, Kashmir Uzma, Srinagar Times, Aftab, Uqab, Nida-e-Mashriq, Chattan, Kashmir Images, Kashmir Monitor, Buland Kashmir and Kashmir Life,” the statement said.
Responding sharply to the undeclared ban on local media in Kashmir, Srinagar-based newspapers today expressed inability to publish the newspapers. Online editions of only a few newspapers are being updated but they hardly reach to the majority of population. Hence the people have no choice but to be contended with the “filtered” flow of information from Delhi based channels and newspapers. Press Guild of Kashmir, a noted representative body comprising prominent Srinagar newspapers held a crucial meeting of the editors here on Sunday. “It’s an undeclared ban. The government issues passes, which the police and other forces do not honor. Several newspaper journalists and other staffers have been beaten. The administration has broken its own promise which it had made in July when we suspended publications in protest,” said a PGK functionary adding that it was impossible to publish newspapers. The Journalists are aghast at the indifference exhibited by the government, which is supposed to be a “popularly elected one”. Even as the State Information department does not lose any moment to mount pressure on media to accommodate the press releases of Chief Minister and Ministers but it does not have courtesy to ask about the welfare of the staff of newspaper offices who are facing the wrath of government forces. On Sunday also the department had cheeks to call the newspaper offices to cover the press conference of Law Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar showing disrespect to the institution of Journalism, which is facing worst ever onslaught of government in past 20 years.“This is worse than what we saw in early 90’s when then Governor Jagmohan took on us” said a senior journalist. Kashmir Press Association too has expressed anguish over what it described an “unwritten ban” on local media outlets. “It is ironical to note that the government has adopted a discriminatory attitude and not only facilitated entry of Delhi based journalists but has put all help, assistance and full government hospitality at their disposal so as to ensure the coverage of the events, as it deems suitable. And on contrary scores of local journalists have been thrashed while discharging their professional duties,” said a KPA functionary. The recurrent ban on Kashmir press and discriminatory treatment meted out to the local journalists is being widely condemned by the Kashmir-based media bodies. Five representative bodies of media fraternity of Kashmir viz Kashmir Press Association, Press Guild of Kashmir, Kashmir Writers/editors Conference, Kashmir Journalists Corps, Kashmir Press Photographers Association and Kashmir Video Journalists Association had in July unanimously decided to suspend publications as long as the government continues with its restrictive attitude toward Kashmir press. This is for the third time in last three months that newspapers could not be published due to restrictions imposed by the government. The industry is facing huge losses and many publications had to lay off the staff. “We are at the brink of closure as the strikes called by separatists are continuing coupled with this war on Kashmir media by the government” said an editor of a local daily (Writer-South Asia)
