JALANDHAR: Panic has gripped media circles in the state following certain militant bodies giving one week’s ultimatum to all newspapers published and distributed in Punjab asking them to cease publishing news photographs and advertisements issued by the state government. This “order” was ostensibly given to counter the governments and declared censorship in the state.

A two-page handwritten letter in Gurmukhi issued by the Panthic Committee (Zaffarwal) and its allied organisations has threatened newspaper owner’s editors and journalists with “dire consequences” in case they “violated” this code. The militants who had earlier given March 18 as their deadline have now given a week’s time to the media in Punjab “to fall in line”. This grace period has been described by them as a breather.

The militant outfits have also declared that they would be closely monitoring all newspapers published from the circulated in Punjab for the next one week to check whether or not their fresh directives were being followed.

The letter was received by most newspapers editors here in their offices through registered post. The letter was accompanied by a threat to publish it in full. The letter is issued in the names of all the five Panthic Committee (Zaffarwal) members the chief of the Deshmesh Regiment and the Khalistan Commando Force (Zaffarwal).

E A R L I E R ULTIMATUM: We had given an earlier ultimatum of March 18 for restoration neutrality and withdrawal of censorship in the state. But this has not happened and we suspect the involvement of the anti-Sikh Press in this regard” the note said while condemning the censorship imposed in the state.

The militants alleged that the present governor Gen. OP Malhotra was attempting to suppress the Sikh struggle. “He is harboring the mistaken belief that the militants struggle shall be crushed through Press censorship. But we want to tell him that he will never succeed in this venture” the statement said.

The militants pointed out that the Press was their only medium of communication with the people and the government. Hence they had now asked the media not to publish any government advertisement press note photograph speech and reports of press conferences by any government officer and even the views and claims of government officials.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 29, 1991