Frequently under attack from various elements while discharging their duty in the troubled state, Assam journalists have called upon the government and all the political parties to take steps to enact a special law for protection of media persons on duty. It was decided at a meeting of various journalists unions at the Guwahati Press Club.
The decision was taken in the wake of attacks and assault on scribes on duty in Assam on August 28, the day when the All Assam Minority Students' Union called for a statewide bandh in protest against violent clashes between Bodo tribals and Muslims in the Bodo Territorial Autonomous District
areas.
Media persons from the state decided to impose three-months blackout of the AAMSU effective from August 28 unless the organisation tendered an unconditional apology.
Later the AAMSU relented and apologised by owning up moral responsibility for the attacks. It requested journalists to withdraw the boycott imposed on it. In response all the journalists unions of the state on Friday decided to reduce the boycott period imposed on the students union to just one month.
Over 20 journalists have been killed in Assam since 1991 by various elements but investigating agencies have failed to nab the culprits.