SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Sunday ordered closure of a prominent English newspaper, Kashmir Reader, citing maintenance of “public tranquility” as the reason.
The decision shocked journalists from the Valley, who said that the government had ordered banning a newspaper for the first time in three decades of conflict. Deputy commissioner, Srinagar, served a notice to the newspaper and asked its printer, publisher and owner to abstain from printing till further orders so that “disturbance of public tranquility is prevented”.
The DC blamed the newspaper for publishing material that “tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquility”. The official also threatened to forfeit the printing press and other properties if the orders were not complied with.