‘Stop press’ in Kashmir

While four people died in Kashmir on Monday and more than a 100 were injured, no ink will be spilled to register them on Tuesday. The Valley is under a strict curfew and so is its printing press. In the past when gun battles and encounters were rampant on the streets, newspapers never stopped publishing. But now, for the first time, no paper from Kashmir will be published.

More than 10 journalists have been injured by the CRPF since Sunday and many more beaten at checkpoints. “It looks more like a curfew on the freedom of expression,” says Fayaz Kaloo, editor and publisher of Greater Kashmir. Vehicles carrying the newspapers on Sunday were not allowed to reach Lal Chowk. Like the streets, newspaper offices and printing presses are deserted too. “It is a forced holiday for journalists when they should be reporting. It is a black day in the history of press in Kashmir,” says local journalist Naseer Ganai.

Wedding hell in Srinagar

For Umar Manzoor Baba — a computer analyst working in Cardiff in the United Kingdom— his wedding on Sunday turned out to be more of a chore than a celebration. While he was making the festive journey from Srinagar to Baramulla to bring his bride home, a contingent of police and CRPF personnel refused to accept his curfew pass and subjected him and those in his cavalcade to half-an-hour of questioning and searches.

“Kashmir has changed. For God’s sake, it is my wedding” he said. “I have never seen such restrictions here.” But Baba was lucky, since many of the 200 weddings in Srinagar that day had to be cancelled. “It is sad but what can we do?” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, Syed Ahfad-ul-Mujtaba. “We cannot do micro-management for 14 lakh people.”