http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/15132/
Editor Killed in India’s Assam By Nava Thakuria Apr 10, 2009 Indian firefighters use a hose to attempt to extinguish a fire in Guwahati on April 6, 2009, after a bomb blast in the north-eastern city. (AFP/Getty Images) Protests against the killing of an editor in Assam of Northeast India continue, with the journalist community declaring a series of protests and demonstrations. A protest met at the cremation ground of the murdered editor, appealing for all media persons in Assam to unite and participate in the program demanding punishment to the culprits and compensation to the family of the editor. Anil Majumder, an executive editor of the Assamese daily Aji, was shot dead on the night of March 24 in front his residence in Guwahati. The killers were waiting for the young editor to return from the office and soon after the assassination at around 10 p.m., they fled. Hailing from Nalbari district, Majumder, 39, left behind his wife and two daughters. The police, even after two weeks of the incident, had not yet broken any significant leads, though the department issued a sketch of the killer, prepared from information given by the driver of the editor, who was the lone witness of the murder. Assam has lost over 20 editor-journalists in the last two decades and surprisingly enough, not a single perpetrator of these heinous crimes has been booked under the law. The victims include Kamala Saikia, Deepak Swargiary, Kundarmal Agarwala, Manik Deuri, Prarag Kumar Das, Ratneswar Sarma Shastri, Nurul Haque, Jogesh Uzir, Dineswar Brahma, Girija Das, Monikan Das, Ranbir Roy, Prahlad Gowala, Maslimuddin, Bodosa Narzary, and Jagajit Saikia. The killing of Anil Majumder has brought many issues to the public forum. He was a brave journalist, but allegedly often ended up biased in his reporting. He was prolific, but most of the time he might have been used by somebody else. Starting as a local media correspondent in Nalbari, Majumder came to own a daily newspaper in Guwahati, which shows his extraordinary zeal and dedication for achieving success. But along the way, he made enemies from different parts of society, including the media fraternity. Who may be behind the killing of the editor has yet to come to light. Three hypotheses have been discussed in various media and public forums. First, as usual, a government agency may have been involved in the killing. Secondly, militants might have targeted him. However, both theories cannot claim much ground, as the government was not uncomfortable with the editor and it would hardly want this kind development prior to the polls scheduled over April and May. Moreover, the daily neither enjoyed high circulation nor support of influential readers. Similarly, the leader of an armed group (United Liberation Front of Asom) denied their involvement in the killing of Majumder. He was understood as being closed to the outfit, for which Majumder was even arrested earlier. The police suspect that he was involved with the militants for many “non-journalistic” activities. The last theory that is gaining momentum is that Majumder fell prey to a personal vendetta. The editor was in a dispute with a Guwahati-based rich businessman. The conflict between Majumder and the businessman ended up in a court case, which is still pending. The Journalists’ Action Committee, an umbrella organization of media bodies of India, issued an ultimatum to the government to nab the killer within a week. The committee also submitted a memorandum to the chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, urging him to take prompt action. Most of the Assamese dailies were published with blank editorials on March 26 as a mark of protest against the gruesome assassination. This was decided during the protest meeting the day after the murder at the cremation ground where hundreds of editor-journalists attended the meeting and expressed anguish at the failure of the authorities to ensure protection of the media persons in Assam. The voice of protest has been raised with a number of media bodies, student organizations, civil society, and advocacy groups with political organizations in Assam. The Editors Guild of India asserted that the “brutal killing of Majumder exposes the failure of the government to provide security to editors.” The Guild demands an intensive investigation into the murder of Majumder and also calls upon the government, civil society, and the media to provide foolproof security to journalists and editors. It also expressed its deep apprehensions about the safety of editors and journalists in Assam, as many of them function under the shadow of threats. “Journalists and editors in Assam are pressured by terrorist groups and sometimes by governmental agencies to write in favor of one group or other. Despite the threats, editors and journalists have performed their duties,” said the Guild president Rajdeep Sardesai. The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) expressed shock at the murder of Majumder and conveyed its condolences to his family members. “Once again, since the murder of Jagajit Saikia last November, we are reminded of the unsettled and positively hazardous conditions under which journalists work in the Indian state of Assam,” IFJ Asia-Pacific director Jacqueline Park said, adding that the local authorities in Assam must go the extra mile to ensure the safety of journalists in the State. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) expressed shock and grief at the murder of Majumder. In a statement, issued from New York, the CPJ’s executive director Joel Simon conveyed condolences to Majumder’s family and colleagues saying, “Police in Assam must investigate the motive for this killing immediately and reassure the local media community that journalists will not continue to be murdered with impunity.” Similarly, RSF said in a statement, “The situation of journalists working in this region is of great concern. They often pay dearly for refusing to docilely relay the propaganda put out by the various parties to the conflict.” The Paris-based media rights body ended urging the government “to do everything possible to determine the motives of this murder and identify and arrest those responsible.” Chief Minister Gogoi himself condemned the killing and directed state Police Chief G.M. Srivastava to take necessary actions to arrest the culprits at the earliest. Gogoi, during his visit to the family of Majumder to pay his condolences, said, “It is the duty of the government to provide protection to everybody, particularly to journalists, and necessary steps will be taken.” Amazingly, Chandan Bagchi, a senor Indian National Congress leader, after attending the funeral of Majumder, pledged that he would carry the journalists’ voice of resentment to their high command (read UPA chief Sonia Gandhi) and insisted that the killers should be brought under the law within three days. However, the police failed to nab the killers in the stipulated time period. But there are other “point of view,” as well. Media persons (including proprietors) are vulnerable to various elements not only because of the conflict situation, but also for economic reasons. They have to perform their duties under tremendous work loads but with low returns in terms of salary and other legitimate facilities in Northeast India. The region, surrounded by Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet (China), Burma, and Bangladesh, has witnessed a media boom in the last decade, but journalists continue to be the victim of exploitation by their respective employers. Guwahati, the virtual capital of the Northeast, witnesses the publication of more than 20 morning dailies, half of which are in the Assamese language. Most of the dailies are published from more than one center, whereas three Assamese newspapers claim to enjoy daily circulation around 1,000,000. Recently, three satellite TV news channels have emerged from the city, adding a hundred more working journalists to the team of the sentinels. Both print and visual media have created 8,000 jobs directly, and provided indirect employment to 20,000 throughout the state with a population of 26 million. Over 400 working journalists live in Guwahati. There is no denying the fact that the journalists, who remain vocal against the exploitation faced by the other workers in various sectors, themselves are exploited and compelled to work in an unsafe environment. They are denied their due economic benefits recommended by the statutory wage boards constituted by the government and even the relevant labor laws. As most of them work without proper appointment letters, they enjoy little job security. Even though the print media boom is spectacular, there are people who are apprehensive about the outcome. “We have witnessed the boom since the early ’90s, but quality journalism remains elusive in our region. I agree the local media is facing a tough challenge from both national newspapers as well as the electronic media. But still there is room for regional newspapers to play a constructive role in socio-economic growth in this part of India. Unfortunately, the existing dailies have failed to make any mark in this respect,” says Hiten Mahanta, a Guwahati-based journalist. Rupam Baruah, the president of Journalists’ Forum of Assam commented, “This is very unfortunate that media persons have to work with a salary starting with even Rs. 2000 [US$40] with absolutely no job security. Over 70 percent of newspaper employees in Assam are deprived of basic minimum facilities such as appointment letter, leave, provident fund, and medical facilities. Many times, they are also used by the proprietors of media groups for their business [other than media] interests. All these factors often put many editor-journalists in a vulnerable situation.” Last Updated Apr 10, 2009 ------------------------------------ -- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [email protected], OR, if you have a Yahoo! 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