Greater Kashmir newspaper has been forced to issue a public apology for carrying an advertisement that sought to lure ‘young girls, housewives, widows’ from the valley for a spa job in Delhi. Angry Kashmiris had threatened to boycott the newspaper for its alleged role in encouraging girls from the valley to apply for a job, which’s widely regarded as an immoral act.
The content of the controversial ad read, “Hiring. Wanted young girls, housewife’s (sic), widows for a leading Spa job in Delhi. Food and accommodation provided by us.”
Netizens, mostly Kashmiris reacted angrily on social media as one wrote, “This greater Kashmir newspaper seems to be Gutter Kashmir now. Ignite lighter and burn the paper wherever u find it.”
Another user wrote, “Many Many congratulations to Greater Kashmir for establishing a new job of Pimps(Dalals). It’s an honor for whole Kashmir that Kashmir’s so called leading Newspaper is advertising such a filthy thing along with their number and email. This is the result of our dead consciousness that willy nilly we don’t even know what we are selling. As per my assessment the base of every evil in Kashmir is Riba which is day in and day out propagated and promted by JK BANK, the saying of Rasool Allahﷺ is that RIBA makes one spineless. So here is the result despite such advertisements Greater Kashmir is being followed on Insta, Tweeter, Facebook and YouTube by the majority of Kashmiris. Does this prove that we are interested in selling our female folk?”
Faced with growing outrage, the newspaper issued a public apology. It wrote, “We regret the inadvertent publication of a classified ad titled ‘HIRING’ on page 4 in Sunday edition of Greater Kashmir. The ad was placed by an advertising agency Walnut ads.
“We have placed a disclaimer on all advertisements that our organisation is not responsible for contents or claims of any ads. Still we regret inadvertent publication of this classified ad. We apologise to our valued readers for any inconvenience caused by the ad. We will ensure that such ads are not published in our paper in future. Besides, we are investigating further the contents of the ad with the advertising agency Walnut Ads. GK Advertisement Section.”