Srinagar, Oct 03 (KNS): KCSDS on Monday strongly condemned the govt dictat to printing presses to stop printing and publication of ‘Kashmir Reader’ failing which punitive action will be taken against them.
The KCSDS in a statement issued to KNS said that the order, issued by district magistrate Srinagar, says that publication of the said paper can “easily incite acts of violence and disturb peace and tranquility”.
This view the order further says is based on credible inputs that it contains material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquility.
They said that without giving any credible evidence of the allegation the govt is actually gagging the voice of the people. “The paper to our knowledge put before public the well researched and in-depth analysis and verified each and every detail of the violations of human rights and the protest demonstrations that were held in the last 86 days in the length and breadth of the state,” they said.
They further stated that it truthfully and faithfully covered all the happenings in a professional manner. “It was this paper which for the first time reported from the ground zero of Damhal Hanjipora of what had actually happened which led to the public attack on the very small police station after the police had brutally killed Yasmeena while she was trying to save her brother from their clutches,” they said.
The statement further said that the allegation of incitement to violence is a mere excuse to throttle the public voice which spoke through this paper and many others. “This is a covert warning to other largely circulated papers to fall in line and avoid telling the truth of the current situation.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelIt has never published any such material that could disturb peace. The cruel irony is that what peace and tranquility is there in Kashmir that it could disturb! The govt having miserably failed to respond to the public uprising through civilized and democratic methods is squeezing every space and every institution and inflicting all kinds of cruelties on public to impose the peace of graveyard,” they said, adding that it is a direct attack on freedom of speech and expression along with other invasions on people’s rights and their properties.
They said that the killings and blinding have not satiated the blood thirsty govt forces and have now arrested over 8000 youth to quell the uprising whose relatives are made to go from pillar to post to locate their dear ones at a huge cost. “The govt has simply declared war on her so called own people. The latest war crime committed against them is the destruction of their food grains and horticultural produce which provides them sustenance. By destroying their means of livelihood state govt has touched the nadir of depravity and crossed all limits,” they said.
KCSDS demands the immediate restoration of the publication of Kashmir Reader, the release of all the detained youth and an immediate end to the deliberate destruction the apple and paddy produce that people have cultivated with sweat and blood to sustain themselves. “We warn othen the govt of the day to stop such tyrannical acts to restore her writ in the state as this would only add to the already accumulated fury, hatred and utter disdain for the govt and her agencies,” they said. (KNS)