JALANDHAR: The Press in Punjab and its capital Chandigarh finds itself in a terrible bind. The Press is trying to survive and carry out its task as best as possible. There is growing apprehension and nervousness among journalists and all those connected with the newspaper industry.
The government action including police raids on newspaper offices and seizure of thousands of freshly printed copies of The Tribune group of publications at Chandigarh and Ajit and Aj Di Awazat Jalandhar in recent weeks has kicked up a big controversy. Journalists and non-journalist employees of The Tribune group have marched through the streets of Chandigarh and lodged a protest with the Governor Gen O.P. Malhotra against the assault on the freedom of the Press. A dharna by newsmen belonging to various newspapers has been staged in front of Punjab Raj Bhavan against the “undeclared censorship”. In Jalandhar too employees belonging to Ajit and individuals belonging to various organisations have also taken out & protest procession
While the Press at Chandigarh has reacted to the development with restraint and tried to take it in its stride the newspapers at Jalandhar have reacted with characteristic abandon resulting in a sharp division in its ranks. A fierce debate has begun on what constitutes an attack on the freedom of the Press: threats and pressures from the militants or police raids in search of “objectionable material”? Editorials and counter-editorials have become a daily feature and emotions tinged with fear of reprisals run high. In the battle lines which have been drawn here Ajit seems to be fighting a lone battle for its right to publish what it deems right. All others including the Hind Samachar group of newspapers the “Left” Press Milap and Partap as well as Akali Patrika and Aj Di Awaz differ with Ajit on what constitutes the freedom of the Press.
Ajitis a mass circulation Punjabi newspaper with a daily print order of nearly two lakh copies. Edited and managed by Mr Barjinder Singh Hamdard son of late Sadhu Singh Hamdard who founded the newspaper Mr Barjinder Singh was the first editor of Punjabi Tribune before he shifted to Jalandhar He has tried to run the newspaper along secular lines even though most of its readership belongs to one community. Through sheer hard work coupled with shrewd business sense he has managed to push its circulation to the two-lakh mark. A part of the circulation has been gained at the expense of Jagbani which has recorded a sharp fall following” the militants campaign against the Hind Samachar group of newspapers,
Mr Barjinder Singh is clear and firm that he would not bow to the government. He feels that the militant viewpoint must not be shut out completely. As a matter of fact, like all other newspapers, he too has already stopped the publication of clarifications or “spashtikarans” issued by individuals and institutions addressed to the militants, amended the language of the “bhog™ notices of the fallen militants to exclude the name of underground militant leaders and organisations and heavily edited the Press releases of militants. But all this has not satisfied the government which continues to organise raids on the Ajit offices in search of “objectionable material”.
Most of the raids have been conducted around midnight when most the copies have already been printed and it is too late to remove the “objectionable material” as has been done by several other newspapers. This has resulted in the loss of thousands of freshly printed copies of the paper.
Certain newspapers seem to be deriving perverse pleasure out of the predicament of Ajit. They are understandably bitter that nobody raised a finger when the Hind Samachar group and the “Left” Press came under attack from the militants. It is now the turn of others to get a dose of the same medicine. There is also a certain amount of jealousy among them because of the high circulation enjoyed by Ajit. In these dog eats-dog days many of Ajit’s contemporaries are waiting for Ajit to either close down or register a decline in its circulation so as to move in quickly to boost their own sales. A few of them have gone to the extent of describing the current confrontation between the government and Ajit as a “stage-managed show”. It gives a chance to Ajit to gamer the support of the public and the militants while allowing the government to prove that it means business they argue.
All editors stress that they stand for the freedom of the Press. They point out that many of them have a long history of sacrifice in defence of the freedom struggle and during the Emergency. The present government’s action does not constitute an attack on the freedom of the Press. The government has enacted no new law nor issued any new ordinance. All that it wants is that the Press should follow the law of the land while carrying out its functions.
Mr Jagjit Singh Anand, Chief Editor of Nawan Zamana, wants to know if freedom of the Press is under attack from one direction only, i.e., the government. Can we shout our eyes to the fact that much more serious threat has been mounted and executed by the gun- wielding boys against the same freedom of the Press? Can we forget that more than 50 editors, reporters, agents and hawkers of one group of papers, namely Hind Samachar were put to death over the years by the militant groups? Is it not a fact that all employees from the Chief Editor to the compositor of Nawan Zamana were threatened to be finished off if they did not shut shop within 30 days in the middle of 1989?
As Mr Anand and Mr Vijay Chopra Chief Editor of the Hind Samachar group of newspapers point out the origin of the present trouble can be traced to the middle of last year when both the national news agencies PTI and UNI and several newspapers including The Tribune Indian Express Ajit and few others carried a long letter purported to have been written by Bhai Sukhdev Singh and Bhai Harjinder Singh assassins of Gen A.S.Vaidya to the President under pressure from the militants A weak and directionless government headed by the governor Mr Virendra Verma failed to react to retrieve the situation. This letter became the proverbial thin edge of a wedge driven into the Press by the militants The newspapers were soon flooded with codes policy statements Press releases warnings responsibilities bhog ceremony notices etc. Even the government media including AIR and TV came under the militants’ pressure after the killing of the Chandigarh AIR station director Mr RK Talib.
And when the government finally woke up to the fact that it was losing out to the militants it chose to do just what the militants had been doing: put pressure on the newspapers. It issued a notification under Section 95 of the Cr PC authorizing the district magistrates to check the publication of advertisements and militant writings in the Press. It directed them to “make immediate necessary arrangements for taking appropriate action in the matter. This would include a system of surveillance of all publications either being printed in your district or being brought to your district outside for distribution, When- ever any publication which at- tracts provisions of the section is noticed, action for forfeiture may immediately be taken as provided in the section and all copies of the publication be taken in custody on forfeiture.”
The government also issued a set of guidelines saying that news items directly attributed to militants and their organisations obituary notices describing militants as martyr’s threats and intimidation justification of any killings and clarifications would not be published.
Most of the Jalandhar dailies have already fallen in line. As Mr Bharpur Singh Balbir Chief Editor Aj De Awaz and Mr Ratnesh Singh Sodhi Chief Editor Akali Patrika point out the law of the land will have to be respected by the Press. The government is all powerful. It can cancel the declaration of any newspaper if it so desires and force its closure. Mr Balbir Singh does not agree with the charge that the government is deliberately trying to force the closure of Ajit. He points out that if this were so the government would have stopped the supply of newsprint or advertisements or cancelled the declaration of the newspaper. It has adopted none of these courses.
Mr Yash, Chief Editor, Milap, also says that while he is all for the freedom of the Press, it also en- tails certain responsibilities, The newspapers have to function within certain parameters and in the overall interest of the nation, No newspaper should become the mouthpiece of militants.
However, all editors are agreed that the challenges posed by the government and the militants will have to be met. They all feel that editors of the region must get together to sort out the issue. They should state their difficulties and work out their own norms and implement them faithfully. Once there is unanimity among them they say they will be able to stand up to the government as well as the militants. (Tribune)
(It is noteworthy that the press in Punjab is more or less controlled by the Govt or its sympathisers. It has all along been used to spread the canard that all Sikhs are “terrorists’. Now that the militant groups have told the Press to behave and report both sides of the Story there is much anguish both to the Govt and the yellow press. Editor)
Article extracted from this publication >> April 19, 1991
