960419

Kashmiri

editors to defy

govt order

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri newspaper editors announced here on Friday that they would defy a government ban on publishing statements issued by Muslim freedom fighters.

Representatives of the local Kashmiri media, in a statement released after an emergency meeting, said they had no choice but to continue to publish communiques from these organisations.

"We have decided to carry out our professional duties," they said, accusing the government of putting them in a "Catch 22-type" situation.

The state administration on Thursday warned editors of possible legal action if they published statements issued by freedom fighters in the run-up to parliamentary elections in the state next month.

The order also banned the publication of obituaries of slain Muslim freedom fighters or "secessionist-related material".

"This is a clear attempt to curb the freedom of the press," said Manzoor Anjum, the Editor of the Urdu daily Uqaab.

Ved Bhasin, Editor of the English daily The Kashmir Times, said the government order was a fresh bid to curtail press freedom in Kashmir.

The state authorities have opened about 400 sedition cases against Kashmiri newspapers over the years and editors here complain that they are starved of government advertisements in a bid to choke them financially.-AFP