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 An
already violent culture area goes after the messengers
On
March 25, as Anil Majumder, the 38-year-old executive editor of the
Assam-based regional daily Aji [Today] arrived at his home after a
day's work, five gunmen suddenly surrounded him. Hit five times
at close range, Majumder was rushed to the hospital in the capital of
Guwahati, where he was declared dead.
Majumder,
who left behind a wife and two minor daughters, is the latest
casualty in a war that gunmen have declared on the press in Assam, in
the trouble-torn finger of India that lies between Burma and
Bangladesh. In the last six months, three have been gunned down by
unknown assailants, sending shock waves across the media community.
A total of 22 editors and reporters have been murdered since 1991
when Kamal Saikia, an editor, was killed for criticizing the ideology
of the United Liberation front of Assam, which has been waging an
uncertain war for independence from India for decades.
The
Northeast is the home for more than 30 active groups that have been
waging war against the Indian Union government and sometimes each
other for a plethora of conflicting and sometimes bewildering demands
varying from autonomy to self rule. Assam's hundreds of
journalists, who are paid almost nothing and have almost no job
security, have been the target of their frustrations. However, not a
single perpetrator has ever been booked under the law. The latest
before Majumder was on November 22 when another young editor, Jagajit
Saikia, who worked for an Assamese daily, Amar Asom, was also
targeted by gunmen from point blank range. He too left behind a wife
and a minor daughter. Konsam Rishikanta, 22, a young reporter for a
Manipur newspaper, was killed at almost the same time.
"The
militants display a common tendency to defy the democratic values of
the country. But the media fraternity, working in the region, does
their best to pursue all the values that India stands for," the
Journalists Action Committee of Assam wrote in a letter to India
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil. "It remains the duty of the
government to ensure the safety of these sentinels of the society.
Otherwise India's claim as the largest democracy in the globe
will be in stake."
Journalists
have been holding rallies and protests ever since Majumder was
killed. Most of the Assamese dailies were published with blank
editorials on March 26 as a mark of protest against the
assassination. Hundreds of editors and journalists from Assam's
huge media expressed anguish at the failure of the authorities to
ensure protection.
But
the editor's murder wasn't as straightforward as it
looks. The ever-conspiratorial press corps has blamed either
government agencies or militants although neither theory works very
well. His colleagues say that while he was brave and prolific, he was
also biased. Starting as a local media correspondent in Nalbari, he
moved up the ladder to owning a daily newspaper in Guwahati, a
demonstration of his ambition. He made enemies from across society
including the media itself, his colleagues say. The Congress-led
government was friendly with Majumder and militants sometimes counted
him as an ally. The daily neither enjoyed high circulation nor the
support of influential readers. The theory gaining momentum is that
he was killed as a result of a personal vendetta involving a land
dispute case.
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