An unknown person threw a hand grenade inside the office of a local newspaper ‘Poknapham’ in Imphal on Saturday evening. But, the grenade failed to detonate. The police said the event happened around 6.30 pm at the office of Poknapham located at Keishampat Thiyam Leikai, Imphal West district. The safety pin of the grenade was found intact, said the police. The CCTV footage revealed the grenade was thrown by a woman who arrived on a moped.
According to the office’s security guard, he overheard a noise as if a strong object cracked the floor only to discover out that it was a grenade. Shortly after the attack, a team of police headed by Imphal West SPK Meghachandra reached the place to get the information of the place. Aribam Robindro Sharma, Editor of Poknapham, said the local daily did not receive any form of threats or coercion from anyone.
The police have filed a case in association with the event. Security has also been beefed up throughout all the media houses in the province. Denouncing the attack, the All Manipur Working Journalist Union (AMWJU) and Editor’s Guild Manipur (EGM) resolved to quickly halt news broadcasting and publication. The conference further resolved to order a protest on Sunday served by another round of meeting to determine its further route of movement.
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K Khomdram, president EGM told, “We vehemently condemned the attack. We construe this attack not on Poknapham but to the entire media fraternity”.“I strongly condemned the attack. Those who are responsible for the attack should immediately come out with a clarification”, said Sharma. On November 25 last year, the media fraternity in Manipur suspended publication for a day in protest of being pressurized by UG groups regarding the publication of the outfit’s press statement.
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