After the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, when almost all political leaders were in custody, a senior IAS officer was holding press briefings almost every day. He would justify everything바카라the communication blackout and the arrests, including the arrests of three former Chief Ministers, Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. It seemed that the officer loved his job. He would appear in a new suit every day. But unlike his suit, his answers were always the same.
When asked why the three former chief ministers were in custody if the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was normal, he would say: 바카라The situation is dynamic and the government is responding to the dynamic situation.바카라 When asked why the internet was shut down and the communication blockade continued if the situation was normal, the officer would repeat the same line. The 바카라dynamic answers바카라 became a pattern after a while. And boring.
The reporters hoped every day that he would say something new, but he never said anything except 바카라the situation is dynamic and the government is responding to the dynamic situation.바카라 And, after saying this, he would look in the direction of fellow officers and smile, perhaps amused with his own 바카라dynamic answers.바카라 Those days, the local newspapers would carry articles of 바카라yours faithfully바카라 reporting that 바카라the situation is dynamic and normal, says government spokesperson바카라 almost every day.
For some time after the abrogation of Article 370, the government, under Satya Pal Malik, continued with the practice of such press conferences, but later, it wound up its own 바카라dynamic press conference exercise바카라 and turned its attention to journalists바카라either filing cases against some of them or arresting many of them.
The Kashmir Press Club would regularly raise issues pertaining to press freedom, but then a few people from within the journalistic community decided to stage, what was described by media reports as, a 바카라coup,바카라 against the 바카라press club바카라.
Then there was a fire in a nearby police station, and the police shifted one of its offices to the Press Club that was locked by the Estates Department. No one knew when the Club바카라s doors were opened to accommodate the police office.
In his first press conference on January 3, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah talked about the limited powers of his government under Union Territory and insisted that the Centre should fulfil his commitment to restore statehood. However, his focus also remained on press freedom. 바카라My wish is to see a free and open media that can report facts on the ground without interference, without pressure, and without receiving calls, why or how something was written,바카라 he said.
While hinting at the plight of the media in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, Abdullah added: 바카라This interaction is a step in that direction. Nobody sitting here, at least as far as I know, has been told what they can and can't ask. Nobody has been given a slip of paper and asked to put바카라this question. You are free to put your hands up and ask whatever you like. Whether I can answer it or not바카라is a different matter.바카라
Though the chief minister gave detailed responses to a number of questions raised by journalists, he also described many concerns raised by them as mere rumours. He elaborated by saying that because it is very cold in Srinagar and people are keeping themselves warm with kangris and by sitting in hamams, they have all the time to spend rumours. That might be true, but only to some extent.
Not all rumours floating in the Valley are baseless. In 2019, there were rumours that all political leaders would be arrested. The then-Governor Satya Pal Malik dismissed it as a rumour. Malik would dismiss every concern as a rumour. But on August 5, 2019, all these 바카라rumours바카라 turned into reality. Omar Abdullah was taken into custody. One of the charges in his dossier was that he had the potential to influence people to vote.
His dossier writer at the time seemed to have believed that it is a rumour that Omar has the potential to convince people to vote. However, little did he know that six years later, those rumours would come true, with the National Conference, under Omar Abdullah바카라s leadership, winning with a landslide margin. In a nutshell, in Srinagar, it바카라s unwise to dismiss rumours outright, no matter how 바카라dynamic the situation바카라 may seem to be.
It is too early to say how the coming years will unfold in Jammu and Kashmir under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Questions remain about whether the press freedom he has promised will truly allow journalists the space to operate independently under the dual governance system and whether his government will reopen the Kashmir Press Club.
Many journalists believe that reopening the club would not only provide a much-needed space for their work but also serve as a symbolic move, showing the Abdullah government바카라s intent to restore an institution closed after the abrogation of Article 370. However, two months into the new administration, there has been no progress on this front.
