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Journalists in North East pay the ultimate price

Iboyaima Laithangbam

IMPHAL: Journalists in the insurgency-afflicted north-eastern region in general and Manipur in particular have always been hemmed in by the insensitive policies of the governments and the militants who say that their mostly anti-national propaganda should be published verbatim in the front page.

Journalists who refuse to toe the line have been killed. In Manipur alone, five journalists have been gunned down. The latest victim is Konsam Rishikanta, a junior sub-editor of The Imphal Free Press, an English newspaper, who was abducted and taken to a deserted hillock after being blindfolded and then shot dead on November 17.

In a memorandum to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who also holds the Home portfolio, the All-Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) said the needle of suspicion pointed to State forces. The number of journalists who had survived attempts on their lives is legion.

Manipur is the first State where two journalists were detained under the National Security Act.

The extent of harassment can be gauged from the way Naorem Birendrakumar, Editor of the Paojel, a vernacular newspaper, was arrested for publishing a one-paragraph report on the rise in rice price.

The AMWJU took up the cudgels for 25-year-old Rishikanta. From November 18, newspaper offices were closed as editors and journalists went on an indefinite strike demanding the arrest of and punishment to the killers. They fear that Rishikanta was killed to shut his mouth forever for something big he knew. However, there is no response from the State government, notwithstanding the fact that all newspapers had suspended publication.

The sit-in launched by the scribes everyday is being ignored by the government. The police have not made any investigation into the killing. Several civil organisations which have extended support to the agitation, however, feel that the publication of the newspapers should be resumed.

R.K. Sanatomba, Editor of the Kangla Lanpung, a monthly journal, was the first victim. S.A. Lalhrou, Editor of The Shan, a tribal-dialect newspaper, was also killed. T. Brajamani, Editor of The Manipur News, an English newspaper, was also gunned down. Y. Megha, a TV journalist was also shot dead by unidentified gunmen.

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