Bhatkal: -There is not even a tiny amount of reality in the news which are being published in some of the Kannada newspapers from a past few days regarding Bhatkal-, said the Uttar Kannada district SP, Mr. Balakrishna. He was speaking to SahilOnline on phone.

He was discussing the issue of recent report which was published in a Kannada Daily, Kannada Prabha, which stated that there are a few places in Bhatkal town where the entry of public as well as the police are completely restricted. The SP said that this news was baseless. ‘There is no such area in Bhatkal which prohibits the visitors. All the places which are mentioned in the news paper are open to public and are always abuzz with public activity. Even the police are free to carry on their duties in the areas’, he informed.

Also, he completely discarded the reports which appeared in another Kannada newspaper Vijayawani dated 8th September, which stated that Bhatkal had provisions of arms including AK-56, AK-47 and also granides. ‘Even these reports are false and completely baseless', he cleared.

According to the SP, it was not at all possible to transport the arms through the sea route, as stated in the news paper. He informed that the Coastal Security is very active in the area and all the actions being carried out through the sea routes are under observation from all sides at all times.

Talking to SahilOnline, the general secretary of Majils-e-islah-o-tanzeem, Mr. Mohiddin Altaf Kharuri said that, such false news about Bhatkal are continuously being publicized at intervals by some or the other news media, just to defame Bhatkal and its residents, especially Muslims. This negative publicity has resulted in terror and tension among the people of the town. Such negative publicities about the town is making it very difficult to get good faculty in the educational institutions and also the hospitals in Bhatkal. Teachers, professors, doctors and the like from the other areas are cautious to come to Bhatkal for the job after reading such news about the town, which in fact, are completely false and baseless.

He further informed that the tanzeem have decided to take some actions regarding such issues and various local organizations of Bhatkal have planned to present a memorandum to the SP and DC on 10th September at the Bhatkal Circuit House, demanding the immediate arrests of those reporters who have published such baseless news about Bhatkal. Going into further details he informed that if their demand was not materialized on time, then the Majils-e-islah-o-tanzeem will go a step ahead and stage a strong protest in this regard on 15th September.