M S Nazqi
Early Times Report
MENDHAR, Nov 12 : Local media persons, representing J&K dailies and TV channels, were barred from entering the office premises of Returning Officer (RO) for Mendhar here today.After Maroof Khan, PDP candidate from Mendhar assembly segment, entered the RO's office to file his nomination papers, the local media persons, who were accompanying him to cover the event, were stopped at the entrance and not allowed to go inside. Despite repeated requests, Mendhar SDPO, DSP SurinderChoudhary did not allow them to enter the premises. However, after making them to wait there for about half an hour, they were allowed to enter the premises. But they were again not allowed to enter the office chamber of the RO and returned from the verandah.Later, the media persons boycotted the event in protest.
Maroof was taken to the RO's office in a procession. Mendhar MLA and PDP vice-president RafiqHussain Khan was also part of the procession. As he was not keeping well, he asked the DSP to let him enter the RO's premises in his vehicle but the latter rejected his plea. He then alighted from the vehicle and covered the distance between the entrance and the RO's office on foot.The media persons later brought the matter to the notice of district information officer WaqarTalib, who said they were allowed to enter the RO's office to cover the event. |
