Terror never wins

Attacks on fourth estate are nothing new. Be it in conflict zones or not, members of the fourth estate are always at the receiving end. They have earned the wrath of those who are on the wrong side humanity in their tryst to publish the truth. The recent threat to four Assam journalists should be seen in this light. The journalists of Assam are at the receiving end as they write fearlessly, without caring about their lives and that is what irked the ULFA. Recently two scribes were attacked in the North-East. While one could be saved, the other was not so lucky. He succumbed to his injuries. As usual the attackers are providing all sorts of explanations to justify the crime. But that will not make their sins lighter as the attackers have acted against humanity. Take the example of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), the organization which recently made attempts on the life of Ratan Luwangcha. According to KCP, the attempt was made to punish Ratan as he was involved in extortion racket. But while making the allegation, the organization forgot about the basic norm of a civilized society. Mere allegations do not make any one guilty. There are set procedures to prove the allegations. Every civilized nation is bound by certain laws and those who are not following the laws are criminals. But in this case, KCP did not follow any such rules. It reminds us of a Bollywood film where the hero proudly announces that it is he who brings allegations, it is he who listens to the arguments and it is he who delivers the judgement. It is good to see that the people whole-heartedly condemned the incidents. It proves that the ploy of hijacking popular opinion by sheer gun power is no longer effective. At the same time, the enemies of mankind should keep it their minds that by attacking one or two scribes, they will not be able to prevent the truth from being published. Truth will continue to come up as long as they are on the wrong side of law. They may have plenty of guns. But even all these guns together are not sufficient enough to gag the voice of press. Earlier also, many such attempts were made. But the outcome was never in doubt. Every time the fourth estate has emerged as the winner. And beyond doubt, this time too, it will emerge as victorious.

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