Minister for Information, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali has felicitated the newly elected office-bearers of the Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG).The Minister extended his felicitations to Fayaz Ahmad Kaloo, Chief Editor, Greater Kashmir for being elected as the President of KEG.Chowdhary Zulfkar also felicitated Bashir Manzar, Chief Editor, Kashmir Images for being elected General Secretary of the Guild. He also felicitated the newly elected Vice-Presidents of the Guild Bashir Ahmad Bashir, Editor, Srinagar Times and Sajjad Haider, Editor, Kashmir Observer.Meanwhile, the Information Minister has also welcomed the reconstitution and expansion of Jammu Newspaper Editors Guild led by Mr Raj Daluja of State Times and Mr A K Sawhney of Journey Lines. "I personally feel pleasure with the formation of these Editors Bodies to take care of the institution of journalism in the context of ideals of freedom of expression, service to people and social accountability," he said.
The Minister said that he will be looking forward to build on and strengthen a healthy relationship with the media fraternity in the State. “I will be looking forward to the cooperation of various bodies of editors and working journalists to build on a supportive relationship between the media and the government in the larger interest of the public welfare,” he said and added that he envisions a joint platform of newspaper editors from both the divisions of the State to highlight the issues facing them in an institutionalized mechanism.To hash-out the issues confronting the media in the State, the Minister said the process for constitution of a State Media Advisory Committee has already been set into motion which will have members from all sections of the media as also from the government. He said once put in place, the Media Advisory Committee shall be meeting periodically to discuss the issues and workout the solutions.