Outside Kashmir Press Club on Monday. (PTI/File)THE EDITORS Guild of India (EGI) on Tuesday expressed anguish over the shutting down of Kashmir Press Club by the government, saying that the space for media freedom and active civil society has been steadily eroding in Kashmir.
“The shutting down of the club is the latest act in a sequence of disturbing events, where the ‘re-registration’ of the club was first arbitrarily put ‘in abeyance’ by the Registrar of Societies on January 14, followed by the shocking breach of institutional norms when a group of people, with the active support of state police and CRPF, took over the office and management of the club on January 15,” it said.
“With the shutting down of the club and government reverting the land back to the Estates department, an important journalistic institution in a region that has seen the worst kind state heavy handedness against any independent media, has been effectively dismantled.”
“Space for media freedom and active civil society has been steadily eroding in the region,” it said. “Journalists frequently face intimidation from terror groups as well as the state. They are also charged under heavy penal laws, and are routinely detained by security forces for reporting or for their editorials.”
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