By Hrishikesh Angom
IMPHAL, October 12: The whole world will definitely acknowledge the 11-year-old struggle of Irom Sharmila only if the people of Manipur render utmost support to her.
This was stated by South Asia Bureau Chief of Los Angeles Times, Mark Magnier during an interaction programme held today at the Department of Mass Communication, Manipur University, Canchipur.
He further maintained that Manipur is a unique land with rich culture and favourable climate even though there is political instability arising out of factionalism in the state. The state has also got the right environment for the development of tourism industry, he noted.
Mark opined that the state could be developed to a great extent if the people work together towards achieving a common goal.
He had interacted mostly with the students of mass communication who posed several questions related to global scenario in journalism.
He also shared his experience in various South Asian countries with the students. He narrated the difficulties he had faced while covering the war scene in Afghanistan and Iraq and also highlighted the restrictions imposed upon the journalists in the communist regime of China.
He advised the aspiring journalists to have dedication and courage so as to work in the forefront.
Mark Magnier joined the Times in 1998 as Tokyo correspondent, was posted to Beijing in 2003 and moved to New Delhi in 2008. He has done crisis reporting in Iraq, Israel and the West Bank, East Timor, Kashmir and Sri Lanka, where he ended up camping in nunneries and sleeping in goat sheds. Before joining the Times, he worked at the Journal of Commerce as a correspondent in Japan and Singapore and as the paper’s foreign editor and editorial director in New York. He is a graduate of Columbia College and attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
