New Delhi: The Delhi chapter of the global writers’ association, PEN, has released a statement in support of senior Shillong journalist Patricia Mukhim, after her Facebook post decrying violence against non-tribals led a village council in Meghalaya to file a police complaint against her.Expressing solidarity with Mukhim, PEN Delhi’s statement urged the Shillong police and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma to take note of her “genuine concern…and investigate the violence against the non-tribals.”Calling the action against Mukhim ‘intimidation’, PEN Delhi also appealed to the Lawsohtun Dorbar Shnong, the traditional local body which has filed the complaint saying that Mukhim has defamed the Khasi community and created communal enmity, “to appreciate the concern behind Mukhim’s questioning and work towards the elimination of hatred against so-called outsiders.”Also read: Meghalaya: Complaint Against Patricia Mukhim After Facebook Post on Violence Against Non-TribalsAs The Wire had reported, the editor of The Shillong Times had written on her Facebook page about an attack on five boys at a basketball court on July 3.“The attackers, allegedly tribal boys with masks on…should be immediately booked. This continued attack on non-tribals in Meghalaya whose ancestors have lived here for decades, some having come here since the British period is reprehensible to say the least,” Mukhim wrote, tagging CM Sangma.In her post, Mukhim had also questioned the Dorbar Shnong for not taking preventive action.“Don’t they have their eyes and ears to the ground? Don’t they know the criminal elements in their jurisdiction? Should they not lead the charge and identify those murderous elements? This is the time to rise above community interests, caste and creed and call out for justice,” she wrote.Expressing deep concern over the fact that “what should be regarded as a sane and humane response was, however, criminalised”, PEN Delhi said Mukhim has done what any conscientious citizen would do.Also read: Shillong Times’ Editor, Publisher Held Guilty of Contempt by Meghalaya HC“She brought to the notice of the constitutional functionaries an act of crime, which her long experience as a journalist tells her is part of a pattern of a sectarian and communal violence against the non-tribal minorities. She has consistently written about the dangers of majoritarian violence and has reminded her people about the violence of 1979 and later in 1984, 1987, and 1992.“Mukhim has previously suffered for having spoken out about the hatred and violence against the non-tribal people by groups promoting sub-nationalistic fervour. At the time, her house was petrol-bombed,” the statement reads.
