Srinagar: Taking a serious note of the frequent snapping of internet facility to the media, Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) on Tuesday said the objective of the ban is aimed at subverting an institution and preventing it from recording the history of the most crucial period.
Snapping of the internet services has, off late, become more frequent.
In a statement issued after an emergency meeting, the KEG conveyed to the government that internet is not a luxury but a basic requirement of life in general and media in particular. It is a tragedy of democracy in Kashmir that in the twenty-first century, the media in Kashmir is being pushed to Broadband begging when it is being considered as a fundamental right of individuals elsewhere in the world.
For the last two days KEG has spoken to almost everybody who matters in J&K. Every time, we were assured of the service being restored to media but it did not happen for 46 hours. KEG considers the frequent snapping of the service as an informal gag as most of the time that media spends in news gathering was consumed in knocking at different doors of the government for restoration of the service.
KEG stated that a formal system be put in place to prevent security set up from meddling into the affairs of the media every time, they fail to manage the street. The media body has raised this issue many times in the hope that the government at the appropriate level would take a call on this and create a system that will prevent recurrence of banning the service.
Ideally, rationing broadband to the media on the whims and wishes of individuals, mostly government employees, is disrespect to the constitution that sees media holding a pillar-status in a democratic set-up.
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