Journalists in Assam serve CM Tarun Gogoi ultimatum to catch killers of Aji editor

Journalists in Assam have served a seven-day ultimatum to the state government for arresting those responsible for the killing of Anil Mazumdar, executive editor of daily Aji on Tuesday night. The Journalists Action Committee (JAC) has warned that lackadaisical attitude on the part of the government to carry the investigation forward will compel the journalists fraternity to take up vigorous protest programmes.

The committee, a united forum for the protection of the rights of journalists in the state, also demanded Rs 10 lakh as compensation for Mazumdar's family.

Mazumdar’s murder came just four months after Jagajit Saikia, the correspondent of the daily Amar Asom, was gunned down in town of Kokrajhar. In all, 22 journalists have been killed or gone missing in Assam since 1987 when K Agarwalla of the Assam Tribune, and Pabitra Narayan of the North East Times were killed. India was placed 14 on CPJ's Impunity Index, released earlier this week, for failing to prosecute journalist murders.

The JAC has chalked out a week-long protest programme and appealed to the management of the newspaper houses to support the programme. March 27 will be observed as Black Day and all mediapersons will put black badges to register their anger against the killing of journalists. On March 28, a memorandum will be submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, Kamrup (Metro), on March 29, a signature campaign will be launched to garner opinion against killing, on March 30, protest programmes will be undertaken by the mediapersons at the district level on March 31, the papers will carry a black strip in first page and a slogan demanding protection for journalists, on April 1, a meeting of all the journalist bodies will be held at the Guwahati Press Club and on April 2, a protest march will be taken out by the mediapersons.

The Assam Press Correspondents’ Union on Wednesday declared Mazumdar as a martyr and resolved to launch a mass movement unless the government arrested the culprits at the earliest. It also flayed the Congress government in the state, saying that a number of journalists had to sacrifice their lives during its regime. APCU will observe March 27 as protest day. The Assam Photojournalists Association has condemned the incident and decided to stage a sit-in demonstration on March 27 in front of the Guwahati Press Club.

"We send our condolences to Anil Majumdar's family and colleagues," said Joel Simon, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director. "Police in Assam must investigate the motive for this killing immediately and reassure the local media community that journalists will not continue to be murdered with impunity."

“We offer our condolences to Mazumdar’s family and friends,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “He was a courageous journalist who never hesitated to criticise the terror reigning in northeastern India. He had been involved in many controversies since taking over as Aji’s editor and had often said he feared for his life.”

The press freedom organisation added: “The situation of journalists working in this region is of great concern. They often pay dearly for refusing to docilely relay the propaganda put out by the various parties to the conflict. We urge the government to do everything possible to determine the motives of this murder and identify and arrest those responsible.”

“Once again, since the murder of Jagajit Saikia last November, we are reminded of the unsettled and positively hazardous conditions under which journalists work in the Indian state of Assam,” Internaitonal Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said. “IFJ urges local authorities in Assam to go the extra mile to ensure the safety of journalists in the state and to end the culture of impunity by investigating and prosecuting every case.”