'Silent emergency': Punjab cops hold up newspaper delivery vehicles, draw oppn fire; press club condemns police action

CHANDIGARH/LUDHIANA: The AAP-run govt in Punjab is facing severe flak from opposition parties and the media fraternity after a shocking move by Punjab Police to hold up newspaper delivery vehicles in several parts of the state in the early hours of Sunday.

Leaders of opposition parties linked the searches to the recent ' Sheesh Mahal reports ' and pointed out that such a thing had never happened in Punjab even during Emergency and the dark days of militancy. Chandigarh Press Club condemned the police action in the "strongest terms" and said, "Such actions are seen as an attack on Press freedom and an attempt to control the free flow of information through state machinery."

Newspapers could not be delivered in many areas because of this, leaving readers miffed. In others, it was severely delayed. Several readers called up vendors and newspaper offices to ask why they hadn't got their day's copy.

Police were vague about the reasons for the 'searches', variously saying that they had inputs about explosives / arms / drugs being smuggled in a newspaper vehicle. Later, Punjab Police issued a statement to say that "various kinds of commercial vehicles" were searched following "intelligence inputs" that drugs and weapons were smuggled in connivance with such drivers.

Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav declined calls from TOI. Special DGP Arpit Shukla said over the phone, "I have come to know that the searches were carried out following inputs that drivers of the vehicles may have connived to smuggle drugs and illegal weapons."

The coordinated police action started around 4am on Sunday just when vehicles carrying newspapers began leaving presses.

Several drivers told TOI that their phones were taken away. It wasn't until after 6am that police began releasing the vehicles. Some were detained till after 8am, as with TOI's vehicle in Amritsar. These copies could not be distributed.

A driver who was detained told TOI: "I reached there at 4am and was allowed to go only at 6:06am. No searches were carried out. One of the cops said 8am was the ultimatum to release the vehicle, but somehow they released it early."

There was chaos and uncertainty when newspaper managements could not contact their drivers for over two hours, not realising that their phones had been taken away. It's only after police were flooded by calls from reporters from all media houses that the vehicles were released.

Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma was scathing on the AAP-led govt, posting on X: "Undeclared emergency by chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Punjab! AAP govt rattled by 'Sheesh Mahal' reports, attacks the media."