Srinagar, July 10: The media persons on Saturday staged sit-in here to protest against the government curbs imposed on them and decided to suspended publications of newspapers, till government assures free movement of journalists and withdraws cases registered against them.
Wearing black armbands, the journalists, working with local, national and global news agencies staged sit-in at Press Enclave here to protests against the gagging of media by the government. After a joint meeting of the various press associations, senior journalist Zaffar Meiraj said that they have decided to suspend the publications of newspapers till government allows free movement of local journalists.
“The government claims that restrictions have been lifted on media are hoax. The government should seek an apology from journalists for harassing them and we condemn the attitude of government of banning the movement of local media and at the same time facilitating the movement of journalists who have arrived from New Delhi to cover the situation,” he said.
“They are treated as special guests and allowed to roam everywhere because they report which best suits the government,” he said, adding that government should revoke FIR registered against media persons particularly News X reporter, Suhail Bukhari.
“The government is using undemocratic ways to curb media here only because they have reported objectively. The photojournalists are beaten, the news bulletins of local channels are restricted,” said another senior journalist.
 The newspapers of valley couldn’t bring out print editions for past three days, due to curbs imposed by state government.
 Day before, the government claimed of lifting the curbs on media by issuing curfew passes to media persons, but editors of valley based newspapers ridiculed their claim and decided to suspend the publication, till authorities issue sufficient number of curfew passes for the staff members and distributors.

REPORTER BOOKED
 Jammu and Kashmir Police Saturday registered a case against a private television channel and its reporters for allegedly “running incorrect news about the death of a person in police firing.”
 An FIR was filed in Pulwama police station against NewsX and its correspondents for running a “wrong news about the death of a youth in police firing” despite repeated assertions by police that no such incident had taken place. PTI

CPJ CONDEMNS CURBS
 “Authorities in India must immediately address complaints from local journalists in Kashmir who say they are being stopped from covering the government crackdown on protests,” Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement today.
 “It is illogical to restrict the movement of some journalists and not others,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “There is no justification for authorities to stop reporters from doing their job in Kashmir—whether they are locally based or are covering the story on assignment from another region.”
 In a joint message today, the groups said the government’s claims that it had eased the restrictions were “eyewash” and that only some editors, but not field reporters, had been allowed to move during curfew hours. The groups said that many of the area’s more than 60 newspapers decided to suspend publication because of the small number of curfew passes issued to staff and continued attacks on media.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST