Newspaper delivery delayed in Punjab as police conduct vehicle checks; Oppn claims attack on media

Chandigarh, Nov 2 (PTI) Newspaper deliveries were delayed at some places in Punjab on Sunday morning after police conducted vehicle checks, particularly commercial transports, during the intervening night of Saturday-Sunday.

Even though Punjab Police clarified that it undertook checking of vehicles carrying various items following specific intelligence inputs, opposition parties hit out at the AAP government.

“Raids on newspaper delivery vans across Punjab are a chilling attack on press freedom,” Leader of Opposition and Congress veteran Partap Singh Bajwa alleged in a post on X.

Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma termed it “undeclared Emergency by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Punjab”, claiming that panicked by the Sheesh Mahal 2.0 news, the AAP government attacked the media.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed the government targeted vehicles carrying newspapers “because they do not want anyone writing against them”.

“People of Punjab are not going to tolerate this… We stand with the freedom of the press,” Badal said.

A Punjab Police statement quoting a police spokesperson said the vehicle checks were conducted under the supervision of gazetted officers at selected points in a streamlined and orderly manner without causing any inconvenience to the public.

The spokesperson said that Punjab, a sensitive border state, has been “facing the brunt of the designs of Pakistan's ISI to bleed India by waging a proxy war” through smuggling of contraband, arms and explosives from across the international border using rogue drones and further transporting them using various types of vehicles.

“Anti-national forces have been innovative in changing their modus operandi and their activities have increased in intensity and efforts after Operation Sindoor,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

On reports of delay in newspaper delivery, the spokesperson said, “Due diligence and care would be exercised by Punjab Police to ensure that minimum inconvenience is caused to the public during the conduct of security checks, especially vehicle checks.

“At the same time, the need for an active and energetic internal security grid cannot be overemphasised in the present internal security scenario.” The Chandigarh Press Club said in a statement that it strongly condemns “the police action of stopping vehicles carrying newspapers in various districts of Punjab”.

“In several instances, newspaper delivery vehicles were reportedly taken to police stations, leading to undue harassment of the delivery staff and delays in newspaper distribution,” the statement said.

"Reports have been received from districts including Gurdaspur, Patiala, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, and others, where newspaper distribution was either delayed or completely halted.

“Such actions are seen as an attack on press freedom and an attempt to control the free flow of information through state machinery.

“The Chandigarh Press Club urges the Punjab government to immediately intervene, ensure the unhindered distribution of newspapers, and uphold the fundamental right to freedom of the press,” it said.

Slamming the AAP dispensation, Congress leader Bajwa said in his X post, "The media that built @AAPPunjab is now being hounded by it – just as Modi targets voices that question him.

“@ArvindKejriwal and @BhagwantMann are walking the same path as Modi. Both have no faith in democracy or the Constitution that defines India.” Sharpening his attack on AAP, BJP's Ahswani Sharma said, "This morning, police stopped newspaper vehicles to search the bundles – took vehicles to police stations at several places.

“The bundles were allowed to proceed only after reading the newspapers inside them. For the first time in Punjab's history since the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, an attempt was made to throttle and intimidate the media.” Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said in a post on X, “The raids on newspaper delivery vehicles across Punjab raise serious questions about press freedom and public safety.

“@AAPPunjab, what's the truth behind these actions? We demand clarity and transparency on this issue.” PTI SUN VSD ARI