Kolkata, April 23: The Press Club, Kolkata, on Monday strongly condemned the recurring incidents of assaults on journalists and camera persons during the filing of nominations for the West Bengal Panchayat election.

"Press Club, Kolkata, has repeatedly strongly condemned such incidents and appealed to the police and administration to take proper steps so as to ensure mediapersons could work inA a congenial atmosphere," it said in a statement.

The club said on the extended date of nomination on Monday, journalists were attacked in various areas of the state including Kolkata, Durgapur and Suri.

"This is unfortunate and undesirable, and condemnable".

The club affirmed that the media and the journalists have a specific role in the democratic election process.

"Putting up obstacles in their functioning is unacceptable. We are again appealing to the administration to ensure security of journalists. They should be allowed to work independently. This is democracy," the statement added.

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ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.