Media groups like Press Council of India and Indian Journalists Union condemn Paris attack

NEW DELHI: The Press Council of India and the Indian Journalists Union today condemned the attack on a French magazine in Paris saying the terrorists threw a challenge before the fourth estate which must be met with "we do not care and we cannot be intimidated" attitude.

Press Council of India's Chairman Chandramauli Kumar Prasad said the "killing was an attack on the democratic values."

"The only fault they have committed was to exercise their right of freedom of expression. Their view may not be palatable to a section of people but that cannot justify their killing.

"I condemn this barbaric act and convey my heartful condolences to the bereaved families and pray to God that he gives them strength to bear this loss," Prasad said in a statement.

Indian Journalists Union (IJU) President S N Sinha, Secretary-General Devulapalli Amar said that the cartoons and cartoonists were usually irreverent of anybody standing on high pedestal and were meant to expose their follies and bring out their human frailties into sharp focus and tell the people that they are also human beings.

"By attacking and killing four cartoonists, the terrorists threw a challenge to the fourth estate which must be met with 'we do not care and we cannot be intimidated' attitude and carry out task of freedom of expression with renewed vigor," the IJU said in a statement.

The IJU called on the working journalists everywhere to come out in open and tell the extremist elements of all hues that their threats and terror acts would not deter them from their "sacred mission".