Guwahati: The press in Manipur is caught in a Catch-22 situation with journalists becoming the targets of both separatist groups and the state government, leading to a muzzling of the freedom of the press.

A string of attacks on journalists by rebel groups during the past week has shocked the newspaper industry of the northeastern region. On Saturday, unidentified extremists blew up a newspaper office in the heart of Manipur's capital Imphal, minutes after 11 trainee journalists were allowed to leave the building.

"Two persons entered the Pan Manipur Youth League (PMYL) office and ordered the journalists and other staff members to leave the building. After a while, a powerful bomb exploded damaging a portion of the building," a police spokesman told IANS from Imphal.

The PMYL, a social organization, is planning to bring out its monthly journal Lamyanba as a daily newspaper shortly. The bomb attack came less than a week after Brajamani Singh, the respected 68-year-old editor of an English daily, Manipur News, was shot dead on August 20 by two gunmen. In October 1999, militants in Imphal gunned down the editor of the vernacular newspaper, A. Lalrohlu.

In April this year, N. Biren Singh, editor of Naharlogi Thoudang, a vernacular daily, was arrested by the state police for publishing "seditious" and "anti- national" reports pertaining to some separatist groups.

"The press in Manipur is sandwiched between pressures from extremist groups and the high-handed attitude of the government. The media here is delicately balanced and functioning has become a matter of wits," said Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of the Imphal Free Press, an English daily. "The constant pulls and pressures affect the freedom of the press," he told IANS.

At least a dozen rebel groups, having different goals and ideologies, are active in Manipur.

"We have to think twice before anything is published. It is unfortunate that we have to face the wrath of both underground groups and the government," said Ranendrajit, editor of The Freedom, an English daily. "The role of the media in the northeast is very crucial for the ongoing peace process," he said.

Journalists working in conflict regions like the northeast often face pressure from counter-insurgency forces and authorities who try and coerce the media into toeing their line without considering the fact that the publication of such reports could anger the extremist groups.

"We experienced the worst of times when the government blocked advertisements and subjected us to all kinds of pressure, accusing us of siding with extremist groups. Why should the government be afraid of what appears in the newspapers? The government has its own machinery to counter such reports", said Geoffrey Yaden, editor of the Nagaland Post, a leading English daily in the northeastern state of Nagaland, which has been affected by insurgency for five decades.

"The Nagaland press passed through a very bad phase sandwiched between pressures from rebels and the government. Now the situation is much better," he said.

In Assam, more than extremist groups, it is the government which has tried on several occasions to muzzle the freedom of the press. More than 30 journalists were arrested during the past five years on charges of aiding and abetting insurgency.

"I was arrested several times on charges of trying to provoke terrorism through my writing. The government, in an attempt to hide its failures, has been resorting to such acts of harassment," said Ajit Bhuyan, editor of Aji, a vernacular daily published from Assam's major city Guwahati.

Some of the region's leading politicians say governments have, on many occasions, intimidated the press to serve their own needs. "The media in the northeast has always been targeted by either militants or the government. This is a bad trend and needs to be condemned," said Rishang Keishing, former Manipur chief minister and a senior leader of the Congress party.

India Abroad News Service