NEW DELHI, 17 January 2022, (TON): The Editors Guild of India today condemned the manner in which the office and the management of Kashmir Press Club (KPC) were forcibly taken over by a group of journalists with the help of armed policemen.

In a statement, the guild said it "is aghast at the manner in which the office and the management of Kashmir Press Club, the largest journalists' association in the valley, was forcibly taken over by a group of journalists with the help of armed policemen on January 15, 2022".

Reports our New Delhi correspondent citing the statement "the armed takeover has effectively scuttled this rule-based functioning of the club. Even more disturbingly, the state police entered the premises without any due warrant or paperwork, and have therefore been brazenly complicit in this coup in which a group of people have become self-declared management of the club.”

It further said "this violation of the sanctity of the club by the police and the local administration is a manifestation of the continuing trend to smother press freedom in the state, it alleged and demanded an independent inquiry as to how "armed forces entered the club premises.”

The Editors Guild of India also said it "is equally alarmed by an arbitrary order of putting the registration of the Kashmir Press Club "in abeyance", a day before this armed takeover of the club, on January 14, 2022, by the Registrar of Societies."