The Government has recently asked NDTV’s Bureau Chief Nazir Masoodi, Reuters senior representative Fayyaz Bukhari and Associated Press’s Aijaz Hussain, who have been occupying sprawling bungalows in Srinagar without meeting the required criteria, to vacate them at the earliest.
According to a report in Organiser, these journalists have been enjoying government bungalows, without meeting the necessary criteria, since it has been allotted to them by the previous government in lieu of their “journalistic services”. However, since such benefits cannot be extended under any rule of the government, their stay is clearly illegal. And taking this into consideration, the government has now asked these journalists to vacate the government accommodation immediately.
This decision has obviously irked the group of journalists who have until now enjoyed the entitlement given to them by the past governments. The Kashmir press club, a motley group of entitled journalists, has now accused the state government of victimizing these journalists by asking them to vacate the government accommodation.
The Kashmir Press Club has said in an official statement that the government’ order to vacate the bungalow is “nothing but harassment aimed at coercing journalists to ‘toe a particular line'”.
Interestingly, this protest spearheaded by Press club of Kashmir has been backed by the Press Club of India and Editor’s Guild too.
It is notable here that many Indian and international journalists have been echoing Pakistan’s statements over the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.
In fact, it was NDTV’s Nazir Masoodi, whose report from Srinagar was used by Pakistan’s ruling party PTI to peddle their anti-India propaganda. Masoodi, without showing video clips or naming persons, had claimed tha he has been talking to locals in Srinagar and they are just waiting for security to be relaxed to start violent protests against India.
The NIA, during its investigation into terror funding cases, had also reportedly stated that many members of the Kashmir Press Club and the Kashmir Editor’s Guild are being funded by ISI.
Many journalists from Kashmir and from outside have also been desperately tring to pass off blatant fake news to claim civil unrest in Kashmir and have been trying to build up a narrative that the Indian security forces are unleashing atrocities in the Kashmir valley.
As normalcy is returning back to Kashmir, the ‘liberal-secular’ forces seem to be in discomfort and have now resorted to putting pro-Pakistan agenda to discredit the Narendra Modi government’s decision to correct the historic blunder.