Strict curbs shut out media in Valley

Srinagar: For the first time in two decades, all media offices in the Valley remained shut Wednesday as the government has put strict curbs on movement of journalists in Srinagar.

Not honouring its own curfew passes, the state government didn't allow movement of journalists in the curfew-bound city. As a result, there are unlikely to be any editions of the Valley's newspapers on Thursday.
It is for the first time that the state has put such strict curbs on the movement of the media. During the 2008 unrest, Valley newspapers hadn't come out for several days, but the movement of the media was not restricted to this scale.
From early Wednesday morning, J&K Police, CRPF and Army prevented the movement of mediapersons, saying their curfew passes had been cancelled by the state administration. The few who tried to take photographs had their cameras snatched by J&K Police, which also threatened them with action.

"There is complete restriction on the movement of mediapersons and a siege has been laid around the offices. As such no newspaper would be published on Thursday," said Yasir Arafat, the General Manager of Rising Kashmir, one of the leading English dailies of Srinagar.
The CRPF said they were only following instructions. "The decisions about curfew are taken by the civil administration," said Prabhkar Tripathi, the PRO of the Force, when asked why the curfew passes were not entertained.

A contingent of J&K Police led by a Station House Officer also appeared at Srinagar's Mushtaq Press Enclave and asked journalists to stay inside, snatching their cameras. On Tuesday, police and CRPF men had reportedly beaten up six journalists at Tengpora area of Srinagar. Two of the journalists were injured and had to be shifted to hospital.

Lawyers threaten to boycott court

The J&K High Court Bar Association Wednesday said it would boycott courts from Thursday to protest arrest of its president Mian Qayoom and the recent killings in the Valley. The Bar also threatened to launch an agitation like that by Pakistani lawyers against the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Qayoom was arrested from his house in a midnight raid.