(IJU) has strongly condemned the highhanded behaviour of the Manipur governmen

Hyderabad/Chandigarh, 5 September 2023: The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has strongly condemned the highhanded behaviour of the Manipur government which has lodged an FIR against four members of a fact finding team of Editors’ Guild of India (EGI) including its President Seema Mustafa, Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor which had visited the strife-torn State. In a statement issued on Tuesday IJU President K. Sreenivas Reddy and Secretary General Balwinder Singh Jammu said that the act of Manipur police was nothing but intimidation aimed against all journalists stationed at Manipur and also those visiting the State.

The fact that the Chief Minister himself announced the lodging of an FIR and criticised the visit indicates that it has been done at the behest of top political leadership, the IJU leaders said. They demanded the withdrawal of the FIR immediately. A fact-finding team from Editors’ Guild visited Manipur in the second week of August and in its report submitted last Saturday said it had found that “the leadership of the State had become partisan during the conflict”.

It looks the findings of the team had stung the leadership of the government, said the IJU leaders and added that attributing motives to a respected organisation like Editors’ Guild is highly objectionable. The government would do well to put its act together instead of shooting the messenger, they advised.

K. Sreenivas Reddy                                                                                       Balwinder Singh Jammu)

President                                                                                                                 Secretary-General