Dimapur, April 19 (EMN): The Nagaland Press Association (NPA) has condemned the act of two unidentified persons who hurled a ‘petrol bomb’ at the residence of the editor of The Shillong Times, Patricia Mukhim in Shillong, Meghalaya, on Tuesday evening.
Going by the way the attack was carried out, the NPA stated in a statement issued by its President K Temjen Jamir and General Secretary Along Longkumer, the sole intention of the perpetrators appeared to be ‘trying to create fear’ in men and women who serve in the Fourth Estate.
“Such attack in recent times against journalists in India is also an attempt to silence the voice of those who speak for the truth, espousing the cause of democracy and a free society that believes in peace and dialogue. Attacks on journalists are also a reflection of growing intolerance in the country,” the organisation stated.
It stated that Patricia Mukhim was not only an editor of a newspaper published from Shillong, but also a senior journalist representing the country, who has been actively engaging issues of national importance.
The NPA considered the attack on Patricia Mukhim an ‘outright disrespect for the democratic values of peace and dialogue’ that the Fourth Estate represents, whether it is in Meghalaya, in Delhi, or in Nagaland.
The NPA has reposed faith in the newly elected government of the state led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to get to the bottom of the attack against a senior journalist from the Northeast and bring the culprits to book.
