Govt authorities lock leading newspaper “Kashmir Times” office in Srinagar
Another attempt to murder freedom of the press has been carried out by govt officials on Oct 19, in Jammu & Kashmir when authorities sealed the office of a prominent daily in Jammu and Kashmir that was allotted to it in a government building in Srinagar, with the newspaper owners claiming that the due process of law was not followed.
The Estates Department sealed the office of ‘Kashmir Times’ at Press Enclave without giving any reason for their action on Monday, officials said.
Politicians termed the action as the Central government’s effort to silence those speaking out and an attempt to muzzle press freedom in the region.
The sealing comes a week after a flat allotted to the newspaper’s editor in Jammu was allotted to the brother of a former legislator by the Jammu and Kashmir’s Estates Department.
“Today, Estates Deptt locked our office without any due process of cancellation & eviction, the same way as I was evicted from a flat in Jammu, where my belongings including valuables were handed over to ‘new allottee’,” tweeted Anuradha Bhasin, 52, executive editor of the Kashmir Times.
“Vendetta for speaking out! No due process followed. How peevish!” she wrote.
