Srinagar Jan 16: The “interim body” of the Kashmir Press Club on Sunday sharply reacted to what it termed a “malicious propaganda by a section of media quarters” asking the Editors Guild of India, the Press Club of India and the Mumbai Press Club in particular to “know the other side of the story before jumping the gun”.
The ” interim body” comprising ournalists — M Saleem Pandit as president, Zufliqar Majid as general secretary and Arshad Rasool as treasurer have said that the previous elected body had served its tenure for a period of two years, which ended on July 14, 2021, and the elections were delayed for unknown reasons. It said the KPC had been rendered “defunct”.
The Editors Guild of India, Mumbai Press Club and Delhi Union of Journalists on Sunday condemned the “forcible” takeover of the Kashmir Press Club.
The Press Club of India has appealed to the LG Manoj Sinha to intervene and facilitate the Club elections.
In a counter-reaction, the “interim body” said it was “unfortunate that esteemed Editors Guild of India has gone by one-sided version over the smooth takeover of Club by its founding President till the elections of the otherwise defunct institution whose term ended six months ago, are held”.
“The interim body took over the defunct Club on January 15 on the popular demand of the journalist fraternity who were otherwise facing problems on numerous fronts. The journalists wanted the institution be headed by founding president who had played pivotal role on the establishment of the Club, and other working journalists of repute to pave way for much awaited elections,” the body said.
Terming the entry of armed forces into Club for a ‘coup’, a “figment of imagination”, the interim body said: “The reality is that the policemen shown in the pictures were PSOs of one of the journalists. Moreover, it was a day of Covid lockdown in Srinagar district and on finding unusually big presence of visitors at the Club, the local police station was enforcing SOPs outside the club on the main road. So who were the ‘armed forced to have barged’ into the Club? Or is a Press Club supposed to be above law?”
The interim body said “what was even shocking is that the worthy Editors Guild of India, the Press Club of India and Mumbai Press Club instead of adhering to journalistic standards of verifying the other side of the story came up with a half baked and sensational statement as if some “government sponsored coup” had really taken place.
“The Editors Guild of India never bothered to inquire as to why the Kashmir Press Club was defunct for the last six months but jumped the gun when the Club was taken over by an interim body for the conduct of free and fair elections. We expect such esteemed institutions to behave even responsibly for places like Kashmir where concocted stories like ‘armed coup’ can jeopardise the lives of innocent journalists working between the devil and deep sea,” the interim body said.
The body further said it was “open to any scrutiny over the interim takeover but that bias in issuance of statements without verification of ground reality amounts to nothing but “malicious propaganda.”