Opposition, separatists criticize J&K government’s media order to employees

Srinagar, Dec 27 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir government's order to its employees to avoid controversial engagements on social media on Wednesday evoked adverse reaction both from the separatist and mainstream leaders.

Senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq reacted on Twitter.

"Ordering gags and threatening punishment to state employ ees for expressing their opinion on social media completely exposes the aversion to truth or its disclosure by the occupational regime and its unscrupulous local agents!The charade of "normalcy" in #Kashmir will continue to be maintained by silencing people through bullets,jails,gags and bans!!"

Muhammad Yasin Malik, chairman of pro-freedom Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) said, in a statement, that the "dictatorial order suppressing use of social media by government employees resembles that of North Korean dictatorship".

Opposition National Conference issued a statement Wednesday cautioning the PDP-BJP Government against "portraying lakhs of hardworking government employees of the state as terrorists and anti-social elements to cover its own utter and complete failure on both the governance and the political fronts".

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and legislator Yusuf Tarigami said: "At a time when the government is claiming remarkable success in bringing back the state on the track to normalcy, restricting the use of social media, not only belies its tall claims, it has also the negative potential to further alienate a substantial proportion of masses."

The state Congress unit also issued a statement criticizing the state government for barring its employees from using social media which, according to the party, has become a part of the system.

"It is the result of the dictatorial mindset of the PDP and the BJP," the statement said.

The state government on Tuesday issued an administrative order asking its employees not to engage on the social media in any manner that could be prejudicial to the image and interests of the government.