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J&K govt cancels building, land allotted to Srinagar’s Kashmir Press Club
Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday cancelled the allotment of building and land which housed Srinagar’s Kashmir Press Club, two days after it was taken over by a small group of journalists.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday cancelled the allotment of building and land which housed Srinagar’s Kashmir Press Club, two days after it was taken over by a small group of journalists flanked by the police.
The government said that it wanted to avoid a law and order situation after “rival groups levelled various allegations against each other”. The premises have been handed over back to the estates department.
The government had faced criticism after the forcible takeover of the KPC premises by a group of journalists led by M Salim Pandit and accompanied by armed policemen on Saturday. The Editors Guild of India termed the forcible takeover by the group a ‘coup’ while former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti went on to tag it as a “state-sponsored coup”.
“…The rival groups have been levelling various allegations against each other also with regard to the use of the premises belonging to the estates department that was being used for the legitimate use of the members of the journalistic fraternity. In view of this aspect of the dispute and in view of the reports in social media and other sources indicating a potential law and order situation, including a threat of breach of peace and the safety of bona fide journalists, the intervention has become necessary,” the government said in a statement issued through the information department.
Although the two-year term of the 11-member executive and management body of the 300-member strong club, which was elected in 2019, had ended last year in July, they said they could not conduct fresh elections immediately owing to mandatory re-registration of the club which was asked by the authorities.
The takeover by the ‘disgruntled’ group, alleged to be supported by the local administration, had come a day after the administration suspended the KPC’s re-registration certificate - which had been issued by the authorities after seven months on December 29.
Nine journalists’ bodies of Kashmir, including the elected Kashmir Press Club body, had termed the takeover as “illegal and arbitrary”.
The government statement said the KPC as a registered body has ceased to exist and its managing body, too, has come to a legal closure on July 14, 2021, the date on which its tenure came to an end.
It said in view of the “dissensions between various groups of journalists, it has been decided that the allotment of the premises at Polo View in view of the now deregistered Kashmir Press Club be cancelled and control of land and buildings situated at Polo View, Srinagar, which belongs to the estates department be reverted to the said department”.
“The government is committed to a free and fair press…and also hopes that a duly registered bona fide society of all journalists shall be constituted as soon as possible and the same shall be able to approach the government for reallocation of the premises,” the statement said.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said in a tweet: “It seems that the coup and its aftermath was entirely orchestrated to shut down another outlet that served as a medium for journalists to debate and discuss their opinions freely. With every passing day, all the safety valves to express dissent are being muzzled.”
