South Asia Women in Media (SAWM) strongly condemns the attack on Tongam Rina, associate editor of the Arunachal Times, in Itanagar on the evening of July 15, 2012. A valued member of SAWM, Rina was entering her office when she shot at by an unidentified gunman who remains at large. The senior journalist is also the President of the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists. Rina has since undergone surgery and we hope that she makes a complete recovery. Our thoughts are with her during these difficult days.
Attacks on the media are not new in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. Three months ago the office of the Arunachal Times, a leading English daily of the State, was vandalised by a group of ten intruders. One-and-a-half years ago, two women reporters, Appu Gapak and Nyapi Bomjen, of the Sentinel Arunachal, were attacked by the local police in Itanagar while on an assignment. Despite strong evidence and a case being registered, the guilty have not been punished.
As a regional organisation representing women journalists from the SAARC countries, SAWM is disturbed by the increasingly dangerous climate in which media professionals function in South Asia and is especially concerned about the poor security of women journalists.
