Though curbs on media are as old as is the post 1947 history of Jammu & Kashmir but these days Kashmir media is facing encroachment from the government authorities on social networking sites as the pages of newspapers, news agencies and news portals are blocked and unpublished for what the Face book authorities call ‘local policy violation’. Kashmir Horizon has become the latest target of new encroachment policy of the local authorities in Jammu & Kashmir as its Face Book Page remains blocked and unpublished for about last 15 days for what the face book authorities call “local policy violation”. Had the government of Jammu & Kashmir presently commanded and controlled by Governor Satya Pal Malik put in public domain its policy on use of facebook, twitter, instagram and other social networking sites by newspapers the editors and page admins of the newspapers, news agencies and news portals would have taken care of the restrictions the state government has put on the use of social media sites including face book by the newspapers. Since Kashmir Horizon is not the first newspaper to see its face page blocked and unpublished but fb pages of some newspapers and news agencies were blocked and unpublished in the past also and unblocked later on request by page admins. Surprising it is that when requested FB authorities confirmed the republishing of the Kashmir Horizon’s page but the page expected to go public was not displayed publicly on Facebook giving enough indications of some intervention by the authorities of Jammu & Kashmir Government.
Even naives can understand that the page of Kashmir Horizon can’t be unblocked and republished without the permission of the concerned quarters of the Jammu & Kashmir government , So the decision to allow the unblocking and republishing of Kashmir Horizon page lies obviously with the Jammu & Kashmir Government and better it would for the Governor’s administration to put in public domain the policy it has devised for the newspapers, news agencies and news portals for use of fb, twitter and other social networking sites so that page admins of newspapers , news agencies and news portals take care of the government’s guidelines on use of social networking sites including facebook.
Absolutely surprising it is that though media houses in Kashmir are not aware about any government policy on the use of social networking sites including face book by newspapers but surprisingly policy violation is cited a reason for blocking and unpublishing the page. In 2018 the year that end just few days back the fb pages of a news agency JKNS (Jammu & Kashmir News Service) , news portals Free Press Kashmir and Kashmir Wala were blocked and unpublished but the pages of news portals Free Press Kashmir and Kashmir Wala were unblocked and republished on request. The fb pages of JKNS and Kashmir Horizon however continue to be blocked as the pages were not unblocked and republished even after formal request by the page admins and while JKNS has created a new fb page the Kashmir Horizon has not created a new page as yet. While we would like our viewers on face book to bear with us till the Kashmir Horizon page is unblocked and republished by the authorities the decision to create a new page would be taken after a final response from face authorities to page admin. Even naives can understand that the page of Kashmir Horizon can’t be unblocked and republished without the permission of the concerned quarters of the Jammu & Kashmir government , So the decision to allow the unblocking and republishing of Kashmir Horizon page lies obviously with the Jammu & Kashmir Government and better it would for the Governor’s administration to put in public domain the policy it has devised for the newspapers, news agencies and news portals for use of fb, twitter and other social networking sites so that page admins of newspapers , news agencies and news portals take care of the government’s guidelines on use of social networking sites including facebook.
