Imphal: All daily newspapers published from Manipur are closing down their publications since Wednesday to protest against threats of militants to media. News bulletins aired on local cable channels have also stopped supporting a decision taken by the Editors Guild and All Manipur Working Journalists Association.
On Tuesday night, militants had sent a RPG cell wrapped in a gift pack to the office of Sanghai Express, a daily news paper published from Imphal. The person who delivered the parcel to the staff of the newspaper identified himself as a messenger of Peoples Republic of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and told them that this was their first warning to the Editor. He ordered not to publish any statements of the other fractions of PREPAK. Soon the news spreads among the media community and Editors of all daily paper published from Imphal united and met in an emergency meeting. They met Chief Minister Oikram Ibobi Sing at 10.30 PM and discussed about the matter.
Subsequently, an emergency meeting of All Manipur Working Journalist association was held at Imphal on Wednesday and it was decided to close down all publications indefinitely. They will resume publication only after withdrawal of the threat given by the militant organizations. They also demonstrated a sit in strike on Wednesday.
Media organizations on Thursday boycotts the All Assam Minority Organization for three months. The decision was taken when the media organizations held a meeting in Guwahati press club where the recent attack on media people by a section of AAMSU workers on Tuesday was condemned. The press club has restricted the entry of AAMSU leaders and workers for three months. Notably, several media people injured on Tuesday when a section of AAMSU workers sprang upon them.
The Assam government on Thursday hints at strict action against bandh calls a day after it banned this culture.Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that band calls have crippled the state on all state and that it won’t tolerate the organizations who often call bandh to make their presence felt.
A major string of blasts has been averted in Dibrugarh district when police seized three powerful grenades on Thursday. The grenades along with an improvised explosive devices were seized during a joint search operation by police and army in Kakopothar area in the morning. Notably, a group of hardcore ULFA militants are remaining active in the district. Recently, ULFA militants exploded a powerful blast near a police station but nobody was injured as it missed the tagets.
An AGP delegation visited Merapani on amid the simmering Assam-Nagaland border row. The seven member delegation comprise Padma Hazarika, Phani Bhushan Chaudhury and Atul Bora along with four others who took stock of the situation prevailing in the disputed areas. Nrmalcy has returned to Merapani area on the Assam-Nagaland border of Golaghat district where people of both the Gaud Basti village of Assam and Mikirang Basti village of Nagaland have arrived at a truce and the Gaud Basti people have returned to their tilling fields on the southern bank of the Selseli River on August 23.
People from Assam, who fled from are back to the southern city. BJP leaders claimed that this was due to a goodwill mission undertaken by the party to restore the confidence of the people that they would be safe in Andhra Pradesh. The BJP national committee had sent a delegation to Assam to reassure people who had abandoned their studies and employment in states like AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra. BJP leader Ramachandar Rao, who was in the delegation, said that now they are returning. He said the BJP delegation interacted with all sections of people and found that there was discontent that Bangladeshi infiltrators were disturbing the social and economic balance in the northeast.
More Central Reserve Police Force jawans are ready to rush to Assam to help the state get rid of the violence.
CRPF Director General K Vijay Kumar said at the Central Training College campus near Kurudampalayam that if needed more personnel will rush to Dhubri and Kokrajhar districts to quell the ongoing violence. Vijay Kumar added that a fresh review of the ground situation in the north east was done on Tuesday and they were awaiting fresh orders for deployment of personnel in the region.
Social activist Akhil Gogoi on Wednesday said that the Bodoland Accord must be revisited to ensure land rights to indigenous people in BTAD areas. Talking to reporters in Guwhati, he said that the accord signed did not ensure land rights to the indigenous people and thus should be revisited to provide them their demands. He said that the National Registrar of Citizens should also be updated within two years and inner line permit enforced to ensure there is no influx.
AIUDF has alleged that both Delhi and Dispur have failed to efficiently deal with the law and order situation in violence-hit areas.
Talking to reporters in Guwahati on Wednesday, General Secretary Aditya Langthasa said that Dispur has lost control over the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) area and the Centre has also not done enough. He said that armed miscreants were able to act with impunity and without any challenge from the government and security forces.
Bandh calls would be off for the one month. Courtesy Dispur. The Assam government on Wednesday declared all bandh calls as illegal. The decision against bandhs was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. According to the government, Ninety per cent of violence in the state was due to frequent bandh calls which have also crippled the economy.
Several media persons’ organizations have expressed their concern at the increasing trend of unprovoked attacks on journalists on duty in Assam. They were unanimous while condemning the attacks and threats on the media persons during the day long Assam Bandh on August 28, 2012, called by All Assam Minority Students' Union and other organizations, which turned violent in various places.
The dawn-to-dusk Assam Bandh, which was followed by another 12 hour long general strike called by Bajrang Dal on the previous day, demanding President’s Rule in Assam resulted in the clashes between the supporters and general people. Moreover, media persons on duty were targeted by the...
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