Journo attack: Arunachal dailies shut in protest

All media houses in Arunachal Pradesh are closed for the day on Tuesday in protest against the brutal attack on woman scribe Tongam Rina, asssociate editor of Arunachal Times on Sunday evening in front of her office in Itanagar.

The media houses also decided to boycott all news and advertisements of the Arunachal Pradesh government for 5 days if the police failed to arrest the culprits involved in the attack on the journalist.

The decision was taken in a meeting of Arunachal Press Club and Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists.

The journalist bodies demanded that f the State police fail to nab the culprits, the case be handed over to the CBI. They stated the attack on the journalist reflected the deteriorating law and order situation in the state capital.

The media persons in the state expressed their anguish over the failure of the authority to provide protection to the media and condemned increasing incidents of attack on the journalists in the state in recent time.

Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh Governor General (retd) J J Singh has described the attack on Tongam Rina an act of cowardice and an attack on the

freedom of the media.

Conveying his concern to Chief Minister Nabam Tuki, the Governor said that those involved in the shameful act should be arrested as soon as possible and made to face the law.

Chief Minister Tuki has assured the media fraternity in the state that their freedom of expression would be ensured at any cost and appealed to them to cooperate with the government in the investigation into the attack on Tongam Rina.

Tuki said that the state government would bear the expenses of the treatment of the injured journalist, whose condition is stated to be stabilising.

Meanwhile, the National Federation of Newspaper Employees has strongly condemned the attack on Rina.

In a statement issued here by Nava Thakuria, zonal secretary of NFNE argues that the media persons remain most vulnerable in Arunachal after Assam.

Thakuria urged the chief minister to take stern action against the miscreants such that the journalists can function in a fearless situation.

The NFNE also extended its support to the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists and the Arunachal Press Club in their protest program against the attack on the activist.