Guwahati, April 14: The Press Club of India (PCI) has condemned the attack on the office of a leading vernacular newspaper, Asomiya Pratidin, carried out on the night of April 10 by unidentified persons at the newspaper’s Lakhimpur office.
In a statement, PCI president Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty and secretary general Afzal Imam said, “What is noteworthy is that the vandalisation occurred just hours after Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma made public remarks against the Pratidin media group along with an Assamese news channel.”
“PCI is highly concerned about the shrinking space for journalism in the north-eastern state, particularly during the run-up to the just-concluded Assembly elections,” the PCI office-bearers stated, adding, “It also includes burning of hundreds of copies of the newspaper in Upper Assam by unidentified forces close to the April 9 voting day.”
“During the election campaign, the chief minister was seen on many occasions verbally attacking reporters from various media organisations both within and outside the state for posing him questions, a right the media holds in a democracy. The PCI wants to remind the chief minister that he holds a Constitutional position, and is answerable to the press in the interest of citizens, however uncomfortable the questions may be. Questioning the government of the day or a political leader in public interest is journalism,” they stated.
“PCI urges the state authorities to conduct an impartial and swift inquiry at the earliest – -into these attacks which are directly linked to Press Freedom, and Freedom of Expression, a right granted to every citizen by the Constitution,” the PCI statement read.
“The authorities must ensure that those responsible for these cowardly attacks are identified and brought to justice. The recent attacks on reporters and media houses in poll-bound Assam can be located within a growing eco-system of censoring news and views in several parts of the country, particularly in the digital space, a trend that deeply concerns the PCI,” it said.
