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PM promises action in Assam scribe murder cas

The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has promised to take
initiative on the process to nab the killers of Assam based journalist
Kamala Saikia, who was murdered by the separatist militants 18 years
ago. Dr Singh was briefed about the professional hazard of media
persons in Assam-where more than 20 editor-journalists had fallen prey
to various anti-social elements in the last two decades-by the Editors
Guild of India president Rajdeep Sardesai during a meeting on August
14 in PMO.

Interacting with the editor’s guild president, the prime minister
assured to raise the matter with the Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi
once again. Dr Singh, who represents Assam in Rajya Sabha, also
expressed his willingness to meet a delegation from Journalist Kamala
Saikia Memorial Trust during his next visit to Guwahati.

Mentionable that Sardesai came to Guwahati to deliver the 8th Kamala
Saikia memorial lecture on August 9 to commemorate the death
anniversary of the freedom fighter turned teacher-journalist. Saikia
was killed on August 9, 1991 by the intolerant militants belonged to
the banned United Liberation Front of Asom to stop his critical write
ups against the outfit.

Sardesai, who is the Editor-in-Chief of CNN-IBN, was handed over a
memorandum by the JKSM Trust during his stay in Guwahati, where it was
expressed anger at the unexpected delay in the investigation process
to identify and punish the killers of Saikia.

“It is a matter of grave concern that the family of a journalist, who
was killed to stop his critical writings against the banned outfit,
has to wait for justice for all these long years. Even today, the
family and the entire media community of Assam do not have any idea,
if justice will be delivered in the coming days,” said in the
memorandum.

Demanding a prompt investigation, the JKSM Trust had also submitted
two memorandums to the State chief minister Gogoi. The trust has been
organizing the memorial lectures annually with the support from
Guwahati Press Club.

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