IJU condemns murder of Journalist Jagajit Saikia

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (UNI) Indian Journalists Union (IJU) Secretary General K Sreenivas Reddy today vehemently condemned the murder of Jagajit Saikia, District Correspondent of a leading Assamese Daily Amar Asom, at Kokrajhar town yesterday by suspected terrorists.

Mr Saikia was an activist of Assam Press Correspondents Union, an associate unit of the Journalists Union of Assam and IJU.

In a statement here, Mr Reddy urged Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to take immediate steps to nab the murderers of the journalist. He also urged the Assam government to pay Rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia to the victim's family.

He also urged all political parties to come in defense of the freedom of the press and its torch-bearers.

He said the working journalists of Assam are living under the ''shadow of terror'' for the last two decades. Since 1991, 16 journalists were killed in the state, he added.

Even after repeated assurances from the state government, the life of working journalists had become a nightmare in all the North Eastern states.

On November 17, a Sub-Editor, Konsam Rishikant Singh, of daily newspaper Imphal Free Press was killed by unknown gunmen in Manipur.

In the recent past, five journalists were killed in Manipur alone, Mr Reddy added.

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