Disgraceful frame of mind! After threat calls, some officers of district administration planted their paid touts to defame nationalist journalists, whistleblowers; LG’s administration needs to identify black sheep’s

Disgraceful frame of mind! After threat calls, some officers of district administration planted their paid touts to defame nationalist journalists, whistleblowers; LG’s administration needs to identify black sheep’s

SALIL RAINA

(POONCH TODAY NEWS)

POONCH: A few days ago, some journalists and ruling party political workers got threat calls for speaking against the administration, and this issue became the talk of the town.

People were seen discussing that it was a new trend, as anyone who stands against the administration on any genuine issue will get a threat call. “POONCH TODAY” published a story in the last issue with the title “Alarming Trend!  “Don’t speak against the administration; otherwise, you will get a call from anti-national forces; journalists, political workers  on target,” and after that published story, the wrong forces with a disgraceful frame of mind seem to have changed their strategy of threat calls. It seems that these forces, including some tainted officers of the administration who are themselves involved in various frauds, and some of them are under the radar of intelligence agencies for their relations with those involved in hawala funding and for branding terrorists as freedom fighters, have found a new way to target nationalist-minded journalists and whistleblowers through social media posts. A few days ago, a social media post against some journalists went viral in the name of a person who was held in very low esteem by the law of the land, but due to the influence of the then-PDP-led coalition political government with the BJP, police officers did not take action against him. Such forces were never taken to task for their wrongful acts against society and the nation, but those journalists, who always stood strongly for strengthening nationalist character by exposing anti-national forces and corruption, are being branded as journalists with an ideology against a particular belief. It’s a fact that, like all professional journalists with a nationalist mindset, officers too have no religion, as they are bound by the Constitution of India and civil service rules. The main duty of an officer is to implement government policies on the ground without any partiality, and if any officer is committing a sinful act, doing corrupt activities, or being involved in any anti-social or anti-national act, then it’s the duty of a responsible journalist to expose him or her in the national interest. Exposing corrupt and anti-national forces is not a crime. Corrupt officers and anti-social and anti-national elements cannot hide themselves from the law of the land by taking shelter in words like “Bhaichara,” “Secularism,” “Journalists are a threat to peace,” or “Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb.” But a few important officers of the Poonch administration have reportedly planted a social media message through their paid touts, in which some nationalist ideology journalists and whistleblowers have been targeted by branding them as having an ideology against officers of a particular belief. Similarly, a message was written against the “POONCH TODAY” newspaper in 2016–17 on social media platforms by a similar mindset group because the newspaper was regularly exposing anti-social, anti-national, and corrupt forces. The wording of that message and this latest message appear to be the same, and it’s a clear indication that those forces, who were involved in following a questionable ideology against the nation, have now started targeting journalists again, but this time from behind the curtains. In the latest viral message, a few lines have been written about why some people (journalists and whistleblowers) targeted DC Poonch, ACR, Tehsildar, and Naib Tehsildar Poonch because they belong to a particular faith. This ideology has landed in Poonch for the first time, and some officers are involved in this game plan of pressuring journalists and whistleblowers by branding them in unparliamentary terms so that they don’t expose the loopholes of the administration. It’s astonishing that after this message went viral, civil administration has not taken cognizance of the issue, and it’s a clear indication that some officers with a questionable mindset are the brainchild of this viral message. The person whose name appears on the message as its writer needs to be investigated by the security agencies to find the brains behind him to detect the real truth. It is important to mention here that a big group with a few officers, some political leaders, and a group of self-styled religious leaders as members has planted their people in social media platforms to run their agenda against the nationalist-minded journalists, whistleblowers, army, police, and union government, and this tactic was also seen after the recent terrorist attack. These group members, for decades, never uttered a single statement against various inner and outer enemies of the nation, but they are seen as always ready to target nationalist forces, and it seems that they are part of a bigger game plan against the national interest from a security point of view. There are a number of proofs lying with “POONCH TODAY,” which clearly shows that a number of officers, backed by some tainted forces, have a strong love for a particular ideology that is totally against the national interest. Planting their men and machinery on illegal media platforms seems to be a new strategy for these group members to dodge the government and lower the morale of the security forces that are fighting hard against all adversaries of the nation. It is seen that people with a doubtful ideology against the nation are seen building good relations with the army, police, and civil administration, and due to these tactics, leakage of important information from a security point of view doesn’t rule out. It’s astonishing that those people, who over the years were involved in questionable acts against the nation, including hawala funding, were treated like VIPs by the administration, and those people, who always stood for national interest, are branded on the wrong terms. But this latest trend on the part of some civil officers of the Poonch administration to plant a social media message secretly through their not conversant paid touts against the national-minded journalists and whistleblowers is seen as a dangerous trend in making. This is the first time in the history of Poonch that some officers of the civil administration have turned too low and started identifying themselves on the basis of their beliefs by violating the Civil Services Rules. With this unfortunate episode, the credibility of the district administration, which was already low, has reached a very low level. LG’s administration, led by Manoj Sinha, needs to identify those black sheep’s in the administrative setups who have started targeting nationalist forces through their anti-social touts with a main agenda to hide their professional failures and frauds on the governance front. The other day, LG Manoj Sinha also said that the government was working to finish the Hurriyat eco-system in J&K. So, it’s high time for the LG’s administration to act sooner than later because any delay in shifting these dishonorable and low-priced officers to insignificant places will lower the morale of the nationalist forces in the district.