{"id":6573,"date":"2016-10-25T20:43:43","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T15:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kashmir.today\/?p=6573"},"modified":"2016-10-25T20:43:43","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T15:13:43","slug":"lift-ban-kashmir-reader-sooner-better-kashmir-scribes-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=6573","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lift Ban on Kashmir Reader, Sooner The Better,\u2019 Kashmir Scribes say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srinagar:<\/strong><\/em> A silent protest by scribes on Tuesday at Press Enclave marked the 23rd day of ban on publication of daily the Kashmir Reader<\/em> newspaper.<\/p>\n

Journalists working in Kashmir, most of them wearing black masks over their faces as a mark of protest, demanded immediate revocation of the ban on the daily.<\/p>\n

On October 3, 2016, the publication of Kashmir Reader<\/em> newspaper was suspended after a government order banned the owner from publishing citing, \u201cits publication disturbs peace in the region\u201d \u2013 the charge denied by its editor.<\/p>\n

The ban order was issued by the district magistrate, Srinagar, invoking Section 3 of Newspapers Incitement of Offences Act, 1971 and Section 10 of Press and Publication Act, 1989, on grounds that the publication of the daily can \u201ceasily incite acts of violence and disturb peace and tranquillity\u201d. The order was served to the owner, printer and publisher of the newspaper on Oct 2nd<\/sup> late evening.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on the occasion, senior Journalist Zahir-ud-din said, \u201cit is highly unfortunate that government has not lifted the ban (on Kashmir Reader<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (ban) speaks of their indifference and apathy but we assure our people that we will not succumb,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cwe will continue to report the truth. We will continue to report the situation in its right perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not succumb to these cheap machinations,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is in the interest of the government to lift the ban; better understand it sooner the better,\u201d he said, \u201cotherwise it is just exposing their tall claims of democracy and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ban evoked widespread condemnation.<\/p>\n

Apart from making it to global publications, the ban was condemned by global watchdog bodies like Amnesty International<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The reputed journalist body like Editors Guild of India<\/em> also condemned the ban, asking CM Mufti to \u201creview the ban\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kashmir Editors Guild<\/em> termed the government order, banning the newspaper, as \u201cvague and unclear about the charges for which such a harsh step has been taken\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout taking recourse to any other institution in place like court, Information department, they (government) straight away banned the newspaper on a flimsy charge like inciting violence,\u201d Hilal Mir, the editor of Kashmir Reader<\/em>, has said.<\/p>\n

Mir said that government has not specified \u201clike which report they are referring. It is amply clear from ban on a small newspaper that the so-called democratic institutions are in a crisis in Kashmir\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many global Journalist bodies termed the ban on Kashmir Reader<\/em> as \u201ccensorship\u201d and \u201cagainst\u201d the principles of democracy.<\/p>\n

The South Asia Media Solidarity Network<\/em> standing in solidarity with the working journalists and editors of Kashmir condemned the \u201cattempt to silence\u201d Kashmir Reader<\/em>, saying, \u201cthe ban must be immediately revoked and the Kashmir Reader<\/em> be allowed to publish unhindered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, the working journalists of Kashmir observed silent sit-ins and took out solidarity marches against the ban. They also held a peaceful protest outside director information\u2019s office in Srinagar urging him to revoke the ban.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear friends,\u201d a mail sent by Kashmir Reader<\/em> management earlier this morning said, \u201cas you are aware, Kashmir Reader<\/em> was banned on October 2. Since then, thanks to the efforts of the Kashmir Editors\u2019 Guild<\/em>, we have been in touch with the government regarding the revocation of the ban. During its meeting with the CM, the Guild<\/em> emphatically pressed for immediate revocation of the ban. Subsequently, the Guild<\/em> met (and also remained in touch) with some senior officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, the mail added, many of our working colleagues stood by us by participating in protests and through other means also.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite all these efforts, the government is not forthcoming on when the ban would be lifted. Kashmir Reader<\/em> is therefore holding a protest in this regard on Tuesday (October 25, 2016) at press enclave at 4pm.\u00a0 We request you to participate in the protest so as to press the government to revoke the ban.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Srinagar: A silent protest by scribes on Tuesday at Press Enclave marked the 23rd day of ban on publication of daily the Kashmir Reader newspaper. Journalists working in Kashmir, most of them wearing black masks over their faces as a mark of protest, demanded immediate revocation of the ban on the daily. On October 3, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-union-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}