Nepal Media Still Under Fire: RSF

Kathmandu, June 7More than a year after the fall of King Gyanendra's absolute regime, Nepal's press continues to be under fire from armed groups, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said.The attacks have intensified in the Terai plains in the south, the epicentre of fresh unrest in a kingdom bedevilled by a 10-year communist uprising and decades of political instability, where at least 72 journalists have been assaulted or threatened since January, the Brussels-based watchdog said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

Expressing alarm at the continued attacks on the media, especially with elections scheduled for November, the press freedom organisation urged the eight-party government to ensure security for journalists.'This is alarming,' it said. 'Armed militants are harassing journalists with the aim of silencing them or turning them into propagandists. The authorities, especially the interior and information ministries, must do everything possible to put an end to this climate of open hostility.'The government has a duty to ensure that the press is able to work, especially in the run-up to elections.''Death threats have become commonplace in the southern provinces,' the media organisation said.

The media watchdog has also come down on the Maoists, now part of the government, saying their youth wing, the controversial Young Communist League, has been reported to be involved in harassing a journalist working for Nepal1, last month.It also cited at least three instances of journalists being harassed without any group taking responsibility.'Journalists think they bear the hallmarks of Maoist groups,' Reporters Without Borders said.The group said it was particularly calling on the minister to 'quickly intercede with all affiliated organisations in order to get them to stop the attacks and threats against journalists'.

For 15 months from 2005, when King Gyanendra seized power with army backing, Reporters Without Borders had marked Nepal as one of the bleakest places for journalists with a high incidence of arbitrary arrests, closure of critical media organisations and a draconian ban that prevented journalists from criticising the royal family or the royal government.Though the royal regime ended due to a public uprising and the new government pledged to restore media freedom, the emergence of new dissenting groups now poses a fresh threat to the media.

Source: The Himalayan Times, June 7, 2007