ON October 24 this year the Assam Rifles wrote to the newspaper editors of Nagaland asking them to refrain from publishing any news from the Myanmar based banned militant outfit – NSCN – Khaplang group. Colonel General Staff for Assam Rifles opined that by carrying news from an outlawed outfit that carries on an agenda of violence against the India State, the Nagaland media is (a) intentionally or unintentionally supporting unlawful association; (b) they have violated the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967; and (c) by publishing statements by banned organizations, they are, ipso facto, complicit in the organizations’ illegal activities. These are serious allegations with dangerous portends. So much depends on interpretation of who the NSCN (K) is. For the Naga people the NSCN of both factions are ‘national workers’ who have been pursuing the objective of a sovereign Nagaland for nearly five decades. For several years the NSCN (K) was on a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India.
This was only abrogated by the former in March this year. Following the ceasefire revocation and a series of attacks on the armed forces by the NSCN (K) the Government of India declared the outfit ‘outlawed.’ These are actions taken by the Indian state but for the Naga people Khaplang represents their kinsmen in Myanmar who by the senseless drawing of boundary lines by a colonial power left them outside of their common hearths and homes – a social space they still respect and a union they hope would materialise one day. Meanwhile three editors of Nagaland representing the Morung Express, Nagaland Page and Eastern Mirror carried blank editorials on November 16, a day observed as National Press Day, to register their protest against what is perceived as an infringement into the rights of the media to report events without fear or favour. They have also refuted point by point the allegations levelled by the Assam Rifles and have circulated their responses on social media. Messages of solidarity have been pouring in from the media fraternity throughout the country. The Assam Rifles it appears have bitten more than they can chew by taking on the fourth estate in their frustrated attempts to keep the NSCN (K) under check. But these attempts to check press freedom by different actors and institutions including at times the judiciary are unwarranted. The media of this country needs to stand together at this critical juncture