From: HARAN BR
Date: Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 12:31 AM
Subject: J&K: Oppressing a free press - Sandhya Jain / Comment from Former Governor Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha
To:
http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1577
J&K: Oppressing a free press
Sandhya Jain
08 Jan 2011
NC-Congress regime penalizes Early Times
It is a measure of the insecurity of the Omar Abdullah government in Jammu & Kashmir that, despite an impressive mandate, the regime has for the past one year been actively harassing the news daily, Early Times, denying government advertisements without tangible rationale other than the fact that the paper has failed to serve as a virtual mouthpiece of the ruling dispensation in the state. Management and staff members are routinely humiliated on one pretext or other, and repeatedly told to project Chief Minister Omar Abdullah 'properly' by giving him ample space on the front page, else there will be 'consequences'.
In behaviour surpassing the infamous Emergency of 1975, senior management officials are harassed at the personal level as well. Senior government personnel have openly warned the management to stop taking up public issues and conform to the comfort levels of the rulers. This has naturally caused dismay to the management as in the nine years of its existence Early Times has established a niche among readers in Jammu & Kashmir as a bold and independent journal that takes the lead in highlighting issues of public importance. It has the second largest circulation in the state.
... deleted
Temple triggered row
What brought matters to a head, however, was the publication of news item of an attack on a temple at Anantnag last year. This was based on the Press Release of the Police Control Room, and other publications also carried the news.
Publication by Early Times, however, became the pretext for government launching a virtual harassment campaign against the daily, with authorities sealing both the Press and Office of the newspaper on July 1, 2010 vide order DCJ/camp/2010/001-03. No notice was served on the management; they were just handed a copy of this dictatorial order when they sought to know the reasons for sealing of their premises. Indeed, the formal notice was issued only after the seizure of the Press and the Office.
... deleted
Sources hint that the new IGP is receiving directions from a particular quarter and has been asked to harass the management of Early Times to the greatest extent possible. New intimidatory tactics have begun…
Now that he is back from his London holiday, we hope Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will apprise himself of developments in the state and rein in officials who believe in rule by terror, and immediately stop the harassment and humiliation of media professionals doing an honest job. Recently, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the august court had erred in declaring that the citizens' right to liberty could be suspended during an Emergency; Mr Abdullah should take his cue from this and cease victimization of a newspaper that is trying to serve and reflect public opinion.
A healthy democracy needs freedom of speech and opinion, and above all, independence of thought and bold articulation. Media veterans in the country should rise to defend a liberty we have all guarded zealously in all these decades since independence.
The writer is Editor, www.vijayvaani.com
Comment: -
Dear Shrimati Jain, Thank you for your well written piece on Early Times. I regularly read your articles in The Pioneer and I find myself in agreement with your well articulated views. Today, I am perhaps the oldest living man with a long and intimate association with Kashmir. I went to Kashmir as a Major on Day One that is, 27 October 1947. On that day we were only 300 strong at Srinagar airfield when the enemy at Baramulla was 10,000 strong. I organised the airlift of troops from Safdarjung airport in Delhi to Srinagar grass landing ground in fifteen days. This was the limited window of opportunity available to us because winter was fast approaching and due to snow the landing ground would become unusable. Eight hundred sorties were flown in fifteen days. That saved Kashmir. I was connected with the planning and conduct of operations that lasted for over a year in 1947-48. I went to the UN Conference as the Secretary of the Indian delegation for delineating the Cease Fire line in Kashmir in 1949. I served thereafter for over 12 years in different ranks in Jammu and Kashmir, in all its regions. From 2003 to 2008, I did a full term as Governor of the State for five years. Given this background I am not surprised to read what you have written about Early Times. Newspapers in the Valley like Greater Kashmir and Rising Kashmir keep pouring venom against India. They constantly indulge in false anti-India propaganda. Yet they get generous State assistance in the form of advertisements and other concessions. Of course our national media ignores all this in the name of secularism. We have lost the media war in Kashmir long ago and all my efforts to change the bleak situation in this regard came to nought due to the apathy of the Centre. I hope your article about Early Times will focus national attention on the assault on freedom of the Press. However I confess that I do not have much hope of our Soft State doing anything in the matter. Regards
Lt Gen (Retd) S K Sinha 08 Jan 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment