Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR (AJK): District administration on Monday sealed 10 (ten) unlawful printing presses in various parts of Mirpur city of AJK under the National Action Plan, it was officially declared.
Heavy police contingent led by Duty Magistrate – Naib Tehsildar Mirpur Ch. Imran Yousaf stormed the non-registered printing presses, in the wake of recently intensified National Action Plan, and sealed them for operating unlawfully without holding the formal printing press declaration from Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council, the Duty Magistrate Ch. Imran Yousaf told this Correspondent here Monday evening.
The unlawful printing presses sealed included A To Z-1 Printing Press and Zaamin Printing Press in sector C-1, Print Point, Faisal Prining Agency, Print Corner, Makhdoom Prining Agency, Chaudhry Printers, Saif Printing Services, Rasheed Printers and Imran Printers, Ayub Plaza.
Imran said that these printing press were found operating without any lawful authority and formal registration in form of a formal printing press declaration duly issued by the AJK Council.
Press and publication in Azad Jammu & Kashmir is the subject of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Council, upper house of the AJK Parliament, being the regulatory authority. The printing press in AJK could be operated only after securing a declaration from the AJK Council after the issuance of a No Objection Certificate by the District Magistrate of the concerned district.
According to reports, owners of these unlawful printing presses had already applied for securing a formal printing press declaration / legal permission from the AJK Council through the Deputy Commissioner office since about last five years. But they (printing press owners) moved to start operating their presses without waiting for the issuance of the formal permission in form of a declaration, according to the official sources.
