Geneva, Feb 11: Expressing serious concern over the abduction of a senior journalist in Manipur of northeast India by some militants early this morning (11 February 2025), the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) demanded his unconditional release. The global media safety and rights body also urged the local authorities as well as the Prime Minister of India to take appropriate initiative to get the Manipuri journalist freed from the banned outfit.
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Hours after his abduction, journalist Yambem Laba was released by the militants who have been waging a war against New Delhi for decades. Local media persons informed that journalist Yambem Laba was kidnapped by a group of gunmen from his residence at Uripok locality in Imphal even without giving him time to change his night dress.
In a video message of Laba, which surfaced in the morning hour, it was heard that he mistakenly termed a militant outfit as ‘surrendered’, whereas the group was engaged in a ceasefire with the Union government in New Delhi. In a local television talk show, Laba on Monday night analyzed the current political turmoil in Manipur which continues to boil even after the resignation of State Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday.
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Laba (69), associated with the national English daily (The Statesman, simultaneously published from New Delhi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, and Siliguri), remains traceless till noon and his family is worried about him. A few months back, the militants fired many rounds in front of his home.
A former member of the Manipur Human Rights Commission, Laba remains active on social media, where he often expresses personal views on the crisis faced by Manipur for the last several months. The police quickly launched a search operation to rescue the outspoken scribe.
“No journalist, even if he/she criticizes the State and non-State actors regularly, must be physically intended. The media persons have the liberty to put their views which are legally and logically correct, but that may turn bitter for the politicians and armed militants. Unless there is any personal character assassination, the scribe’s views should be accepted by the authority and society as a whole,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC.
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PEC’s South Asia representative Nava Thakuria added that the Myanmar bordering State has been witnessing communally flared conflicts between the majority Meitei people and minority communities including the Kukis. Since May 2023, over 250 people have been killed and more than 60,000 residents were displaced. A large number of public and private properties in various parts of Manipur belonging to both communities have been targeted, vandalized, and even burnt down.