KOL. 10 January 2002. Almost 3 dozen journalists in custody: FNJ; KP journo held; Emergency has lost its relevance, says Nepal.
KATHMANDU and JHAPA -- The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Thursday claimed that the government security forces have arrested almost three dozen journalists since the state of emergency was imposed in the country one-and-half months ago. In a press release issued here on Thursday, the FNJ claimed that four journalists, including Om Sharma, were already in custody before the state of emergency was imposed [N.B.]. The FNJ also flayed the government for "psychologically torturing" the detained journalists. In a step to retain press freedom during the emergency, the Central Committee meeting of FNJ, which was held on Wednesday, constituted a three-member committee to look into government conduct towards the press. The committee has been formed under the convenorship of FNJ Secretary Bishnu Nisthuri, with FNJ central members, Mahendra Bista and Dharmendra Jha, as its other members. "The FNJ is both concerned and worried about the escalating threat to the press freedom." Despite repeated commitments from the press to co-operate with the government’s mission of maintaining peace and order in the country, the security forces have been behaving with the press in a prejudicial manner, the release said. In related news, Lal Prasad Sharma, a Parbat-based journalist associated with Kantipur Publications was arrested Thursday night from his rented apartment in Kusma. According to reports, a team led by Inspector Narman Singh Goddar from the District Police Office took Sharma from his residence at around 9:30pm. As per information provided by Sharma's coworkers he was arrested in relation with a news item printed in Kantipur daily on Thursday. [N.B.] The news claimed that a mentally retarded child had been killed in an operation by the security forces. Meanwhile, the main opposition CPN-UML leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal Thursday said that the state of emergency declared by the government one-and-half- months ago to tame the Maoist rebels has lost its relevance now. The opposition leader made this remark while addressing a two-day Mechi Zonal-level training programme for CPN-UML cadres, Thursday. "The government declared the emergency on a whim, but now it has lost its meaning," he said. Nepal also said that the government could have found a way out without imposing a state of emergency, and instead allowed the National Defence Council to call in the army for cracking down on the insurgents. On the matter of constitutional rights of the people being suspended, Nepal expressed the fear that this could be misused to target opposition parties as well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
