In a statement issued here after meeting a delegation of cable operators, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said the restriction was a violation of democratic rights.
She equated the ban on cable operators in Kashmir with that of curbs enforced under martial law and emergency situations.
The PDP president demanded that the government should immediately grant permission to local cable operators to broadcast news programmes.
"If broadcasting of news progarmmes in one part of the state is good, how can it be bad in the other part?
"The restriction on cable operators not only tantamount to violation of democratic rights but also has rendered hundreds of youth associated with the business on the verge of unemployment," Mehbooba said.
The state government banned airing of news and current affairs programmes on local cable TV channels in the Valley during the 2010 summer agitation, accusing the cable networks of fuelling the unrest with inaccurate reporting.
The cable channels in Jammu are not covered under this ban. MORE