‘Illegal coup’ in Kashmir Press Club: Editors Guild of India condemns ‘police complicity’
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir: The last two days were very tense for Jammu and Kashmir and especially the Press Club of Jammu and Kashmir (KPC). On Friday, suddenly news spread in the Valley that some journalists are going to hold a meeting in the Press Club of Kashmir in which they can elect the next President of the club.
After some time suddenly police officers were stationed outside the club thinking “there will be law and order situation tomorrow” without giving any reason for their concern. The situation of concern among the people increased when suddenly a contingent of armed soldiers was deployed there on Saturday afternoon. Soldiers patrolled there on foot and in vehicles all afternoon. When asked about the reason for posting, he only said ‘when the sahib comes, he will leave from there’. ,
According to the Newslaundry report, in no time a group of 11 journalists started gathering inside the press club, one by one. By about 1:45, the former interim president of the club, Salim Pandit, arrived there with a bulletproof ambassador and his security personnel including Scorpio.
This was followed by a meeting inside the Press Club, within an hour of which it was announced on the club’s official WhatsApp group and mail that “different journalists of the Valley have tentatively formed a body in which it is decided It has been decided that senior journalist Pandit Salim will run the Press Club of Kashmir with Zulfikar Majeed as the President, Zulfikar Majeed as the General Secretary and Arshid Rasool as the Treasurer till the next elections are held.
Pandit Salim justified the coup by saying that “nothing is going well in the press club in the last six months, everything has gone bad”. Many people also accused him that he was doing this at the behest of someone, to which Pandit Salim replied, “I am not doing it at the behest of anyone and this my Allah knows.”
The Editors Guild of India is aghast at the manner in which the office and the management of Kashmir Press Club, the largest journalists’ association in the Valley, was forcibly taken over by a group of journalists with the help of armed policemen on January 15, 2022. pic.twitter.com/D6zVW7iW1P
— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) January 16, 2022
Pandit Salim reiterated it many times that till the next elections are held, this interim body will run the Press Club of Kashmir. But when asked when the next election would be held, he did not say anything.
On this whole situation, the Press Club of India has issued an official letter through Twitter, writing that the Press Club of India is very concerned about the incidents in the Press Club of Kashmir. We want that elections should be conducted peacefully and democratically in the club. We appeal to Manoj Sinha, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, to take this entire matter into his notice and conduct elections at the earliest. ,
