Former Bureaucrat acknowledges the contribution of two Top Journos of Kreeri (N-Kashmir) in Journalsim

Srinagar, Sep 10 (RNA) : While acknowledging the contribution of two outstanding journalists of North Kashmir’s Kreeri town, a former bureaucrat has revealed that the 2010 unrest had largely affected local newspaper publishers both financially and professionally. In a series titled “ Nostalgia”, former Commissioner Secretary General Administration Department, J&K Government, Farooq Ahmad Lone has spoken about the work of newspapers in Kashmir and has also given a first work account of the problems the publishers faced during the 2010 unrest. He also spoke about his and his senior's efforts in resuming the publication of newspapers during those difficult times. Mr. Lone, who is considered as one of the best bureaucrates of his time, has extensively spoken about the late Shujat Bukhari, the founder of Rising kashmir , Syed Shafqat Buykhari, chief Editor Kashmir Horizon ( both from Kreeri Town) of North Kashmir , Masood Hussain , Chief Editor Kashmir Life and Anuradha Basin, Editor Kashmir Times and many others. “In the month of March 2008 ,Shujaat Bukhari an established and respected journalist had launched an English daily “Rising Kashmir “that had now qualified for Government advertisement support. The newspaper had engaged a young team of professionals that helped in producing a quality newspaper with reader acceptance and was considered potentially the second most read English newspaper after Greater Kashmir. This paper provided an alternate space to the young budding journalists and would carry analytical articles on a wide range of topics. We too tried to support the publication as far as possible. Shujaat also started an Urdu daily “Buland Kashmir “and later Kashmiri newspaper “Sangarmal” . As is true with most of the publications,sustaining top quality perhaps became a limiting factor for Rising Kashmir. During this period another prominent and well known talented journalist Masood Hussain started weekly “Kashmir Life “.This weekly introduced exhaustive , in-depth and well researched stories on various facets of life in Kashmir. This was something away from routine where politics received as much or less attention as one could restrict ,making room for subjects such as economics, environment,culture and history. Since Masood Hussain had worked for Economic Times,expectedly budget and economics were among his major areas of focus. This publication endeavours to maintain quality and diversity in coverage of issues. Jammu based “Kashmir Times “was at one stage very popular in Kashmir and perhaps for this reason Sh Ved Bhasin started Srinagar edition of his newspaper in 2008 . Newspaper was managed by Zahoor Malik in Srinagar who would work hard for its success.Popularity of the newspaper gradually faded away. Another hard working and down to earth journalist Shafqat Bukhari started his newspaper “Kashmir Horizon “around this time and would almost single handedly run the publication. He has been able to sustain the newspaper. By this time Urdu weeklies “Kashmir Uzma “and “Chattan “had turned into dailies with the former having substantial readership giving tough competition to “Aftab “and “Srinagar Times”. Another newspaper that had appeared on the landscape was “Etala’at “started by the local politician Iftikhar Hussain Ansari who had hired some talented journalists to run the paper.However it could neither succeed in giving tough competition to the existing prominent dailies nor last long.” Wrote Mr. Lone ihis social media post. According to RNA, Mr Lone also wrote about his personal experience in the State Information Department, “ My second stint in Information Department was from July 2009 to March 2011 as Joint Director Information Kashmir. Though at the time of my posting some colleagues considered it a less significant posting at my level of seniority and experience then, but having served in the Department earlier I was quite happy about it. I revived the fond memories of a thick newspaper file of local newspapers in the morning and national newspapers in the evening along with news magazines to be ready for going through ruling out any possibility of feeling less work load. Though a stress free posting,this time around I was responsible for advertisement distribution among the newspapers whose number was now in hundreds and most of them exclusively dependent on Government advertisement support for sustenance.Barring few leading newspapers followed by those with fair circulation , the only consideration and satisfaction that providing advertisement support to the majority with insignificant circulation,if at all any, was that they provided employment to some poor persons. Otherwise it was an unnecessary burden on the exchequer with an adverse impact of creating a nuisance in the name of journalism. Given the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression and easy procedure of getting registered with the Registrar of Newspapers ,together with some kind of background support ,one could neither stop the mushroom growth of newspapers nor wish them away then, though with the advent of internet and online availability of newspapers the scenario might have changed by now.However ,since my last posting one could observe emergence of some new quality newspapers as well. During this period some local cable TV entertainment channels had started telecasting news bulletins with ground coverage. Though the quality was far from desired levels yet being in vernacular language they had been able to generate some audience and influence .However, the disturbed conditions of 2010 led to the banning of news broadcasts by these channels,thereby closing this chapter. Experiences of Information Department have been dealt with in part 37 and 38. Similar nostalgic memories were replicated in this tenure. However this time around during the disturbances of 2010 local newspapers had to stop publication for some time which affected them professionally and financially. I recall the difficulties that had to be overcome to resume the gradual opening of newspaper offices and arranging curfew passes for the media persons in situations where movement of any sort was very difficult. Khurshid Ganai Sahab was Principal Secretary to Chief Minister holding the charge of Secretary Information and Zafar Bhat Sahab Director Information during these challenging times when even generating an official press note was sometimes a Herculean task as hardly any Minister would speak out and maintaining law and order was the only priority of the Government. Some good memories of the period include accompanying the press to cover the opening of Mughal Road by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on 27 November 2009 who drove himself from Srinagar with a public address at Dubjan near Shopian before embarking on the historic first through picturesque locales and tough terrain passing through Ali Sarai and Pir ki Gali. Being part of this entourage is really nostalgic. Besides during this tenure I again got an opportunity of honing my writing skills which resulted in publication of some columns and articles in Greater Kashmir and Rising Kashmir,two popular newspapers then. Besides ,this tenure gave me an opportunity to build on and strengthen the relationship with the prominent journalists among the media fraternity of the valley.”