The owners and editors of Kashmir newspapers met on Tuesday for more than two hours to review the press emergency imposed by the government on printing and distribution of newspapers. “It started with the raids on our printing facilities – seizing newspapers, plates and even detaining the printing staff along with during the intervening night of 15 and 16 July. The ban was later formalized by the senior cabinet minister and state government spokesman saying that in the backdrop of strict curfew restrictions across Kashmir, the movement of newspaper staff and distribution of newspapers will become impossible. In adverse climate that the government enforced, newspapers ceased publications immediately,” they said.
They said that on Monday, Chief Minister’s Adviser Prof Amitabh Mattoo approached us insisting that it was a “mistake” for which he apologized.
“At the same time, however, the state government resorted to propaganda blitzkrieg insisting that there was no ban. They used all the available media to hit the credibility of the newspapers that has a history of not ceasing its publication even when it members were killed,” they said.He said that editors took this issue very seriously. They asked Prof Mattoo that the government must own the ban and issue a statement guaranteeing that media operations are not being hampered from the movement of staff, to newsgathering, printing and the distribution of the newspapers.We have not heard anything from anybody in the government since then. It indicates that the government has not changed its press emergency.In wake of these developments, the editors and the owners of the newspapers regret that it may not be possible for us to resume publication of newspapers. We will review the progress on Wednesday. (KNS)