The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday said Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s statements in response to its report on the media coverage of the ethnic violence in the state were “intimidatory” and urged him to close the FIRs registered against its president and three members.

In a statement here, the Guild said the chief minister’s labelling of the journalists’ body as “anti-State” and “anti-national” was deeply disturbing.

The Manipur Police on Monday registered an FIR against EGI President Seema Mustafa and three members of the fact-finding team who had visited the state to examine the media coverage of the ethnic violence.

“The Editors Guild of India is disturbed by the registration of First Information Reports by the Manipur Police against the president of the Guild as well as the members of the fact-finding team that had visited Manipur to study and document media’s coverage of ethnic clashes in the state,” the statement said.

The Editors Guild reiterated that the underlying idea of the report was to enable introspection and reflection on the media’s conduct in such a sensitive situation.

“The Guild had received several representations from civil society as well as the Indian Army raising concerns that the media in Manipur was playing a partisan role in the ongoing ethnic conflict between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Chin minority,” the statement said.