Five newspapers in Nagaland were published with their editorial spaces blank to protest what they termed an effort by the Assam Rifles to suppress freedom of the media in the State.
The Nagaland Press Association (NPA) also extended support to the editors in their protest against the paramilitary force.
English dailies Morung Express, Eastern Mirror and Nagaland Page and vernacular papers Capi Daily (in Angami dialect) and Tir Yimyim (in Ao dialect) were published with their editorial spaces blank on Monday as a mark of protest.
The Nagaland Post , meanwhile, carried an editorial opposing the Assam Rifles’ diktat.
They were protesting against a letter purportedly sent by the Assam Rifles to the editors of all local dailies on October 24. The letter allegedly warned newspapers against carrying statements made by militant groups, specifically the NSCN(K), reminding them that the outfit had been declared an “unlawful association” by the Union Home Ministry.
Meanwhile, NPA president K. Temjen Jamir on Tuesday said, “The Assam Rifles is not here to govern, but only to perform their assigned duty. They are supposed to maintain peace and as media persons we are also trying to promote peace. We must work together,” he said.
