Earlier with intention to enforce a complete information blockade, police raided printing presses on Friday night and stopped publications by detaining staff.
Two days after the raid, the government transferred SSP Lone to the post of Commandant SDRF. He has been replaced by Waheed Shah. Lone’s dramatic transfer has been apparently taken to create an impression that media gag wasn’t taken by government.
The government meanwhile has asked editors to resume publication. However, the editors have decided not to publish any newspapers on Monday night and have called a meeting on Tuesday to take a final call.
“No ban on newspapers,” Amitabh Mattoo, political advisor to CM Mehbooba Mufti said, “there was some miscommunication.”
If it was “miscommunication”, ex-CM Omar Abdullah hit out at Mattoo on twitter, “why did it take 48 hours to correct?”
