New Delhi, July 13: Prominent media personalities have condemned the ‘ham handed policy’ of the J&K government to muzzle the Press in state.
 In a statement, the professionals of Print and Electronic media declared their unstinted support for the struggle of their counterparts in Kashmir and expressed concern at the manner in which the administration tried to curtail press freedom by withdrawing curfew passes, beating journalists and photographers in the valley and also lodging cases against local reporters. The statement warned the administration to desist from such attempts and asked it to ensure that no impediments were placed in the free functioning of the media in J&K.
 They criticized the government for lodging cases against local television reporters and demanded that these cases be urgently withdrawn.
 The statement noted with concern the alleged attempts made by different elements to divide the media between local and non-local professionals in Kashmir and reiterated that media professionals throughout the country were united and expressed compete solidarity with their counterparts in the state in their fight against attempts to curtail press freedom.
 The statement was issued following a meeting of media professionals to take protest against media atrocities in Kashmir and express solidarity with their struggling fellow professionals in the valley. The meeting was organized by Jammu and Kashmir Media Forum alongwith the Press Club of India and was conducted by Rahul Jalali convenor of the Forum.
 Amongst the prominent journalists who attended this meeting were Sidhartha Vardarajan, Hindu, Anil Anand DNA Seema Mustafa News X Parvez Ahmed President Press Club of India Ifthikar Gilani Kashmir Times, Sheikh Manzoor senior Journalist and nearly fifty other professionals.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST