The Press Club of India, in a letter to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on January 19, has termed as extremely unfortunate the armed takeover of the Kashmir Press Club on January 14, 2022.

The letter draws the LG’s attention to the lack of response from the administration to multiple representations made by journalist groups, including the Editor’s Guild of India and several Press Clubs, flagging the suddenness of the events that unfolded on January 14 and their illegality, considering that the incumbent elected body was given no prior notice of the takeover.

PCI has also expressed concern that instead of responding to the questions that were raised, the J&K administration unilaterally revoked the registration of the Kashmir Press Club and seized control of the land allotted to the club, without granting the democratically elected body a chance to make its case. What is most troublesome, PCI pointed out to the LG, is that a factional war within journalist groups was presented as the front behind which the administration executed its coercive action. This, PCI added, was done weeks after Kashmir Press Club’s registration was renewed and just when the club authorities had announced fresh elections to its executive body.

PCI referred to the events that unfolded at the Kashmir Press Club as patently illegal and requested Lieutenant Governor Sinha’s urgent intervention to restore the land and registration of the Kashmir Press Club. It also urged the LG to ensure that the club be allowed to hold free and fair elections in the interest of transparency and democratic functioning, and for the sake of journalists in J&K who remain committed to the profession despite the difficulties they face and the sensitivities of the region they serve.

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