Whereabouts of abducted journo Thakuri still unknown

The condition of abducted Kanchanpur-based journalist Prakash Thakuri still remains unknown even after four months. According to Thakuri’s wife Janaki, four YCL cadres had taken her husband on the morning of July 5 from their rented room at Bhasi in Mahendranagar Municipality-1, but the Maoists have been denying their hand in the abduction.

After Thakuri’s abduction, his two sons, wife and elderly mother are having a difficult time making ends meet as he was the sole bread earner of the family. Janaki recently shifted along with her sons and mother-in-law to her maternal home after being unable to pay rent.

“Four persons on two motorcycles stopped in front of our room,” she told Kantipur Daily recounting how her husband was abducted. “After a few minutes, two persons drove off in the first bike, while the other two, after keeping him in between, followed the motorcycle toward Bagphanta.”

She said that after they had gone she saw local Maoist activist Pom Lal Sharma following them in his motorcycle.

“When I inquired with Pom Lal Sharma why my husband was taken in such a manner, he said that YCL had taken him for interrogation and that I shouldn’t worry.”

Immediately after her husband’s abduction, Janaki had informed the Human Rights Cell located in the premises of the district court about the incident, but to no avail.

“Our repeated appeals to police, human rights organisations and others for securing his release has fallen on deaf ears,” said Thakuri’s wife Janaki to a newspaper. She makes it a point to visit newspaper and radio station offices in the district everyday hoping that she may just hear some news about her husband.

“Maybe because there is no one to take out a rally and to speak for us that he is still disappeared,” Janaki said wiping away her tears. nepalnews.com ag Nov 13 07