(MENAFN) The sudden shut down of decades-old domestic English-language daily in Kashmir seemed like a way to control the press freedom in the country, with journalists claiming that it was done to scare people from expressing disagreement, or any opposing opinion to the government.
On Monday, October 19th, the estates department of the Jammu and Kashmir area closed the offices of the Kashmir Times, founded in 1954, without prior warning or explanation. The owner, who is also the Editor-in-Chies, Anuradha Bhasin said that he didn't even receive eviction notice, and no one contacted him beforehand.
The closing was made 15 days after Bhasin was expelled from her government-allotted property in Jammu and also four days after a credible and well-known news wire, Kashmir News Agency, was verbally asked to evacuate its office in Srinagar, the region's largest city and sometimes capital.
"I see it as a willful attempt by the government to silence voices who speak out based on facts," Bhasin stated.
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