The premises of Mizzima News Agency were reopened Wednesday on orders of the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee looking into the sealing issue in Delhi. The office was sealed by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on April 16, 2007.
The decision to reopen Mizzima's office was made by the MCD Deputy Commissioner and member of the Sealing Monitoring Committee, Deepak Hastir, following a meeting between Mizzima's representatives and the Chief Engineer of MCD West Zone, Naveen Verma.
Verma told Sein Win, Mizzima's managing editor, one of the representatives who met MCD officials, that the Sealing Monitoring Committee had decided to unseal the Mizzima office on the ground that it is not into commercial activity.
The meeting between Mizzima's representatives and MCD officials took place after about 50 Mizzima staff members and supporters held a peaceful demonstration outside the MCD office. Following the meeting, an MCD Junior Engineer came along with Mizzima's representatives to the news agency’s office and broke the seal.
“We desealed the property on the orders of the monitoring committee as the news agency is not a commercial venture and was established on a non-profit basis by the United Nations,” said an MCD official.
Established in 1998 by a group of Burmese dissidents, Mizzima is a non-profit news organisation funded by various international donors to produce independent news on Burma-related issues. Mizzima also reports on India’s policy towards Burma. In recent years the countries have stepped up official visits and trade. Recent Mizzima articles have not been critical of the relationship.
Mizzima, while rejoicing over the outcome of Wednesday’s demonstration, credited the success to the support and solidarity by Mizzima support groups and organisations, particularly to the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), the International Freedom of Expression and Exchange (IFEX), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Burma News International, Burma Media Association, and International Press Institute (IPI), and for showing concern and writing to the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil.
“While Mizzima is grateful to the MCD and thanks it for understanding the nature of Mizzima's activity and unsealing its office, it also expresses its appreciation of the Indian government's role in the matter,” the agency said.
