Srinagar, July 18, KNT: While local newspapers across Kashmir are being systematically denied government advertisements—on laughable grounds like WhatsApp group activity, those who once claimed to be defenders of democracy have chosen complete silence.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by Mehbooba Mufti, has utterly failed to even acknowledge, let alone raise, the pressing issue of press strangulation in the Valley.
Kashmir News Trust (KNT) attempted to contact Mehbooba Mufti at least six times in the past few days. Not one call was returned. Her spokespersons too have conveniently disappeared, as if instructed to stay away from anything that makes the party uncomfortable. This isn’t just indifference, it’s abandonment.
Dozens of newspapers, some running for decades, are being financially choked by the administration without any due process. Editors and publishers allege that the government is denying them ads based on surveillance of WhatsApp forwards or personal affiliations of staff—none of which is listed in any official policy. The result: families of journalists, designers, printers, and delivery staff have gone months without salaries.
“PDP used to talk about press freedom when it suited them politically. Now that the entire media industry is on the brink, where are they?” asked a senior editor who recently laid off half his staff.
Ironically, it was the PDP that once projected itself as a bulwark against repression. Today, when the press is gasping for breath under bureaucratic bullying, they are nowhere to be found—not in the Assembly (when it existed), not on the streets, not even on social media.
“What’s worse than a government is an opposition that pretends nothing is happening,” said a veteran journalist based in Anantnag.
“The PDP seems more interested in polishing its image on TV than protecting the institutions it once claimed to care about.”
The party’s selective outrage and lack of grassroots presence raises serious questions: Has the PDP become too comfortable with its own irrelevance? Or worse, is its silence a quiet compromise?
Either way, the people, and the press, have been left to fight alone. [KNT]
