Jammu and Kashmir government has told the Centre that there is no ban on publication of newspapers in the Valley, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Tuesday, amid the alleged clampdown on media in Kashmir.
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Hitting out at Pakistan for observing “black day” over the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, various political, social and religious organisations today staged protests here.
Newspaper editors denounced the government action and termed it “gagging and enforcing emergency on media”.
The newspaper ban captured worldwide headlines and the news was widely reported by dailies across the world.
Sources close to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told IANS that “internationalisation of the Kashmir issue” prompted the state government to review the decision.
The legal fraternity has condemned the atrocities of Indian armed forces on occupied Kashmir and urged the government to play its due role in pressing the issue at worldwide forums.
“I am very thankful to the committee members for making arrangements of food for us”, said Manzoor Ahmad, who is attending a patient in the Bone and Joint Hospital. The information void was fueling a cycle of rumors in the restive region.
In the next phase, he said it would leave for Muzaffarabad and Chakothi in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to raise voice for freedom of Kashmiris.
Mehbooba Mufti’s political advisor Amitabh Mattoo, after the Monday meeting, telephoned nearly all the Srinagar-based newspaper editors and publishers, “apologizing” and asking them to resume publications.
“Sometimes decisions taken at a local level is not something the highest authority approves of”. Later, Education Minister Naeem Akther had met the editors and asked them not to bring out editions for next three days as movement of newspaper staff and distribution of newspapers was not possible because of strict curfew restrictions across the Kashmir Valley. “Is it a convincing statement that she was kept in the dark about it?”
Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday closed down the offices of at least two printing presses after seizing plates of newspaper and printed copies in Rangreth Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Srinigar.
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“The current PDP-BJP coalition government is a contributing factor in the current situation in Kashmir”.
