Reports of international condemnation of the killing of a young journalist by a forest ranger in Assam are trickling in but the Indian government is yet to make even the ritual noises about the gruesome murder that has shaken conservationists and journalists alike in the Northeast state.
CONCERNED: UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura speaks at a news conference in Bridgetown, Barbados, Wednesday, January 11, 2006. Matsuura said, "I am confident that India will not allow this cowardly assassination to undermine its dynamic, free and pluralistic media industry." (AP Photo/Chris Brandis)The latest to condemn the killing was the Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Koïchiro Matsuura. The UNESCO chief declared, "I condemn the murder of Prahlad Goala."
Matsuura said, "In view of the essential role of the media in maintaining democracy and good governance, this killing must be considered a heinous crime against society as a whole. I am confident that India will not allow this cowardly assassination to undermine its dynamic, free and pluralistic media industry."
So far, however, there have been no reports of any condemnation of the ghastly killing by the Indian government.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities to fully investigate the death of Goala. "We condemn the killing of our colleague Prahlad Goala," said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. "We call on the authorities in Assam to conduct a thorough investigation and bring those responsible to justice."
"The murder of this young Indian reporter is a tragic reminder that it is still dangerous to practice investigative journalist in some Indian states," the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said, welcoming the progress made in the police investigation and called on the authorities to ensure that both the instigator and perpetrators were brought to justice.
Prahlad Goala, the Golaghat correspondent of the Asomiya Khabar, was brutally murdered on the night of January 6 at Thuramukh near Nambor Reserve Forest. Married and the father of a 14-month-old girl, Goala was run down by a car while travelling on a motorcycle in Golaghat district (300 km east of state capital Guwahati). He was then repeatedly stabbed by several men, and died of head injuries.
Goala was the first journalist to be killed anywhere in the world in 2006.
The police Tuesday arrested KZ Zaman Jinnah, a forest ranger, for allegedly murdering Goala who had published several news items about the forest officer accusing him of being involved in malpractices inside Nambor RF. The ranger had threatened Goala with dire consequences for a news item published against him only a week ago.
Atanu Bhuyan, editor of Asomiya Khabar, also confirmed to the Indian Express that Goala had been receiving threat calls from the ranger for several weeks for reporting on illegal felling of trees by a criminal gang which was allegedly patronised by Jinnah. Bhuyan also pointed out that six days before Goala was killed, the ranger had threatened his father and asked him to ''control'' his son.
The Journalists' Action Committee, Assam has submitted a memorandum to the Union Environment and Forests Minister demanding his intervention and institution of a judicial probe into the killing. The JAC organised a meeting at the Press Club Wednesday and condemned the murder. The memorandum urged the minister to take personal interest in the matter since the state forest officials were bent on protecting the culprits, a JAC release alleged.
Conservation group Aaranyak has also strongly condemned the incident and demanded a high-level probe into the death of Goala.
The Golaghat District journalists Association demanded a judicial probe in a memorandum submitted to the Golaghat Deputy Commissioner. According to Rohit Gogoi, the GDJA general secretary, a large number of journalists, people from different backgrounds and a group representing the Tengani Sangram Samiti have urged the Assam government to ensure security for journalists.
