Newspaper ban didn't have Mehbooba's consent, claims advisor

The decision to ban publication of newspapers in the Valley did not have the consent of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and might have been taken at the local level for which "heads will roll", according to her advisor Amitabh Mattoo.
In a discussion program on NDTV today, Mattoo said he had personally visited homes of editors and apologised for alleged banning of newspapers saying there could have been a "miscommunication".
He also said from tomorrow, newspapers will resume printing in the Valley and they can publish whatever they feel without any "censorship or ban of anykind".
"I can say with all the responsibility that there was no ban. I think there was some miscommunication; obviously there was a curfew but the newspapers can publish, as they have done, online or print edition.

"Sometimes the decisions are taken at a local level which is not something that the government at the highest level authority approves of. I can assure you that in this age of globalisation and where we have Internet and electronic means of communication, there is no way of imposing a ban now," he said.
According to Mattoo, at a suitable time there has to be a clarification and "heads will roll" on who communicated this decision and who took that action.

"The fact of the matter remains that in this day and age, no matter how grave the situation is, if someone took a decision or communicated a decision or miscommunicated something like this, once the crisis is over obviously we will have to take action against that person and I can say this with responsibility that I have as advisor to the Chief Minister," he said.

He was countered by Editor of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhaari who said that Government's spokesperson Education Minister Naeem Akhtar on Saturday had told a group of 20 editors that newspapers cannot be published for three days.
"I can't comment on Shujaat's version. I have personally gone to main editors' houses and apologised if there was a miscommunication and if misinformation. All I can say that it was not done with the consent of the Chief Minister of the state," Mattoo said.