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| Fourth estate fumes over SP's statement | | `No scribe works for police' | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 23: The Fourth Estate is in fumes. This time over the `irresponsible' statement of a senior police officer who said reporters and photojournalists in Srinagar were on Army and IB pay rolls. However, he did not say how many journalists worked for police.
The statement was issued by Sp North City, Showkat Shah Friday evening after two photographers including a foreigner were arrested when they were covering violent clashes that erupted in old city after Friday prayers.
Hurriyat chairman, Syed Ali Geelani had urged the people to observe Friday as martyrs day. Soon after the congregational prayers at historic Jamia Masjid, hundreds of youth assembled in Nowhatta Chowk and Roysed slogans. The police responded by tear smoke shells.
Meanwhile, police detained and beat up a freelance photo journalist- Showkat Shafi. Shafi, 25, was covering an assignment for a popular international channel- Aljazeera.
Another photographer, Narciso, who works for the American press agency-Zuma- was also detained from Nohwatta. "I was standing there. As the protestors hurled stones, I took a back seat. Narciso was shooting the clashes."
SP, North city, Showkat Shah confirmed that they have detained the photojournalist from the old city. "He was leading from the front with the pelters that is why we have detained him," Shah told news men. The SP said that "individual photographers and reporters were on the pay rolls of army and Intelligence Bureau and other vested interest groups."
The journalistic fraternity has taken serious note of what it called `irresponsible' statement of the police official. A senior journalist while expressing shock said: "The police should refrain from making such irresponsible statements in a sensitive place like Kashmir. This is as good as issuing a death warrant." The journalists have demanded an apology from the `erring' SP.
Another journalist made a sarcastic comment. "The SP admitted the inefficiency of the police. While Army and IB had people to work for them, the police had failed to cultivate sources in the Fourth Estate", he said. |
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