Srinagar, December-03, 2020: Editors and publishers of almost all the daily and weekly newspapers representing 7 newspapers associations today held an extraordinary session in the conference Hall of the Kashmir Press Club to deliberate on the issue of continued harassment of the media persons especially the owners/publishers/editors by the government through the Department of Information and public relations, Government of J & K. The speakers from about 100 participants expressed their anger and anguish over the latest exercise which has been undertaken by the State Information Department to create discrepancies regarding the current circulation of various publications to nail and de-list them from the panel of the department. The editors narrated their ordeal which they faced during the last 15 months of Lockdowns and restrictions in Kashmir valley. They said, “we were forced to close our publications, firstly post abrogation of Article-370 & 35A on 5th August 2019 onwards and then around March this year to follow the government guidelines/SOP’s to fight Covid-19. The speakers highlighted their commitment to the cause of journalism and also their contribution to fight against the spread of Covid-19 by upgrading their publications on an electronic medium, through which they have enrolled subscribed manifold as compared to the print version, although they continue with the print editions also. All the publications have upgraded to the reader-friendly online versions through web-portals and E-papers. The speakers referred to the government of India’s guidelines and the changed world phenomenon to shift to the electronic version only to prevent the people from Coronavirus.
All the representatives of 7 organizations elected Rasheed Rahi as the Chairman of the coordination committee titled as “NEWSPAPERS COORDINATION COMMITTEE”. It was then unanimously decided to make the government understand our point of view, for which Chairman Rasheed Rahi was authorized to hold meetings with government representatives to stop them from this kind of onslaught on the fourth estate of Democracy. It was also unanimously vowed that if the government continued its repressive policy against media, the media will fight it tooth & nail unanimously, as this is not only the issue of earning bread & butter for our families but to secure the sanctity of our noble profession.
Later, a 7 member committee was formed to represent the Newspapers Coordination Committee which consists of;
Rasheed Rahi Chairman
Zahoor Gulzar (Rep. State Press Forum) Member
Javed Ahmad Shah (J K Press Association) Member
Imtiyaz Ahmad Bazaz (J K Media Guild) Member
Feroz Ali (J K Editors Member)
Muzaffar Khan (Editors Federation) Member
Sarfaraz Ahmad (Jammu Media Association) Member
The seven-member committee later met under the chairmanship of Rasheed Rahi and unanimously decided to allocate important portfolios/ appoint office bearers of the organization. The names and portfolios are:-
1. Imtiyaz Ahmad Bazaz Spokesperson
2. Arshid Mir Co-ordinator
3. Feroz Ali Secretary
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