Even journalists were not spared in the bloody mission to stop criticism against ULFA activities. A fine example is the assassination of Kamala Saikia, a freedom fighter turned teacher - journalist. The ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, after his release from jail a few months back, sought an apology from Kamala Saikia’s family who was killed twenty years ago.

In the insurgency prone state of Assam, more than 20 dedicated editor - journalists have been killed under mysterious situations in the last two decades. The cry for justice and protection literally falls on deaf ears and the painful saga of the unsolved murder of the 70 year old Gandhian journalist is a constant reminder of the failure of the state to trace the murderers and punish them.

Kamala Saikia paid with his life as he was a harsh critic of the banned ULFA, both in his public speeches and his journalistic writings. The outspoken gentleman tried to highlight the misdeeds of the insurgent outfit that was intolerant of this criticism. Initially they issued threats warning him to stop writing against them, but later the outfit eliminated him.

Kamala Saikia was taken away from his residence in Sivasagar of eastern Assam on the night of August 9th, 1991 and his body was recovered the next morning on the Janji - Amguri road. ULFA militants tortured him before killing him and his body bore the marks of their cruelty.

Born in 1979 with the objective of carving out an Assam independent from India through an armed struggle, the outfit is now virtually divided, where its Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa leads a team for peace talks with New Delhi, but the other faction led by its military chief Paresh Barua continues to insist on their primary demand for a Swadhin Asom from his hideouts outside India.

The ULFA leaders later admitted that Kamala Saikia was killed by their cadre for spying against the outfit. The claim was rejected by one and all. After his release on bail, the ULFA Chairman Rajkhowa sought an apology from Kamala Saikia’s family nearly twenty years after his assassination.

Born in the year 1920 in the remote and Goalgaon village of Sivasagar district, Kamala Saikia was the eldest of the seven children of his parents - the late Kaliram Dutta and late Saru Aaiti. He had his early education in Goalgaon Primary School and matriculated from Jhanjee High School. His college life started at J.B. College, Jorhat, but he quit this to join the freedom struggle responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s call.

In those days, he came in touch with veteran freedom fighters like Bimala Prasad Chaliha, Rabin Kakoty, Purnananda Chetia, Kedarnath Goswami, Prafulla Ch. Baruah and Ramnath Das and finally he decided to dedicate his life for the society. He was deeply inspired by the Swadeshi movement and even installed many Jatars (manual spinning machines) to spin cotton yarn in his own family. Since then he used to wear white Khadi attire in all public functions.

Kamala Saikia was married to Kamala Kumari Baruah in 1965 and they were blessed with two sons (Dhananjoy & Jananjoy) and a daughter (Akashitora). He established himself as a dedicated teacher and initiated for some educational institutions in his locality. Kamala Saikia retired as Head Master of Dikhowmukh High School in 1985. Meanwhile he engaged himself in journalism and started contributing news and other articles to various newspapers published from Guwahati.

Soon after the murder, his family members lodged an FIR at Sivasagar police station and the state police carried out the investigation for seven years. Ultimately the police closed the case on September 5th, 1998 citing insufficient evidence and witnesses. This created huge public fury and shocked the media fraternity of Assam.

The frustrated Saikia family then appealed to the State Government to reopen the case. It was then handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department of Assam police. The investigative agency also failed to charge - sheet anyone though it interrogated many people, including some surrendered ULFA militants like Kushal Duori, Netra Chetia, Raja Mumin, Lalit Shyam, Baba Phukan, Uma Gogoi, Mohan Sarma, Indra Chetia, Chitra Dihingia, Rohini Khanikar and Robin Neog.

Today except for Kushal Duori alias Jayanta Hazarika, who is a former legislator from Thowra Assembly constituency all those questioned in the case have been either killed in separate encounters or have died. The CID too submitted its report in 2008 without convicting anyone claiming that it could not find conclusive evidence.

Seeking justice, Dhananjoy Saikia then filed a petition in Gauhati High Court on June 27th, 2008. He claimed that Sivasagar Police in its final report had indicted Kushal Duori and four other militants for their involvement in the killing. The court ordered a re-investigation of the case and finally the Assam Police chief reopened the case. Worried by the very slow progress on the investigation, over 30 editors, journalists and intellectuals had also signed a memorandum and submitted it to the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on August 3rd, 2003. Later the Journalist Kamala Saikia Memorial (JKSM) Trust also submitted another memorandum to him on August 6th, 2006.

Even Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was approached to intervene in the matter. Dr. Singh, who represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha, was briefed about the hazards of journalism in the state by the then Editors Guild of India President Rajdeep Sardesai. Listening to the editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN, on August 14th, 2009 at the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Singh promised to take up the matter with the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the Kamala Saikia Memorial Trust.

“It is a matter of grave concern that the family of a journalist, who was killed to stop his critical writings against the banned outfit, has had to wait for justice for all these long years,” said Kanaksen Deka, a senior editor and the President of JKSM Trust adding, “Even today, the family and the entire media community of Assam do not have any idea, if justice will be delivered in the coming days.”

The family, well wishers of the slain journalist and the JKSM Trust have already demanded for a high level probe (preferably by Central Bureau of Investigation) to investigate the case. The State Chief Minister virtually agreed to the demand but even then no breakthrough has been achieved.

In fact, working in insurgency stricken Assam has become increasingly dangerous for journalists. The ongoing insurgency and unrest among the youth of this region, where a number of armed outfits have been fighting New Delhi on various demands varying from sovereignty to self-rule, puts up tremendous challenges on the journalists based in the state. They are subjected to numerous threats from insurgents, surrendered militants and even the anti insurgency security personnel.