“POONCH TODAY” newspaper completes twelve years.

“POONCH TODAY” newspaper completes twelve years.

It gives me immense pleasure to announce that your own “POONCH TODAY newspaper, purely with the blessings of Bhagwan Shri Krishna, has completed twelve years of daring journalism in the national interest.

The newspaper was launched on 1st of July 2013 by Sh. Sajad Khan, the then DC Poonch, and Sh. Shamsheer Hussain Choudhary, the then SSP Poonch. “POONCH TODAY” is the first ever “English newspaper” in the nearly 100-year history of Poonch journalism before and after independence that has achieved this feat of crossing more than a decade of journalism with an approach of unparalleled high standard, nationalism, boldness, and integrity. Our journalism is known for its pure professionalism, courage, genuineness, credibility, and policy of national interest. Despite the significant revolution in the field of journalism due to the rise of social media, print media continues to maintain its superiority in terms of credibility, authenticity, and strong professionalism. This is because print media continues to serve as a source of guidance for generations to come. The field of journalism has witnessed massive technological advancements, but on the other hand, due to a lack of professionally trained journalists in this elite profession, it has also become a profession known for blackmailing and running fake narratives to settle personal scores by those who don’t know the ABCs of journalism. People with non-journalism qualifications or mostly without any major qualifications are seen spoiling the credibility of this elite field due to lack of journalism knowledge. Moreover, without any check from the security agencies, some forces inimical to peace and known for belonging to a particular ideology against the nation have also joined this profession, and such things need not be overlooked by the security agencies in the interest of national security. The majority of the non-professionals in the journalism field have only one agenda, and that is to fulfill their personal interests from the army, police, and civil administration in the name of being a journalist. Although the media in the sensitive Poonch-Rajouri region has played a big part in highlighting the concerns of the region, unfortunately, many attempts were made in the past to silence the strong media voices by some arrogant bureaucrats, but unfortunately, those big-headed bureaucrats were not taken to task by the government for their failed attempt to murder the fourth estate and nationalist voices in the region. Political leadership in the entire Poonch-Rajouri region has no vision and credibility, but it is only the media that has highlighted the concerns of the people in a robust way. The absence of strong, visionary, and development-oriented officers holding important positions in the Poonch-Rajouri region also proved disastrous for the region during the recent years. Despite facing massive troubles and bureaucratic threats for years, “POONCH TODAY” always remained at the forefront in exposing the wrong and never bowed down before any type of pressure because we don’t believe in fulfilling any type of self-interest from the police, army, and civil administration, like others in the media field do. Ignoring self-interest completely and standing for national interest is not everybody’s cup of tea in journalism, but “POONCH TODAY” has shown that only national interest matters the most. We don’t believe in visiting offices to have a handshake with officers, offer a shawl and “Guldasta,” and then, in return, grind our own axe, like most in journalism do. We don’t believe in sycophancy and staying in the so-called good books of any officer of the army, police, or civil administration by dodging them with wrong facts, because we have no business interest of any kind. Only national service is our motto. We will persist in prioritizing national interest in our policy and will relentlessly pursue the publication of the truth at any cost. Raising developmental issues and exposing wrongdoers and anti-nationals is our trademark. Because of our strong credibility, nationalist approach, and pure professionalism, even threats from different quarters feel threatened by the journalism of “POONCH TODAY.” With more than 16 lakh website/social media visitors/followers, the benchmark of nationalist journalism set by “POONCH TODAY” in the Poonch-Rajouri region is incomparable, and it will continue to remain the same with the blessing of Bhagwan Shri Krishna because we believe in the “nation first” policy and nothing else. Jai Hind.

SALIL RAINA

(Owner & Editor)

M.A. Journalism & Mass Comm. (MAJMC)

M.Sc. Information Technology (M.Sc.(IT))