Manipur CM Biren Singh says FIR against Editors Guild members

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said that his government has filed an FIR against the president and three members of the Editors Guild of India EGI and accused them of trying to provoke clashes in the state Singh told a press conference here that at a time when many have been killed and left homeless the EGI published a totally onesided report without understanding the complexity of the crisis faced by Manipur the background and the history of the stateThe Editors Guild in a report published last week had critiqued media coverage out of Manipur a state which has seen ethnic clashes for the last four months It has criticised onesided reporting by some media outlets slammed the internet ban as being detrimental to press reporting and claimed there were indications that the state leadership had turned partisan during the conflict periodThe state government has filed an FIR against the members of the Editors Guild who are trying to create more clashes in the state of Manipur Singh told a press conferenceBesides EGI President Seema Mustafa those who were booked are the three senior journalists Seema Guha Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor who visited the state between August 7 and 10 to study media reportage on the ethnic violenceThey are antistate antinational and antiestablishment people who came to pour venom Had I known it before would not have allowed them to enter the chief minister claimedThe EGI in its report published on Saturday said it received several representations that the media in Manipur was playing a partisan role in the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meitei and KukiChin communities There are clear indications that the leadership of the state became partisan during the conflict It should have avoided taking sides in the ethnic conflict but it failed to do its duty as a democratic government which should have represented the entire state the report saidIn normal circumstances the EGI said reports filed by journalists are crosschecked and monitored by their editors or chiefs of bureaus from the local administration police and security forces but this was not possible during the conflict The internet ban made matters worse Communication blockade by the government had a deleterious effect on journalism as it directly impacted the ability of journalists to communicate with each other their editors and their sources It also impacted the media because local news gathered without any communication links was not sufficient to give a balanced view of the situation the report saidIt said with the internet suspended and communication and transport in disarray the media had to rely almost entirely on the narrative of the state government The EGI pointed out that members of the state leadership labelled sections of the KukiZo tribals as illegal immigrants and foreigners without any reliable data or evidence This despite the fact that the decadal census from 1901 to 2011 has not shown any unusual growth of the nonNaga the other minority tribal community tribal population the report saidThe fact that there was a military coup in Myanmar which led to an inflow of about 40000 refugees to Mizoram and reportedly about 4000 to Manipur was used to brand all KukiZo as illegal immigrants This was presented as pressure on resources but was also a war for political space with the politicians using the fear of the outsiders to consolidate its political position it saidThe Editors Guild members were booked under various sections of the IPC including 153A promoting enmity between two communities 200 using false declaration as true 298 deliberate intent to wound religious feelings and under provisions of the Information Technology Act and Press Council Act I also give a warning to the members of the Editors Guild if you want to do something please come to the spot see the ground reality meet the representatives of all communities all victims and publish what you found Otherwise meeting some sections of the people only and coming to a conclusion thats a disservice and is condemnable Singh saidThe claim that eviction was carried against one community only is not true he said adding that the drive began in 2015 and 413 houses have been vacated for the welfare of the general publicOf the 413 houses Singh said 59 belonged to the Kukis 143 to Meiteis 137 to Manipuri Muslims 38 to Nagas and 36 to Nepalis The chief minister wondered why nobody spoke anything about the mother who gave clothes to the women who were paraded naked and sent them home Singh alleged that none has been saying anything about similar incidents in Rajasthan and West Bengal He said the process of collecting biometric details of identified illegal immigrants in the state is continuingThe Centre had asked us to complete the process by September but we have sought an extension of one year as we have to find out more villages Singh saidHe rued that the EGIs report came when investigations were being carried out by several committees constituted by the Supreme Court and the central governmentSingh said an FIR has been registered against Kuki Inpi Manipur leader K Haokip for allegedly declaring that no Meiteis can enter the IndiaMyanmar border town of Moreh till there is a political solution All Manipur Working Journalists Union and Editors Guild Manipur also slammed the EGI for its allegations based on hearsayMore than 160 people lost their lives and several hundreds were injured since the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe ST status Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districtsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness 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