New Delhi: Editors Guild of India Tuesday said the Press Council of India should withdraw the move taken “unilaterally” by its chairman C.K. Prasad to back a communications shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir by intervening in a plea in Supreme Court that seeks to end such restrictions.
“Specifically, the Guild expects the chairman of the Press Council of India to rescind his unilateral decision, apparently taken without consulting Council members, to intercede in a case in the Supreme Court concerning extreme and unrelenting restrictions placed on the media in Jammu and Kashmir,” the Guild said in its statement.
Last week, the Press Council sought to intervene in a petition filed in Supreme Court by Kashmir Times executive editor Anuradha Bhasin saying it supported the ban on media coverage in J&K and that it was “in the interest of the integrity and sovereignty of the nation”. Bhasin’s petition sought an enabling environment for journalists and mediapersons in J&K.
A communication blackout was imposed in the region following the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state into two union territories.
The Guild also said that the Press Council is “perversely arguing for a media clampdown in the name of national interest”.
In its statement, the Guild said it is “gravely concerned that the Press Council of India, an institution created to safeguard press freedom is not only failing to speak up for it but is perversely arguing for a media clampdown in the name of national interest. This, at a time when reporters on the ground are being targeted for doing their job”.
A free media, the Guild said, is “very much in the national interest” because it “offers a reliable feedback loop to those in charge of governance, keeps the citizenry well informed so as to ensure responsive governments, and acts as a safety valve for the expression of frustrations or criticism that can grow if attempts are made to suppress them”.
‘Ascertain trying circumstances in J&K’
Press Council chairman Prasad had said in his plea that “reasonable restrictions” on free speech are acceptable when news, comments or information are likely to endanger state interests.
However, soon after the chairman moved the court with his plea, some members of the Council came out to say that the views of all the members weren’t taken before filing this plea.
The Guild condemned the “unilateral” nature of this decision, and said the PCI should rescind it.
The Guild also urged the Press Council to “objectively ascertain the trying circumstances in which the press is working in Jammu and Kashmir”, and to “lend its moral and institutional weight to help ease the restrictions that stand in the way of fair and accurate reporting.”
Also read: Kashmir lockdown ‘draconian for vibrant local media’, says Editors Guild
Let the police handover Srinagar to Editors Guild to talk to localities peace. I am sure they will be stoned to death by insurgents.