Naga press slams guv for AR support

KOHIMA: The Nagaland Press Association (NPA) has asked Assam and Nagaland governor PB Acharya to clarify why he justified Assam Rifles' notice to newspapers asking them not to carry news about militant outfits.
Three English-language dailies had earlier carried blank editorials to protest against the paramilitary force's diktat.
In a statement, NPA president K Temjen Jamir and vice-president H Chishi said, "It is beyond our comprehension that the governor of a state has empowered its soldiers to issue executive orders against the media, considered to be the fourth pillar of democracy."
Last Sunday, Acharya had said, "The Assam Rifles has done the right thing (by asking newspapers to refrain from publishing news on rebel outfits).Banned organizations should not get publicity in our newspapers. If they (the armed outfits) are in peace agreements with the government, their statements can (be published) in newspapers."
The NPA asked whether reports on international terror outfits like ISIS, routinely published in newspapers across the world, would now be considered 'unlawful' by the executive or security forces of the state.
"If publishing news about threats by an unlawful organisation is considered to be support for the said organisation, the intelligence of the state is in doubt," the statement said.
Meanwhile, Naga Hoho, the apex body of Naga society, has questioned what it called Acharya's blind support of Assam Rifles. In a statement, it urged the state government to intervene and added that it had earlier apprised RN Ravi, interlocutor to the Naga peace talks, and junior home minister Kiren Rijiju on intrusion into the freedom of press by Assam Rifles.