JAMMU: Taking sou-mottu cognizance of former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti’s concern about the intimidation and harassment of journalists in Jammu and Kashmir, the press council of India (PCI) has constituted a three member fact finding committee to look into the matter.
According to an official handout from PCI, the three member committee consists of Prakash Dubey convener and group editor of Daink Bhaskar, Gurbir Singh Journalist from the New Indian Express and Dr Suman Gupta editor of Jan Morcha.
The PCI said that the committee is required to make a thorough probe into the matter holding discussions with the concerned authorities and the affected journalists and collect such information as it deem fit to submit its report to the council at the earliest.
“The authorities in Jammu and Kashmir are requested to extend full cooperation and assistance to this fact finding committee for the discharge of its function,” the PCI said.
Taking to micro—blogging site Twitter, the PDP chief thanked the PCI for constituting the committee.
“Thankful to the @PressCouncil_IN for their decision to constitute a fact finding committee to probe about journalists being harassed in J&K. Hope the local administration ensures their full co-operation so that this committee can discharge its duty” Mehbooba said.
Mehbooba on Monday dashed a letter to PCI seeking its intervention to prevent the continued harassment of media by the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir.