Journalist receives death threats
(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 8 July 1998, on 7 July 1998, Mathew Marak, editor of the daily “Achik Mikasal”, received a letter containing death threats from rebel groups belonging to the separatist Achik National Volunteer Council. The separatist militants said in their threats that Marak had written several reports […]
Journalist Shivaji Sarkar assaulted by army personnel
(IFJ/IFEX) – “Financial Express” journalist Shivaji Sarkar was among a group of bus passengers returning from a pilgrimage who were beaten by army personnel in the hill region of Uttar Pradesh state on 23 June 1998. The passengers had earlier objected to an army vehicle blocking the road. The vehicle pulled up alongside the bus […]
Four journalists hospitalised after being attacked
(IPI/IFEX) – On 16 June 1998, four journalists, including two photographers, were hospitalised with serious injuries after they were attacked at the additional District Court in Kollam, Kerala state, by activists of the ruling Marxist Communist Party (CPM). Police reportedly stayed away from the court premises until the attack was over. The hospitalised journalists are […]
Journalists arrested
(RSF/IFEX) – According to information released by RSF on 18 May 1998, Dhiren Chakravarty and Atanu Bhuyan, editor and executive editor respectively, of the Guwahati-based daily “Ajir Batori”, were woken up and arrested at 3:00 a.m. (local time) on Friday 15 May, by Assam state policemen (in the northwestern state of Assam). They are charged […]
Indian journalist released from judicial custody
(CPJ/IFEX) – In late November 1997, the Advisory Committee, the local administrative body for the National Security Act (NSA), concluded that the grounds for detaining Ajit Bhuyan, former editor of the Assamese-language daily newspaper “Asomiya Protidin” and its sister paper, the Assamese-language weekly “Sadin”, were not acceptable and ordered his release. Following this decision, the […]
Indian newspaper office attacked
(CPJ/IFEX) – According to reports from India received by CPJ, 50 armed men attacked the Madurai office of the Tamil-language daily newspaper “Dinamalar” in the early morning of 1 March 1998. Bearing clubs and knives, the armed men assaulted the office watchman, hurled four molotov cocktails, and destroyed property which included press equipment, windows, electrical […]
Journalist beaten and imprisoned
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 7 February 1998, Prakash Mahanta, a reporter for the newly founded Assamese-language weekly newspaper “Natoon Somoy” (New Times) was assaulted and detained. His assault is the latest in a series of attacks against journalists in Assam. According to CPJ, a group of Assamese police officers known locally as the “Black Panthers”, led […]
Newspaper editor target of repeated arrests
(CPJ/IFEX) – Ajit Bhuyan, editor of the widely read Assamese-language newspaper “Asomiya Protidin” (“Assamese Daily”) and its sister paper, the Assamese-language weekly “Sadin” (“Seven Days”), has been the target of repeated arrests since August 1997. According to news reports, Bhuyan has been linked by state authorities to the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) […]
“Al-Safa” editor-in-chief Ashraf Shaban abducted
On 1 August 1996, three unidentified men — one armed with a pistol — abducted Ashraf Shaban, the editor-in-chief of the Urdu-language daily “Al-Safa”, from the newspaper’s offices in Srinagar, Kashmir, and forced him into an auto-rickshaw taxi. Shaban has not been seen since and no one has claimed responsibility for his abduction. Shaban, who […]
Indian-backed militia in Kashmir abducts and detains 19 journalists for over seven hours
On 8 July 1996, an Indian-backed counter-insurgency militia kidnapped and detained 19 journalists in Kashmir. The journalists, who were released unharmed that same evening, were held as hostages by the militia to secure a meeting with the editors of Kashmir’s leading newspapers. The 19 journalists were traveling together from Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, […]
Journalist and human rights activist Parag Kumar Das murdered
On 17 May 1996, journalist and human rights activist Parag Kumar Das was shot by unidentified gunmen in Guwahati, in the northeastern state of Assam. Das, the editor-in-chief of the daily “Asomiya Pratidin”, was picking his son up from school when three men drove up in an automobile and opened fire. Das was shot at […]
Kashmiri editor found dead three weeks after abduction
On 10 April 1996, the body of Kashmiri newspaper editor Ghulam Rasool Sheikh was found in the state’s Jhelum river. Sheikh had been missing since late March, when family members said that he was kidnapped by an Indian-backed militia. Local police, on the other hand, contend that he was abducted and slain by separatist guerrillas. […]
Kashmir separatist movement urged to condemn attacks on the media
**For background to recent incidents, see IFEX alert dated 21 July 1995** The CPJ recently called upon the organizational body of the Kashmir separation movement, the All-Party Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference (APHC), to condemn attacks on the press by militant groups, and to expel member parties whose militant allies continue to threaten journalists and news organizations. […]