On Monday, the editors of six newspapers in Nagaland issued a public statement protesting against attempts by the Assam Rifles paramilitary force to curb the freedom of the press. Ironically, November 16 is commemorated as National Press Day.The Morung Express, Eastern Mirror and Nagaland Page carried blank editorials on Monday as a mark of protest and The Nagaland Post carried a strong editorial

This protest was in response to a letter with the subject line “Media Support to Unlawful Association” sent out by a colonel of the General Staff of the Assam Rifles on October 24, addressed to the editors of Nagaland Post, Morung Express, Eastern Mirror, Nagaland Page and Capi.

“Any article which projects the demands of NSCN(K) and gives it publicity is a violation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1957, and should not be published by your newspaper.”

The letter had warned newspapers against carrying public statements made by militant outfits, specifically the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang). It reminded editors that the NSCN(K) had been declared an “unlawful association” by the home ministry.A copy of the home ministry’s notification was attached to the letter, along with the offending articles. They included reports on an NSCN(K) statement that threatened to eliminate “certain senior lawmakers” who were pursuing a “subversive course to force NSCN (K) to capitulate and toe the line of a particular political group which propped them and vice versa”. In other words, legislators who were trying to round up support for the peace deal being struck between the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) and the Central government. Reports on “tax” collection by the NSCN(K) were also “construed as support to an unlawful association”.“It’s just news,” said Geoffrey Yaden, editor of the Nagaland Post. “It could be any legislator or security force or underground establishment. This is the age of information. We have outfits calling up papers in other states, sending out emails, issuing press statements. Security forces do not overreact in other states. The issue of the statement amounts to a thinly veiled threat by the Assam Rifles.”The paramilitary body had overstepped its brief, editors felt. “They don’t have the egregious power to send out notices under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act,” said Yaden. “If they had a problem, they could have complained to the government, they could have complained to the Press Council. The government could have decided on what action to take.”K Temjen Jamir, editor of the Naga daily, Tir Yimyim, agrees. “The Assam Rifles is not here to govern," he said. "They are here to perform their assigned duty. They are supposed to maintain peace. We are also trying to promote peace. We must work together. Whatever we report, we do it to open a dialogue between divergent groups. Don’t people have the right to know?”Jamir said this sort of curb had not been placed on newspapers after the government signed ceasefire agreements with the underground groups. The NSCN(IM) agreed to a ceasefire in 1997. The NSCN(K) signed up in 2001. In April this year, it walked out of the 14-year-old ceasefire agreement. After the group allegedly launched an attack on army personnel in Manipur, killing 18, the government put it under a five year ban. A recent gazette notification put out by the home ministry has declared the NSCN (K) a terrorist organisation under the UAPA. On August 3, the Centre announced it had signed a framework agreement for a peace accord with the NSCN (IM).The public statement issued by the editors asserts that “by implying that the Nagaland based media is supporting a particular banned organisation, the Assam Rifles is, ipso facto, jeopardising the personal safety and well being of the Editors and the media fraternity in Nagaland.”“Is this an attempt to censor, weaken and ultimately silence the role of the media in Nagaland?” it asks. The note goes on to underline the importance of the print media, which is the principal means of communication in the conflict-ridden state. The editors pledge to “remain impartial and non-partisan while exercising our editorial independence”, to report diverse viewpoints and create a healthy space for debate, to uphold the values of non-violence and democracy, to uphold the ethics of journalism, particularly “peace journalism”, to “exercise the right of the free press” and to report events with “transparency, accountability and objectivity”.