KATHMANDU: Bad news continue to plague Nepali journalists against whom attacks go on unabated.
“Journalists are definitely the eyes of the movement and the revolution,” said journalist-turned insurgent Jwala Singh in an interview a couple of months ago in an undisclosed town on the Indo-Nepal border.
Singh, whose real name is Nagendra Paswan, is the chair of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) insurgent group which split from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) last year. A former journalist, he once headed the local branch of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists in the Siraha district of Nepal.
The interview tackled several issues including the frequent attacks against members of the press by different rebel groups. Singh expressed his gratitude for being given a chance to say his views about various issues plaguing the country.
Despite this show of good-
will, attacks on Nepal-based journalists continue. The assaults are said to be perpetrated by rebel groups such as the JTMM (also known as the People’s Terai Liberation Front), the Madheshi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF), the Terai Cobra and Terai Tiger insurgent groups, among others. The former rebel party CPN-Maoist’s cadres are also accused of attacking and abusing members of the media.
The FNJ has tracked numerous cases of attacks in 2007 against the media that show a worsening trend in this Himalayan country.
On Apr 10, for instance, reporters of Image Channel working in the Terai region were threatened with physical harm by JTMM president Jaya Krishna Goit (JTMM has since split into two factions). JTMM, which seeks to create an independent state in Terai in southern Nepal, released a statement stating that the reporters falsely linked the group with a couple of abductions.
Meanwhile, on Apr 2 MPRF members burned copies of ‘Kantipur Daily’ in Nepal’s eastern district of Saptari. The rebel group accused the paper of not publishing MPRF’s statements and other news.
On Mar 26 Maoists had threatened to kill ‘Abhiyan Daily’ editor Khem Bhandari and imposed a ban on the paper. The editor received the telephone threats after the paper published a news item that accused Maoists of extortion. On Mar 22 a group of
Maoist-affiliated transportation staffers seized Kantipur Daily copies in the capital Kathmandu and in other parts of the country to express their disagreement over the news published in the paper.
On Mar 9 Santosh Yadav of the ‘Rajdhani Daily’ and Anil Adhikari of ‘The Blast’ sustained injuries when MPRF protestors hurled stones at them in the eastern district of Sunsari. In a separate incident in the same district, ‘Janabidroha’ manager Chiranjivi Rijal and sub editor Bimal Lamichane were threatened and their motorbikes set ablaze.
Most recently on Apr 19, ‘Himal’ magazine correspondent Rameshwor Bohara and Damodar Bhandari of ‘Annapoorna’ were detained by Maoists in the mid-western district of Rolpa. The two were released after a couple of hours.
According to FNJ, more than a hundred incidents have already occurred since the unrest began early this year in the Terai, triggered by calls for an autonomous Madhes region. At the forefront of this movement are the Madhesis who are of Indian descent and live in the southern part of Nepal.
Among these are 19 physical attacks against journalists, five attacks on media houses and FNJ offices, 23 cases of grave threats, 19 displacements of local journalists, 53 closures of publications, 12 vandalism acts on media vehicles, two newspaper distribution obstructions, and one threat to close down a media office, the federation said.—Dawn/The IPS News Service
