The Jammu and Kashmir government has decided to lift the ban on newspaper Kashmir Reader and allow it to resume publication. Editor of the daily Hilal Mir told Scroll.in that the publication had received verbal confirmation of the decision and was awaiting a formal order.
“We are awaiting formal orders because the ban order was issued formally,” Mir told Scroll.in. “The printing presses also need a formal order to resume publication.” The editor further said that Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, the director of information of the Jammu and Kashmir government, had spoken about their move to revoke the gag order with their bureau chief, after nearly three months since the daily was banned from being published.
Choudhary told The Indian Express that Kashmir Reader had made a representation before the government and sought permission to resume publication. “The case was examined and the government was satisfied that there was no further need to disallow its publication,” he said, adding that a formal order revoking the gag on the Srinagar-based newspaper will be issued within a couple of days.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had ordered a ban on the publication of the Kashmir Reader on October 2. “On the basis of credible inputs, it has been observed that the daily newspaper namely Kashmir Reader published within the jurisdiction of district Srinagar contains such material and content which tends to incite acts of violence and disturb public peace and tranquility,” said the order, according to a post on the Kashmir Reader’s website.
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