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The State Investigation Agency of the Jammu and Kashmir Police raided the office of the Kashmir Times on Thursday for allegedly promoting activities against the country and recovered cartridges of AK rifles and some rounds of pistol, hand grenade pins, among other things.

 

Officials said SIA sleuths conducted a thorough search of the newspaper's premises and computers after a case was registered against the publication and its promoters. The promoters of the publication are likely to be questioned, they informed.

 

Reacting to the raid, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Singh Choudhary said action should follow only in cases where wrongdoing is established and not for the sake of pressure.

 

"If they have done something wrong, then action should be taken...if you do it only to build pressure, then that will be wrong," Choudhary said.

 

Also read: Fugitive IM terrorist Baig linked to Al-Falah University

 

Meanwhile, the Kashmir Times management criticised the raids on its Jammu office, terming the allegations of activities inimical to the state a coordinated attempt to suppress an independent media institution.

 

In a joint statement issued on social media, editors Prabodh Jamwal and Anuradha Bhasin said, "The reported raids on our office in Jammu, the baseless accusations of activities inimical to the state and the coordinated crackdown on the Kashmir Times are yet another attempt to silence us. Criticising the government is not the same as being inimical to the state. In fact, it is the very opposite. A robust, questioning press is essential to a healthy democracy. Our work of holding power to account, investigating corruption and amplifying marginalised voices strengthens our nation. It does not weaken it," they said.

 

The editors said Kashmir Times, founded in 1954 by Ved Bhasin, has consistently upheld independent journalism. “We have chronicled the region’s triumphs and failures with equal rigour. We have given voice to communities that would otherwise go unheard. We have asked difficult questions when others remained silent,” they said.