Anguished over shutting of Kashmir Press Club: Editors Guild of India

New Delhi, Jan 18: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) Tuesday said that it was deeply anguished by the shutting down of the Kashmir Press Club by the Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday.

A statement of EGI issued here said that the shutting down of the club was the latest act in a sequence of disturbing events, wherein 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 J&K Police and CRPF, took over the office and management of the club on January 15.

“With the shutting down of the club and government reverting the land to the Estates Department, an important journalistic institution in a region that has seen the worst kind of state’s heavy handedness against any independent media, has been effectively dismantled.

Kashmir Press Club was established in 2018, and already had more than 300 members, making it the largest journalists’ association in the region,” the EGI statement said.

“Kashmir Press Club was an important institution for fighting for protection and rights of journalists. It also remained open through the lockdown, giving journalists access to important facilities like the internet for filing their work, as well as workshops for training young journalists. The shutting down of the club, therefore, sets a dangerous precedent for media freedom.”

It said that the EGI reiterates its earlier demand that the status quo before the January 14 order of Registrar of Societies be restored concerning the functioning of the club and that the state works towards building and protecting the space for a free press.