Barring Kashmiri journalists from R-Day venue ‘unprecedented state-sponsored attack on press freedom’: EGI

New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Monday termed the barring of Kashmir journalists from R-Day venue in Srinagar as an “unprecedented state-sponsored attack on press freedom”, even as it demanded an inquiry into “how such lapses were allowed to take place.”
In a statement, EGI condemned “the arbitrary manner in which several senior journalists of Jammu and Kashmir were denied entry into the stadium in Srinagar to cover the Republic Day function being held there on January 26.”
“It is shocking that many of them were stopped from entering the stadium to perform their professional duty in spite of their possessing entry passes issued by the state government’s Information Department,” the statement said.
The EGI said it was equally deplorable of the state government’s earlier decision to deny entry passes for covering the Republic Day function to many other senior journalists.
The EGI also sought an assurance from the government that such reprehensible acts would not be repeated.
“If necessary, a fool-proof and non-discriminatory system of issuing entry passes to journalists to help them perform their professional duty in high-security areas must be introduced at the earliest,” the statement added.