The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday lifted the ban imposed on publication of newspapers in the state, following a three-day media gag. They also transferred Fayaz Ahmad Lone, the senior superintendent of police of Budgam district who ordered the raids at media houses and printing presses, to the post of a State Disaster Response Fund commandant, The Indian Express reported.

The move to transfer the Budgam SSP appears indicative of the state trying to portray that the media ban was not its decision. Nayeem Akhtar, education minister and government spokesperson, said, "We have requested them to resume publication...There will be no special restriction on them [newspapers], but curfew will remain in place at certain places." Another senior state official, political adviser to the chief minister Amitabh Mattoo, said the move to impose the ban was a "miscommunication".

Newspaper editors, who had come out with a statement condemning the crackdown against the press in the state, decided not to go ahead with printing their publications on Monday night. They will come to a decision in a meeting on Tuesday.

Local newspapers in curfew-bound Kashmir valley failed to hit the stands on Saturday, July 16, as police conducted raids at some media offices the previous night, detained a few of their employees, and seized the copies that were already printed. The distribution of papers was also targeted in the state, where at least 41 people have died in protests against the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Moreover, at least 40 political parties in Pakistan, which declared July 19 Kashmir Solidarity Day, will begin a march from Lahore to Islamabad on Tuesday to show their support for the "liberation of Kashmir". The "Caravan for Kashmir" demonstration was organised by the Lashkar-e-Taiba-run Tehreek-e-Azaadi Jammu Kashmir group and its charitable affiliate Jamaat-ud-Dawah, dna reported.