Northeast India: Journalists In Line Of Fire

Northeast India: Journalists In Line Of Fire

Nava Thakuria

At least 20 editor-journalists were killed in Assam of Northeast India during the last 17 years and surprisingly enough not a single perpetrator of these heinous crimes was booked under the law- this is how an Assam based journalist rights body expressed its concern and resentments. In a memorandum to the Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Journalists' Action Committee, Assam (JACA) also argued that the media fraternity had shown their mettle to pursue the democratic values in Northeast, where scores of secessionist armed cadres remained active, and hence it must be 'the duty of the government to ensure their safety.

The anger was spontaneous among the journalists, when they witnessed the brutal murder of an Assam based reporter by miscreants. Jagajit Saikia, a correspondent for Amar Asom, a leading Assamese daily published from Guwahati fell prey to unidentified gunmen in Kokrajhar, the head quarter of Bodoland Territorial (Autonomous District) Council in lower Assam. Shot at and killed in broad day light, Jagajit, 30 left behind his wife, a minor daughter and his parents.

Earlier, the JACA, an umbrella organization of scribes in Assam, organized a massive protest rally on the premises of Guwahati Press Club. Soon after the meeting, hundreds scribes and other attendants joined in a procession to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup (Metro) to hand over the memorandum to the President. But shockingly the DC did not come out to receive it, which annoyed the journalists and tempted to stage a brief demonstration in front his office. Later the memorandum, signed by the JACA president Sanjib Phukan and JACA secretary Prakash Mahanta, was sent directly to the office of the President.

Presided over by Bhupen Bhattacharya (editor of Asomiya Purboday), the protest meet was addressed by Kanaksen Deka (editor of Dainik Agradoot and President of Asom Sahitya Sabha), Ajit Kumar Bhuyan (editor of Asomiya Pratidin), Adip Kumar Phukan (editor of Edinar Sangbad), GL Agarwala (editor of Purbanchal Prahari and owner Amar Asom), Prashanta Rajguru (executive editor of Amar Asom), Dileep Chandan (editor of Asom Bani), Hiten Mahanta (senior journalist) with many others.

The trouble torn region earlier witnessed the brutal killing of a scribe in Imphal on November 17, when unidentified assailants shot dead Konsam Rishikanta, a trainee sub-editor of The Imphal Free Press, an English daily of Manipur. The Manipur police is yet to get any breakthrough, where as no armed group has so far claimed the responsibility got the killing.

The All Manipur Working Journalists' Union, Editors' Forum, Manipur had taken the path of agitation and went for a four-day strike by all Imphal-based daily newspapers and local channels in protest against the murder of Rishikant. The union members also met the Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and demanded prompt investigation and actions against the killing. Manipur has lost five editor-journalists to miscreants' attack since 1993.

The Editors Guild of India, while expressing shock at the killings of scribes in Manipur and Assam, appealed the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 'to take personal interest in the situation' and if necessary, order a CBI investigation into the murder of journalists.

The editor's forum in a statement said, "The Editors Guild has noted with increasing dismay the spate of violent incidents involving journalists in the north-east and has brought this to the notice of the union home ministry. We hope that concerted action will be taken to ensure the safety and security of journalists."

The Guild president, Rajdeep Sardesai later personally met the Prime Minister to apprise him about the situation in Northeast. Rajdeep Sardesai, also the editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN, while talking to this writer informed that Prime Minister Singh expressed concern over the recent killings of journalists and asked both the chief ministers of Assam and Manipur for prompt investigation into the incidents. He also recommended for adequate measures to ensure the security and safety of all journalists and newsmen in the region, Sardesai added.

Facing the heat, the Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs three hundred thousand for the family of Jagajit after three days of the incident. Gogoi also assured that the government would take the responsibility of Jagajit´s daughter. The chief minister also declared that the culprits would be arrested and appropriate punishment would be given to them.

The Paris based media rights body, Reporters Without Borders also expressed shock at the assassination and asked 'the authorities in New Delhi to order the Central Bureau of Investigation to carry out an exhaustive investigation to determine the motives and arrest those responsible'.

The rights body also argued that the security situation is very worrying in Northeast and it can not be acceptable that journalists should be made to pay for refusing to relay propaganda for the different parties to a conflict. This latest murder must not go unpunished, it asserted.

The Assam Tribune in its editorial highlighted that 'Saikia's murder in broad daylight — occurring just four days after the killing of another journalist, K Rishikanta in Manipur – lays bare the growing vulnerability of the journalists working in conflict situations in the Northeast'. "Targeting of journalists by militants and anti-socials is nothing uncommon in the region, with Assam alone accounting for the killing of half a dozen journalists in the past eight years. This is a rather disturbing trend, and the failure of the Government and the law-enforcing agencies to book the culprits in most of the cases is only emboldening the miscreants to carry on with their dastardly acts," the editorial commented.

The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists also mourned the loss of Jagajit. The CPJ's Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz, while raising voice for 'thoroughly and transparently' investigating Jagajit's killing, also added, "Local governments in India's northeast should make journalists' security a priority to enable publication of essential news about local conflicts."

"It has been a grim year for journalists across the world. So far in 2008, at least 36 journalists have been murdered and another 17 are missing or unconfirmed as to whether they died on the job. Across Asia, two each were killed in Thailand, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, four in Pakistan and at least three in India," reports the CPJ last month.

International Federation of Journalists, Journalists' Forum, Assam, All Assam Photo Journalists Association, Assam Press Correspondents' Union, North East Media Forum (a body of New Delhi-based Northeastern Journalists) with a number of journalists organizations, student organizations, civil society groups and various political parties also condemned the killing and demanded punishments to the perpetrators.

Condemnation also poured from Sudhir Karmakar (secretary of Kolkata Press Club), Pranab Sarkar (secretary of Agartala Press Club), Bhim Rawat (secretary of Sikkim Press Club), David Laitphlang (president of Shilong Press Club), S. Hemant (president of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union) with others.

The Sentinel, a leading English daily from Assam, commented in an editorial that the killing of Jagajit only reflects on the vulnerability of the profession of journalism to the designs aimed at weakening the very foundation our democracy that is a free press to complement the flourish of democracy. It insisted that 'the gang of cowards who killed Jagajit Saikia must be brought to book and punished exemplary'.

The editorial also stated that 'one must realize that if there is any community that faces the greatest threat from the graduation of insurgency to criminal terrorism and that, despite the threat, must keep working because that is what their profession demands of them, it is the community of journalists, unarmed and defenceless'. Therefore, it is they who need the best protection; after all, it is they who serve democracy in the best manner possible, it concluded.

Speaking to this writer journalist forum president, Rupam Baruah argues that journalists must be safeguarded from other perspectives as well. The media persons in Northeast have to work under miserable conditions regarding the economic package and job securities. Many times, the low patronage from the management put the journalists in most vulnerable situation. Justice has to be delivered to the victims in a comprehensive way, Baruah asserted.

The JACA memorandum to the President revealed that Northeast is the home for more than 50 armed outfits, who have been fighting New Delhi for various demands varying from sovereignty to self rule. The militants display a common tendency to defy the democratic values of the country. But the media fraternity, working in the trouble torn region, does their best to pursue all the values that India stands for. And hence it remains the duty of the government to ensure the safety of these sentinels of the society. Otherwise, it argued, our claim as the largest democracy in the globe will be in stake.

ENDS

© Scoop Media