J&K Govt Takes Control of Kashmir Press Club After ‘Takeover’ by Journalists

Srinagar: Two days after a group of journalists escorted by some armed security personnel took over the Kashmir Press Club (KPC), in Srinagar, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) government cancelled the allotment of the premises at Polo View and handed over the building to the Estates Department on Monday citing “threat of breach of peace and safety of bona fide journalists”.

“In view of the unpleasant developments and dissensions between various groups of journalists, it has been decided that the allotment of the premises at Polo View of the now deregistered Kashmir Press Club (KPC) be cancelled and control of land and buildings, which belongs to the Estates Department, be reverted back to it,” a government spokesman said.

Elections to the club were delayed last year after the government had asked the KPC to re-register under the Union Territory laws, Shuja-ul-Haq, ex-president, KPC, had earlier said. Despite issuing fresh registration on December 29, 2021, the Registrar of Societies put it in abeyance on January 14. On January 15, less than a dozen members of the KPC arrived at the building and appointed themselves as a new body saying the club was “not functioning properly”.

“Concerned” over the turn of events involving the two rival “warring groups” in the club, the J&K administration said that the KPC, which has more than 300 members, had ceased to exist with its tenure ending on July 14, 2021. “In these circumstances, issuing of notices and communication by any group using the rubric of erstwhile KPC is illegal,” the spokesman added.

The group’s action was widely condemned by, at least, seven local journalist bodies that represent more than 300 media professionals, including those not affiliated with the KPC, Editors Guild of India, Delhi Union of Journalists, Mumbai Press Club and Press Club of India.

Following the incident on Saturday, the KPC building was locked. The closure has triggered serious concerns among the local journalists with some even terming it as KPC’s “abrogation”. “This is a part of the larger crackdown and the intimidation tactics employed by the authorities to silence ground reporting. We will continue to work the same way with or without the press club,” a journalist requesting anonymity told Newsclick.

CPI (M) state secretary Ghulam Nabi Malik criticised the administration for the unwanted intervention. “The press in Jammu and Kashmir is already under immense stress. Professional journalists strongly feel that it is impossible for them to do normal reportage. Journalists should be encouraged to perform their task without duress,” he told Newsclick.

The KPC was considered a key advocate of press freedom in Kashmir, which has witnessed harassment and intimidation of several journalists who were summoned by the police in the last two years. Recently, the body had raised serious concerns about the safety and security of journalist Sajad Gul, who was arrested from his home in Bandipora district on January 6 for posting a video of a family shouting anti-India slogans, according to multimedia weekly magazine The Kashmir Walla, after Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Saleem Parray was eliminated in Harwan earlier this month.

Despite a magistrate granting bail, Gul was not released and later booked under the controversial Public Safety Act, 1978, (PSA), under which an accused can be detained for up to two years without trial. He has since been shifted to Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal Jail. 

“We have filed a fresh bail application in Sumbal court, which has sought a report from the concerned police station. Once we get documents pertaining to his detention under the PSA, we will file a habeas corpus petition in honourable High Court and seek quashing of his detention,” Gul’s lawyer Umair Ronga told Newsclick.

Photo by Kamran Yousuf