Press Guild of Kashmir criticises restrictions

The Kashmir Valley will again have no newspapers on Monday as the authorities have put restrictions on the mediapersons. Four newspapers were published on Sunday but their staff were allegedly beaten up and the distribution was affected.

The Press Guild of Kashmir (PGK), a representative body of newspapers and working journalists, has condemned the virtual ban imposed by the government on the publication of Kashmir-based newspapers and other media institutions.

At an emergency meeting held here under the chairmanship of PGK president Bashir Ahmad Bashir, the Guild deplored the government action. “Some of the media houses tried to resume publication on Sunday. But the police beat up several journalists and workers of four newspapers and some of them were taken to hospital. Several thousand newspapers are lying in the respective offices as the police chased the distributors and hawkers during the early hours of Sunday,” a statement issued by the PGK said.

This had made the intentions of government clear that it did not want newspapers to be published from Kashmir. “This has resulted in huge losses to this industry and also deprived the masses of necessary information during this crisis. The meeting also condemned the recent attacks on the journalists and ban on local TV networks.”