Guwahati:The ban on a book by Monalisa Chang-kija, a Dimapur-based Naga Editor-Journalist, by tribal body Ao Senden (Ao Hoho) has led Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) to express concern over the matter.
The JFA, through a press release here, has urged Ao Senden to withdraw the restriction urgently. Ao Senden (Ao Hoho), which is responsible for the welfare of Ao tribe in Nagaland, has alleged that Ms Changkija’s recent book has narrated some false allegations against the tribal body. Released on October 25, the book titled ‘Cogitating For A Better Deal’ (published by Heritage Publishing House, Dimapur, 2014), is a compilation of six seminar papers which the author presented at various national seminars.
The JFA release said Ms Changkija, Editor of ‘Nagaland Page’, an English daily newspaper of the State, has termed Ao Senden as an NGO having ‘no mandate to arbitrate over intra and/or inter village disputes’, whereas the leader of the tribal body claims that it is the statutory apex body of Ao tribe.
She is also willing to publish the Ao Senden’s refutations and rebuttals to what she had written, which they found to be incorrect/disagreeable/objectionable, in newspapers and in the book itself, as a conciliatory gesture, the JFA release informed.
“We believe the leaders of Ao Senden should consi-der the author’s gesture to have appropriate clarifica-tions in the book and with-draw the ban over Cogita-ting For A Better Deal. It needs no mention that in the age of internet today the ban over a book , that is in English, by a local body makes no sense,” said JFA president R Barua and sec-retary Nava Thakuria. (UNI)
