LAHORE: SAFMA Secretary General Imtiaz Alam has condemned the crackdown on two newspapers in Indian-held Jammu Kashmir and demanded to lift all restriction on news media.
According to SAFMA, two of its member newspapers in Jammu Kashmir have been raided by police and seized their printed copies and arrested their employees – a clear act of choking and gagging media. According to the Kashmir Times, over 20 policemen raided its office at Rangreth area in Srinagar outskirts at midnight and arrested its printing press foreman Fayaz Ahmed and 10 other employees.
“The policemen seized the metallic printing plates of the Kashmir Times and more than 70,000 printed copies of the Kashmir Times and closed down the KT Press Pvt Ltd printing press,” the newspaper said. “Cops misbehaved with the employees present there and snatched their cell phones. The employees who tried to resist were beaten up by the policemen,” the newspaper said.
Another leading newspaper, also said that police raided its printing press at 2am, seized its printed copies at midnight and detained persons. The police also seized copies of the Rising Kashmir newspaper early this morning and raided its press at Sheikhpora in Budgam area. The government has already suspended mobile internet and telephony services across the disputed state.