Newspapers in Manipur failed to hit the stands on Friday as publishing houses and journalists decided against bringing out the issues in protest against threat to a scribe by hill-based militants. The All-Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) had launched a sit-in protest against the threat and decided to cease work on Thursday.
AMWJU took the decision after Singlianmang Guite, a reporter of The Sangai Express received a threat from a militant outfit. According to a release issued by the Manipur Hill Journalists' Union, three armed persons, identifying themselves as cadres of the militant outfit Hmar People's Convention-Democratic (HPC-D) intruded into Guite's residence in Churachandpur on Wednesday and threatened him over the publication of a news item.
Condemning the incident, the journalists decided to cease publication of all newspapers affiliated to it. It also appealed to authorities to identify and arrest the culprits. Threats to media persons and media houses by militants has resulted in frequent non-publication of newspapers in the recent past, a spokesperson of the journalists' body said while appealing to the militants not to disturb freedom of the press in the state. Publication of dailies would resume on Friday.
