Srinagar, Sept 8: For the past three months, police has prevented distribution of newspapers on several occasions in the Valley.

 The distributors of local dailies told Greater Kashmir that since June 11, police have been frequently stopping them from distributing newspapers to various districts by seizing the copies at entry points.

 “They seized copies five to six times in North and South Kashmir and did not allow distribution in Tangmarg twice,” the distributors said.

 “Many a times they detained drivers along with newspapers and then released the copies in evening or next day,” they said.

 The said that hawkers were prevented from distribution in Srinagar city despite having valid curfew passes.

 “What is the fun of seizing newspapers when people get information within seconds due to latest communication gadgets? They couldn’t restore normalcy in North Kashmir even after stopping mobile services and newspaper distribution,” they questioned. 

 In July, newspapers were not published for four consecutive days as Government denied curfew passes to journalists.

 The seizure of newspapers has caused colossal losses to Valley-based media organizations and also hit the livelihood of hundreds of distributors and hawkers.

 “We incurred heavy losses by seizure of copies. They are hell bent on snatching our livelihood,” they said.

 When contacted, Director Information, Farooq Ahmad Renzu said that Government has assured that there would be no problem in distribution of newspapers.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 8 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 9 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST