Manipur: Scribes stage pen down strike

Imphal, Aug 1: Manipur today woke up without a daily as journalists across the state staged a pen down strike last night to protest planting of a bomb at a local newspaper office in Imphal.

As the scribes have decided to defy diktat on writings and threats on their life by some outlawed organisations, a militant group put spanner further and vowed to attack the &34;bold journalists&34; if its decisions were not adhered to. For the last two days the journalists could not discharge their duty after an outfit threatened them of dire consequences if its press hand out was not published. Another group had also threatened to attack the journalists if the same press release was published.

And last night a bomb was planted at a local newspaper office to make the threat a reality, the agitating scribes alleged.

The journalists under the aegis of All Manipur Working Journalists Union staged a protest rally from Press Club towards the residence of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh to ventilate their concern after the bomb was found yesterday. The Chief Minister was informed of the threats given to the journalists from various quarters.

As the journalists could not work freely, the entire media community assembled at the Press Club last night and discussed the issue.

The members of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union have also decided to stage a protest rally today at Keishampat, Imphal, to focus their plight of undue interference by various groups into their functioning. The Union has appealed to all to allow the media to function freely and to respect freedom of the press.

UNI