Govt. says, ‘Will reconsider'
NL Correspondent
Srinagar: The Opposition parties Friday created an uproar in the Lower House and blamed the government for curbing the press freedom through his new controversial advertisement policy after which government said it will examine the New Advertisement Policy.
Soon after the beginning of the question hour, the Lower House saw a ruckus after a strong verbal spat was witnessed between People's Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Ghulam Nabi Lone and Congress legislator, Nawang Rigzin Jora who demanded its immediate roll back.
Blaming the PDP led government for deliberately implementing anti-press policy in the state Jora demanded that policy should be examined.
“Media is the fourth pillar of democracy. The government should revisit the clauses which are being objected. The policy should be examined properly and if possible should be rolled back,” he said
In response, PDP legislator, Ghulam Nabi Lone replied that the policy was not implemented by the present regime. He said that the government will step back if proved that it has implemented the policy in the state.
“If he proves that our government has implemented this policy we will step back then,” he said adding that Jora was ‘misleading' the house.
Nawang Rigzin Jora (Cong) said the government should roll back the advertisement policy if it threatens the fourth estate.
“Media is the Fourth Estate and a vibrant media is necessary for vibrant and strong democratic institutions. You should look into the possibility of roll back or remove the clauses which are objectionable to the media,” he said.
In an apparent reference to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's outburst on reports about Sainik colonies earlier this week, Jora asked the government not to threaten the media.
Jora was equally supported by the legislators of Congress and National Conference who demanded response from the government in this regard.
Later replying to a written question by NC legislator Mubarak Gul, government spokesperson, Naeem Akhter said that the policy was put to the public domain before being approved by the State Administrative Council.
“State Administrative Council after much deliberation approved the Draft Advertisement policy in the state to revise the benchmarks for considering the newspapers for issuance of advertisements,” he said.
Naeem informed that some representations have been received by the government seeking withdrawal of certain clauses of the new Advertisement Policy-2016.
“Opinions were sought from all stakeholders before approving it. We received several representations from stake holders and all these representations are being examined and corrective measures will be taken,” he said.
Later, NC legislator, Mubarak Gul interrupted and took on government by saying that it had a ‘political agenda' behind implementing this policy and the government had brought a new advertisement policy for newspapers with an aim to “curbing” the freedom of press.
“The advertisement policy is being used to muzzle the press. It has been issued without consulting the stakeholders. The government should review the policy,” Gul, a former J-K Assembly Speaker, said.
Akhtar responded by saying, “He should have read it (written reply) in Urdu, instead of English.”
Irked by the Education Minister's remarks, Gul said Akhtar was not the only one who understood and spoke English.
“I am a member of this House since 1983 and he is yet to become a member of this House. It is an insult,” Gul said.
The five-time National Conference MLA continued to target Akhtar but was not audible in the din as many NC and Congress MLAs rose to question the government's advertisement policy.
The Education Minister hit back at Gul, saying he was challenging the Constitution of the state by questioning his membership of the Legislative Council.
“He (Gul) is saying so many things about me as if the Legislative Council is not a constitutional body. He is insulting the Constitution of the state,” Akhtar said.
Akhtar responded, saying, “We have received representations on the advertisement policy and they are under consideration.”
He said that the stakeholders were not satisfied with this policy adding the government should have framed a comprehensive one.
“Many journalists have rendered sacrifice for the development of this institution in the state. The government is behind all the mess in this policy. The government has a political agenda behind implementing this policy and it didn't wished this question to be raised here,” he said.
The argument intensified the spat between Naeem and Mubarak Gul with former saying that the policy was implemented during Governor's rule in the state.
“Jammu and Kashmir had no government when this policy was implemented. When I open my mouth then no one will speak here. Presently the representations are being examined and corrective measures will be taken,” he said.
Naeem was interrupted by the BJP legislator Satpal Sharma who demanded that the policy requires discussion within the House.
Meanwhile CPI (M) state secretary, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said that the policy should be revisited to see further improvements in it.
Later NC legislator Ali Mohammad Sagar demanded assurance from the government to undertake the suggestion from the house.
In reply, government spokesperson said that the government will consider the inputs from all the legislators of the house.
“The new Advertisement policy is a concern. We will examine it and all the inputs will be considered,” he said
The New Advertisement Policy has been termed as controversial, arbitrary, discriminatory and anti-press by the small and medium newspapers who alleged that the policy is a brainchild of some bureaucrats who wanted to eliminate the small and medium newspapers while favoring their favorite newspapers.
