SRINAGAR: No newspaper was printed in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday even as the state administration denied having gone for a three-day media ban–and blamed the non-publication on a “miscommunication” on the part of the police.
On Tuesday, Amitabh Mattoo, who is the political adviser to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, said the government had not imposed any press gag–an argument the media in the Valley is not willing to buy.
According to the Hindustan Times, the newspapers in held Jammu and Kashmir — English, Urdu and Kashmiri — have now refused to publish, saying the government “must own up the ban it imposed” on Saturday.
“Just saying that it was some ‘miscommunication’ is not enough. For, it has now become a question of our integrity being questioned,” said Rashid Maqdoomi, printer and publisher of Greater Kashmir, the Valley’s largest-circulating daily.
“We want the government to own up the ban and get the assurance that there will not be hurdles in staff movement and distribution of the newspapers. We want it in black and white that a ban was imposed and it has been completely lifted,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ, an independent watchdog body, has called on authorities in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir to stop harassing and obstructing the media, and lift the ban on newspaper operations.
.jpg)