Manipur CM N Biren Singh said that the state government has filed an FIR against the members of the Editors Guild who are trying to create more clashes in the state.

Singh strongly condemned fact finding report of Editors Guild of India in connection with Manipur violence.

The CM said that the Supreme court has taken up the present case of Manipur. Amid this situation, EGI presenting a report that even contain even factual error is condemned at highest form. Such report will aggravate or intensify the present crisis.

“It seems EGI doens’t know much about the genesis of present crisis. The state government has all the evidence of the crisis. If they want they can get from us. It is big shame for EGI presenting such report that has lot of error…Seeing their report I feel that they just like anti-state or anti-national,” Singh said.

Those booked are the President of the Editors Guild Seema Mustafa, and three members – Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan and Sanjay Kapoor. The three members had visited Manipur last month to study media reportage of the ethnic violence.

This comes after the Editors Guild of India’s fact-finding team of three members flagged that reporting from Manipur became difficult due to the internet ban imposed in the state in early May when the violence began. “…Local news gathered without any communication links was not sufficient to give a balanced view of the situation,” the Editors Guild said in its report released on September 2.

Meanwhile, the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and the Editors Guild Manipur (EGM) have vehemently denied the Editor Guild of India’s allegations. The two apex bodies of journalists in Manipur have also issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the EGI’s allegations.