‘Why no outrage for Assam’s fallen scribes?’
AFTERMATH Organisations feel rest of the country takes no note of journalists killed in Assam, one of the most dangerous places for them
Journalists’ organisations in Assam condemned Gauri Lankesh’s murder but resented the indifference of the rest of India to the killing of at least 32 journalists in the state since 1987.
Till date, no one has been convicted of killing these journalists.
“Assam has been one of the most dangerous places for journalists. Sadly, the country has hardly taken note of scribes killed in the line of duty in Assam while none of the cases has been solved yet,” Nava Thakuria, secretary of Guwahati Press Club, said .
Other north-eastern states too have been hazardous. Some like Thounaojam Brajamani of Manipur News were killed while militants shot others in the leg for allegedly being government agents.
A majority of the journalists killed in Assam were by outfits such as United Liberation Front of Asom and the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tigers. The most high-profile among victims was Parag Das, executive editor of Asomiya Pratidin. Believed to have been an ideologue of ULFA, Das was allegedly killed by surrendered militants of the outfit in May 1996.
The first of the murders in Assam was of Punarmal Agarwal, a correspondent of The Assam Tribune. He was killed by suspected ULFA militants at Kampur in 1987.
Two journalists — Indra Mohan Hakasam of Amar Asom and Dwijen Das of Ajir Batori — are presumed dead after unidentified miscreants abducted them in the early 2000s. Another journalist, Anjur Borbora, vanished from Kolkata less than two decades ago.
The last journalist killed was Raihanul Nayoom of Dhubri in 2012. He was a reporter for a local publication.