The sealing of the Srinagar office of the Kashmir Times is reprehensible and has disturbing implications for the media of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Editors Guild of India has said.

The Guild calls upon the government of Jammu and Kashmir to restore status quo and create circumstances in which media can function without hindrance and without fear, said a statement issued by the Guild’s president Seema Mustafa, general secretary Sanjay Kapoor and treasurer Anant Nath.

“Newspapers and magazines in the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir were already ravaged by conflict, with editors and correspondents working against difficult odds. Publications have steadily lost advertising over the last decade. Jammu and Kashmir’s communication shutdowns, followed by the pandemic lockdown, have totally stopped the trickle of revenue. The online editions are crippled by the slow internet speed imposed by the government,” the Guild pointed out.

The Kashmir Times, a 55-year-old publication, was forced to shut down its Srinagar edition in March. Instead of assisting the media, which was most needed in these dark times, the administration without any notice took control of the office of the Kashmir Times, putting its lock on the door,” the Guild said.

The newspaper editor, Anuradha Bhasin, and the staff have been denied access to records, computers, furniture and equipment in the office. The Guild considers the action of state administration vindictive and injurious not just to the Kashmir Times, but also to the entire free media in the Union Territory, the Guild added in the statement.