Bashir Arif removed, Rukhsana takes over as Director RKS

Heads roll as Radio Kashmir’s in-house battle refused to die down for 6 months

Early Times Report


SRINAGAR, Oct 29: Director of Commercial Broadcasting Service (CBS) Srinagar, Bashir Arif, who was holding additional charge of Director Radio Kashmir Srinagar (RKS) after the retirement of Rafeeq Raaz since May 7th this year, was removed and shifted to All India Radio headquarters in New Delhi today. Senior Assistant Station Director and noted Urdu poet, Rukhsana Jabeen, relieved Arif and took over the charge of Director of CBS and RKS under the orders issued from Directorate General of AIR this evening.


Order No: 04/58/84-SI (A) PT/681 dated 29-10-2010, issued by Deputy Director of Administration at Directorate General of AIR this evening mentioned that Arif had been transferred and directed to report to the headquarters in New Delhi with immediate effect. According to the order, Programme Executive at RKS, Shamshad Kralwari, has been transferred from RKS to Radio Kashmir Poonch. Transmission Executive Talha Rehmani Jehangir has been shifted from Srinagar to Radio Kashmir Kargil. All the three officials have been directed to get relieved and join their new places of posting immediately.


Consequent upon the orders, ASD at RKS, Rukhsana Jabeen, took over as incharge Director of CBS and RKS late this evening. Informed sources said that Ms Jabeen was telephonically directed to reach her office and relieve Arif and other two officials immediately. In the wake of her father’s death earlier this week, she was busy with condolence meetings at her home. “I have relieved Mr Arif and taken over the charge of the Director of CBS and Radio Kashmir Srinagar till further orders under instructions from AIR headquarters this evening”, Jabeen said.


Informed sources in the official electronic media revealed to Early Times that the AIR headquarters issued orders of today’s reshuffle when it failed to end six-month-long in-house battle at RKS. Skirmishes between loyalists and antagonists of the incumbent Director had triggered off when Arif removed a group of the programmers from the production of once Radio Kashmir’s most popular current affairs programme ‘Sheherbeen”. According to these sources, Arif had justified the changes with the argument that some members of the staff associated with “Sheherbeen” had been “blackmailing government officials”, “extorting from them favours” and also promoting the agenda of a particular political party.


Arif had publicly taken exception to his subordinate employees’ “second employment” with a private television channel and reportedly complained to Directorate General of All India Radio, Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation as well as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that some rebellious officials of his staff were not only instigating indiscipline but also promoting hardline separatists’ agenda on local private television channels. He had reportedly complained to his headquarters that at least one particular member of his staff had frequently visited Pakistan on a “fake passport” without the knowledge and permission of his employer.


On the other hand, officials attempting to retain control of the daily evening programme “Sheherbeen” had put up demonstrations and staged dharnas with the allegation that the incumbent Director was “neck-deep in corruption” and “promoting indiscipline and groupism among his subordinate staff”. They had also charged Bashir Arif with issuing orders in a “totalitarian and authoritarian manner” only to suppress their voice and demanded an inquiry into his conduct. They had objected to Arif’s act of installing CCTV cameras in the corridors of the station.


It was in the wake up of a sustained agitation from this group of the staff, headed by Producer Abdal Mehjoor, Kralwari and Talha Jehangir, that a team of AIR officials came down to Srinagar and held an investigation into the allegations and counter-allegations of the warring factions.


Sources said that it was finally on the recommendations of a high level committee, that failed in resolving the crisis through all other means, that AIR this evening decided to remove heads of both factions from Srinagar and hand over charge of both the stations to Ms Jabeen “till further orders”.


END