IFJ, CPJ alarmed with threat to Manipur media

Imphal, Aug 10: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and New York based Committee to Protect Journalists have extended their support to the Manipur media.

The journalists in Manipur were recently warned by the Manipur government not to publish any news related to militancy and the militants had also warned them to write as they wanted.

The IFJ said in a statement that it ''is alarmed to learn that an adverse situation for media workers in the Indian state of Manipur, has turned markedly worse in the space of a mere week. By all credible accounts, this has happened on account both of militant groups operating in Manipur and retaliatory action by state authorities.'' ''We believe that both sides have chosen the wrong target'', said IFJ Asia Pacific Director Jacqueline Park. The statement further said, the IFJ understands that the Home Department in the Manipur state government has issued an order under which any material, printed or electronically encoded, would be forfeited, if believed to contain anything connected to underground or subversive groups.

Once the notice of forfeiture is issued, the police can seize any copy of the publication in question and under warrant issued by a magistrate, enter upon and search any premises for the same.

''These powers reserved for the police authorities would stifle any notion of media freedom'', said Park. ''More alarming though, is the notion that the state authorities can legitimately respond to the intimidation of the media by armed insurgent groups, with threats of their own''.

The IFJ also condemned the July 31 incident in Manipur's state capital of Imphal, when a newspaper office received a live mortar shell, gift-wrapped, as a warning to stay away from reportage on certain of the armed insurgent groups in the state.

''We fully endorse the action taken by local newspaper staff to strike work in protest against this act of intimidation,'' said Park.

The IFJ calls upon the militant group concerned to respond to the demand by the community of journalists, and stop targeting the media.

Various militant groups have been sending press releases to newspaper offices, demanding that they be published, according to credible reports received by IFJ.

''In this manner the armed confrontation between various militant groups is being played out in the newsrooms of the Manipur media,'' the IFJ said.

The IFJ called upon the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Manipur, to increase the security patrols in the vicinity of media offices, as he has committed himself to doing.

The Press Council of India, the IFJ learned, has established reasonable guidelines on reporting situations of armed conflict.

Yet, the problems in Manipur are recognisably of a different character, since armed insurgency affects every sphere of life and society in the state.

''For this reason, a blanket ban on the coverage of militancy in the state would amount to a serious abridgment of the public right to know'', said Park.

The Committee to Protect Journalists also said it is alarmed by deteriorating conditions for the media in the NE Indian state of Manipur, where more than a dozen insurgent groups are involved in separatist activity or factional fighting.

In addition to increased pressure from competing militant groups, journalists are now faced with a new directive issued by the state banning the publication of any statements made by unlawful organisations.

UNI