2025: North-east evades journo-murder

The year 2025 concludes with the track record of being another deadly year for journalists after 2024 since the beginning of the century, where India lost six journalists to assailants even though its north-eastern region, once reported as a troubled zone, maintained no-journo murder for nearly a decade now. Globally 165 media professionals were killed in 31 countries, where 2024 witnessed 179 journo-casualties. By region, the Middle East leads with 87 deaths, ahead of Latin America with 27, Asia with 23, Africa with 16, Europe with 10 and the United States with 2. According to the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) at least 60 journalists were killed in the Gaza Strip, almost all of them victims of Israeli strikes. Since the start of hostilities triggered by Hamas on 7 October 2023, at least 221 Palestinian media workers have been killed in Gaza. The war between Ukraine and Russia has resulted in the deaths of nine journalists, who were killed by either Ukrainian or Russian fire. Among the countries most affected, the PEC deplores the deaths of 15 media workers in Yemen, nine murders in Mexico, eight deaths in Sudan, six in India, five each in Pakistan and Bangladesh, two in Afghanistan, during 2025. PEC president Blaise Lempen lamented that the increasing uses of undetectable, ultra-fast drones pose a new and serious threat to war reporters on both sides, where access to victims becomes more restricted.

India lost six media professionals to assailants last year, compared to four media casualties in 2024, including Mukesh Chandrakar (stringer to NDTV from  Bastar, Chhattisgarh), Raghavendra Vajpayee (Dainik Jagaran from  Imalia Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh), Sahadev Dey  (Republic Andaman, from Diglipur, Andaman islands), Dharmendra Singh Chauhan  (Fast News India, Gurugram, Haryana), Naresh Kumar (Times Odia, Bhubaneswar, Odisha) and Rajeev Pratap Singh (Delhi Uttarakhand Live, Joshiyara, Uttarakhand) along with the suspected murder of  Pankaj Mishra, a freelance journalist based in Dehradun. On the other hand,  India’s immediate neighbour Pakistan that witnessed murder of 12 media persons in 2024, recorded the killing of AD Shar (Hum News, Khairpur, Sindh), Abdul Latif (Daily Intekhab/Aaj News, Awaran, Balochistan), Syed Mohammed Shah (Ab-Tak TV, Jacobabad, Sindh), Imtiaz Mir  (Metro One News, Karachi, Sindh) and Tufail Rind (Royal News, Ghotki, Sindh) last year. Another neighbour Bangladesh, which reported the murder of seven media workers in 2024 due to relentless political unrest, recorded the killing of Assaduzzaman Tuhin (Dainik Pratidiner Kagoj, Gazipur), Bibhuranjan Sarkar (Ajker Patrika, Munshiganj), Wahed-uz-Zaman Bulu  (Dainik Ajker Kagoj, Dhaka), Khandahar Shah Alam  (Dainik Matrijagat, Dhaka) and Imdadul Haque Milon (Bartaman Somoy, Shalua) in 2025. Philippines with only one casualty in 2024 lost four journalists namely Juan Johny Dayang (Philippine Graphic Magazine, Aklan), Erwin Labitad Segovia  (Radio WOW FM, Bislig City), Noel Bellen Samar (DWTZ, Guinabatan) and Gerry Campos (Barangay Sta. Cruz, Surigao del Sur) last year. Afghanistan lost two scribes namely Abdul Ghafoor Abid (Paktia National Radio Television, Khost) and Abdul Zahir Safi (State run media outlet, Kabul) last year, even though it had no journo-casualty in 2024. Nepal, which recorded one journo-murder in 2024 due to pro-monarchy uprising, repeated the index with the killing of Suresh Rajak  (Avenues TV, Kathmandu) in 2025.

It’s amazing that the alienated north-eastern region, which lost over 30 editors/reporters/correspondents to assailants within three decades till 2017, bid farewell to 2025 with no journo-casualty, thanks to the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies, who are ruling all eight States of the region. North-east, once known only for insurgency related incidents with disturbing developments, witnessed assassinations of two journalists (Shantanu Bhowmik and Sudip Datta Bhaumik) in Tripura for the last time. The tiny State witnessed murders of three media workers (Sujit Bhattacharya, Ranjit Chowdhury and Balaram Ghosh) in 2013. In the previous year, Assam and Manipur witnessed the murder of journalists (Raihanul Nayum at Dhubri and Dwijamani Nanao Singh at Imphal) for the last time. Prior to it, Assam witnessed the homicide of over 25 media professionals (Anil Mazumdar in 2009, Jagajit Saikia in 2008, Prahlad Gowala in 2006, Ratneswar Sarma Shastri in 1999, Parag Kr Das and Manik Deuri in 1996, Dipak Swargiary in  1995, Kamala Saikia in 1991, etc) since 1987 (with the elimination of Punarmal Agarwala by armed militants).

Finally a optimistic  trend emerged from the region, indeed!

Nava Thakuria is a senior journalist based in Guwahati and has been in the profession for more than three decades. His focus areas remain the socio-political and environmental issues of eastern Bharat. Often his articles are used by various media outlets based in different parts of south & southeast Asia.