Role of Media in Conflict Situation

By Brozendra Ningomba*

(The following article was presented at the seminar on "Role of Media in the present situation in Manipur" organised by the Editors' Forum, Manipur on December 24 at the State Guest House.)

Let me begin with an incident which happened some time in the early part of the third millennium - like today - somewhere in the heavens. A police commando from Manipur, an Assam Rifles personnel— both probably ranked officers, a hard-core insurgent, a political leader who once ruled the state of Manipur and a journalist were holding a conference in the office chamber of God. God chaired the conference. The police commando said, "The best way to deal with the insurgents is to bump them off every time we nab them, as many as possible. Only then, can peace be restored in Manipur."

The AR personnel said, "I agree with you. These atankvadis are creating too much troubles. They are waging a useless and self-destructive war against the mighty India in vain. Though the problem can't be solved militarily, the more we finish off them, the weaker they become, finally neutralising them completely." The hard-core insurgent, his face red with anger, said, "You Insolent Occupation Force, you think you can put an end to the liberation movement by killing us all ? For every ten revolutionaries killed, there are twenty more to fill their place. No revolution in the world can be suppressed by military force, you know. We'll keep fighting until we achieve independence and sovereignty of our motherland just as our valiant leaders and comrades who had laid down their lives in the struggle had wished." The political leader said, "As long as the underground problem remains, there will never be peace, nothing to say about development. So my humble appeal to the underground brothers is 'Please lay down arms and come out, let's talk. The door is kept widely opened. Whatever differences of opinions and grievances there might be, let's solve them through dialogue.' After all, it's a free, democratic country." After listening to all four, the journalist said, "We are caught in your conflict. We've become victims of the conflict situation. We can't preform our duties freely. We can't enjoy our rights to freedom of expression. There's no freedom of press. We want freedom, justice..." God looked at all the discussants and smiled, and thought, "All these fools think, they have the power to snuff out human lives and make or mar others' reputation. They think, by doing so, they'll get gallantry awards or whatever, which have no significance when the end comes. See, these fellows who played God in their lives are now 'nothing', they are all equal in their 'nothingness." God hardly finished his thinking when all the five players, rather actors vapourised and disappeared.

Armed Conflict:
Indeed, we the people of Manipur, find ourselves in a conflict situation from which we don't know how to get out. Even God doesn't seem to know.

By armed conflict, we mean that there is a fighting going on in Manipur between the armed forces of the Government of India and the State forces on one side and the various armed organisations on the other side. The armed organisations are fighting against the Government of India and its armed forces for the restoration of Manipur's independence and sovereignty. According to the Geneva and the Hague Conventions, an international armed conflict means fighting between the armed forces of at least two states. It has also been noted that wars of national liberation have been classified as international armed conflicts.

And as the Geneva and The Hague conventions further described, a non-international armed conflict means fighting on the territory of a State between the regular armed forces and identifiable armed groups, or between armed groups fighting one another. To be considered a non-international armed conflict, fighting must reach a certain level of intensity and extend over a certain period of time. Considering these descriptions, Manipur's situation may easily be qualified as either of the two categories. However, I shall not go into that. I'll leave it for the experts in the field to delve into it. However, there can be no difference in opinion in saying that there certainly is an armed conflict in Manipur. A number of seminars, workshops and discourses had been held in Manipur over the years to discuss the conflict situation and the media's role. Resolutions and recommendations had been adopted and made them available to all parties concerned. Yet no improvement in the situation has come about. In fact, the situation has worsened. The media have even become pawns.

Importance of Media :
In such a situation in Manipur where armed conflict goes on between the central para millitary forces, Army and the Manipur Police Commandos on one side and the various rebel groups on another, and also several armed factions fighting one another, the significance of media becomes doubly greater. Specially among the various small armed groups/factions, but with the power to issue big threats and diktats, media seem to have become something like a piece of meat thrown in among a pack of wolves. All of them want and try to force the media to act as if the media were their notice boards. They use the common tactics of intimidating the media houses— print or electronic (private) to shut down until the media oblige to publish as the armed groups wish. Further allusion is unnecessary as everyone in Manipur is already familiar with this typical happening which is not seen in any other insurgency-prone or terror-troubled state elsewhere. Each one of the many armed groups operating in the state tries to use the media as their only weapon of propaganda within the state. They have no other means except to depend on the media. Likewise, all other civil society organisations, institutions, unions, associations, political parties and all sections of the people seek media's help as and when they need them. The odd dozen or so newspapers and the private electronic media - ISTV and now more popular than any time in the past years - the All India Radio Imphal's news and, of course, the DDK Imphal news have all become so important in the present-day society of Manipur. The media are growing, more or less, with the changing times of Manipur.

Complete Shutdown:
Everyone says that media - specially the newspapers have become an integral part of life - daily routine. It's often heard that the day can't begin without reading one's favourite newspaper. Many people have complained about the five-days Yaoshang holiday for the newspapers saying that it is too long. It's true that nowhere in the country or the world, the press shut offices for five days at a stretch as holidays. Let alone five days, not even two days' holiday consecutively can be seen anywhere in the world. But then, it's Manipur where many things, all things that are strange happen. We all live a strange life in a strange society. Naturally, strange things and situations that do not happen and are not seen elsewhere can be seen abundantly in Manipur.

As a part and parcel of that strangeness, the print and electronic media of Manipur sometimes get to face Catch-22 situations and have no other option but to cease publication/telecast for days together to protest certain actions taken by an armed group or the government on the press or a section of the press thought to be unjust, undemocratic or in violation of the freedom of the press as enshrined in the Constitution of India and guarded by the Press Council of India. Very often, the Imphal -based press close down due to various factors. Sometimes, the press on its own decide to cease work in protest against unbearable pressures and intimidations from certain underground group or the press is forced to close down under the threat of certain underground groups.

It seems that both the media and the underground groups have cultivated a habit of closing down press for reasons both think essential. Recently, the closure of newspapers and ISTV news for 13 days in protest against the mysterious killing of Konsam Rishikanta, Junior Sub Editor of Imphal Free Press and demanding judicial enquiry into the killing, has provoked debates among the media fraternity in particular and the public in general on the kind of agitation launched by the journalists demanding justice.

Demand for Justice :
As Manipur remains embroiled in armed conflict between the state and the non-state forces, no one in any profession is safe. Specially for us in the media, a profession which, wily milly, is intrinsically connected to the situation, it's all the more hazardous. We always remain exposed to the perils of the conflict situation. Therefore, many other undesirable situations will be arising in future and the journalists community would be required again and again to sit and put heads together to find ways to get out of the quagmires. In the event of yet another difficult situation, when the need for the journalists community to protest and demand justice arises, it would become necessary for the journalists to rethink and take examples from other parts of the world as well where innocent journalists fell victims under various circumstances.

Before the media:
Presently, Manipur is going through different crises. It's not just the armed conflict that's inflicting serious disturbances on the Manipuri society but also many other difficult and complicated situations are threatening to bog down Manipur in her journey towards modernisation. We are facing many other problems, such as unemployment, migrants' influx, cultural invasion, youths at crossroads, drug and alcohol-related problems, HIV/AIDS, ethnic dissensions, food shortage, very bad road communication, lack of infra-structure, rising crimes, specially against women and children and so on. All these are big issues that lie in front of the people of Manipur, which certainly need the attention of the media. However, the role of media in conflict situation being the subject of this paper, let me keep aside other issues, though related offshoots they are.

The role of media in a conflict situation cannot be laid out as easily as any other professions. It is not like you go to your work-place at 9.30 or 10 am , you do your work and return home at 4 pm, and when the month is over, you get your pay. I am not saying that other professions do not have any conflict related problems. Every profession has problems of different kinds, the most notorious and nagging kind being the percentage cut and demand letters. Fortunately, the media persons seem to be exempted from the percentage and demand menace so far. If the media persons are asked to pay "donation," then, I guess, they have to sell their old scooters or motor-cycles and pay up.

The media need to understand the insurgency, what the various armed organisations call liberation movement or struggle for independence. The media must understand the root cause of the insurgency prevailing in Manipur and the various organisations involved in the movement. We need to understand the history of Manipur and how Manipur became a part of Indian Union as well.

Then we must not forget the endless series of human rights violations that had been taking place for the past nearly three decades till today. The torture, the killings, the massacres, the disappearances, the rape and all such heinous acts, and their perpetrators must be understood properly.

On the other hand, we cannot turn a blind eye to the violation of human rights committed by the non-state actors too. The numerous summary executions, capital punishments meted out by kangaroo courts, kidnap for ransom, extortion, threats, beatings, shooting in the leg, killing on mistaken identity, forcibly taking shelter at people's homes, bomb explosions, call and thrash and all these can't be simply ignored. Therefore, when it comes to human rights violations, it doesn't matter who commits, all are same. It's only the question who commits more. The media must understand it and act accordingly.

However, unlike in other parts of the country and in other countries where there is no such thing as insurgency and the media see fierce competition in telling the truth as bravely as possible, in Manipur, the media find themselves in a position not being able to tell the complete truth, for reasons known to all. The media need to look at the reality happening around - in the state, in the neighbouring states and in the country. We also need to look around the globe. Then we must also understand the changing attitudes of the people of Manipur towards violence, bloodshed and all kinds of disturbances. Then the sit-in-protests here and there almost daily against the monetary demands or threats of the UG groups are all telling examples of the people's growing disaffected moods. All these hapennings indicate that the people of Manipur want peace and normalcy. The media can't miss this reality and will feel the need to place the people's desire in focus.