Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: The Indian Newspaper Society has expressed its concern over the decision of The Arunachal Times to suspend publication in order to avoid confrontation with a students’ group that was reportedly permitted by the district administration in Itanagar to stage a dharna outside the newspaper office.
In a statement, the Society said that the move was aimed at intimidating the newspaper. The administration took the decision of allowing protest dharna without reference to the newspaper is surprising, it added.
“This is another in a series of attacks on the press in the North-east, orchestrated by groups that demand only their viewpoint be published, while showing extreme intolerance towards others. It is necessary for Governments to recognize that the right to free speech is enshrined in the Constitution, and must be preserved and defended. Easy capitulation, as evidently happened in Itanagar, only emboldens those who wish to throttle the Press,” the statement further said.
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