Guwahati( Assam ) ,Feb 23 : Alleging that the city based press club had ‘designed to give space to a separatist leader of a banned armed outfit which emerged as a terrorist outfit to threat the sovereignty and integrity’ of India, an FIR has bene lodged against the president and general secretary of Gauhati Press Club (GPC).
Senior journalist Biswajit Nath, who is a former general member of GPC, lodged the compliant at Latashil police station in the city today , arguing that the press club authority ‘organized a formal audio interview with Paresh Barua (self-styled military chief of United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent) at its auditorium’ by 6.30 pm on Feb 21 last.
GPC president Manoj Nath and general secretary Sanjay Ray was seen (through various news channels’ live visuals) on dais of the club auditorium waiting for the call from Barua with an aim to transfer it to the sound system so that all reporters, who were present on the occasion, could listen and interact subsequently.
“However, because of the interventions of the city police the program could not be organised and it came to an abrupt end. But it is beyond doubts that the present committee of Gauhati Press Club organized the program and announced about it in advance.
Notably, Ulfa (I) leader Paresh Barua called them on time accordingly,” said the FIR.
Mentionable is that the dreaded militant leader is in the media as he threatened to take punitive actions against two abducted Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited employees namely Pranab Kumar Gogoi (hails from Sivasagar, Assam) and Ram Kumar (hails from Khagaria, Bihar).
By then, the negotiations with the company management on ransom were failed. Kidnapped from Dayun Khumsai drilling area in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh on 21 December, both of them are still under the custody of Ulfa (I).
“Now why necessary actions should not be taken under the unlawful activities prevention act (1967) against Manoj Nath (c/o Niyomiya Barta, Pride East Entertainment Private Limited, Christianbasti, Guwahati, Assam, m-94350 89498) and Sanjay Ray (c/o The Assam Tribune, Maniram Dewan Road, Chandmari, Guwahati, Assam, m-80117 45999),” questioned the FIR.
Petitioner Nath, who prefers to introduce himself as a nationalist scribe, did not forget to mention that since 1998, a group of brave journalists and patriotic citizens hoisted National tri-colour in the same press club premises defying the diktat of separatist militant groups (including Ulfa).
They all took tremendous risk two decades back while paying tributes to the martyrs of Freedom Movement as the militants threatened to punish the participants in Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations, asserted Nath finally urging the police to take appropriate actions against the litigants ‘so that anti-national mentality can be discouraged in this part of the country’.
Meanwhile ,Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA), a forum of nationalist citizens in northeast India, while expressing serious concern over an acknowledged media interaction program with a separatist militant leader who continues to be threats to India’s seventy and integrity at Guwahati Press Club (GPC) recently, has denounced the press club committee.
Mentionable is that the club committee organized a formal audio interview with Paresh Barua, the self-styled military chief of banned United Liberation Front of Assam Independent, in its premises at 6.30 pm on 21 February 2021. The press club office bearers including were clearly visible in live footages of various news channels as they were eagerly waiting for the militant leader’s expected call.
From the dais of GPC auditorium at Ambari locality in the city, one office bearer received the call from Paresh Barua and was supposed to transfer the sound system so that all present reporters could listen to his voice and then interact. But because of the arrival of some police personnel on duty, the program was abruptly concluded.
It is beyond doubt that the press club committee desired to provide space to the militant leader who recently threatened to execute two employees of Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited (namely Pranab Kumar Gogoi and Ram Kumar), who were abducted by his armed cadres from Diyun drilling locality of Arunachal Pradesh on 21 December and since then they are under their custody.
People of the region may remember how a small group of journalists and patriotic citizens dared to hoist the National tri-colour flag at the same press club premises defying the diktat of militant groups including the Paresh Barua led Ulfa. They took it as a mission to pay tributes to the martyrs of India’s freedom struggles even though the separatist militants threatened the participants of Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations of dire consequences.
“GPC has a legacy of anti-terror protests as its member-scribes marched on the street demanding justice to the family of journalist Kamala Saikia, who was brutally killed by Ulfa militants on 9 August 1991,” said a PPFA statement adding, “It is shameful that the press club committee has done mockery to the spirit of devoted journalists by inviting a dreaded anti-national militant for a program where he was supposed to address reporters from an undisclosed location glorifying his stand on separatism, abduction, extortion, etc.”
