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| Kathmandu Saturday April 06, 2002 Chaitra 24, 2058. |
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Easing restrictions
The five-point orders approved by His Majesty’s
King Gyanandra to relax the state of emergency has come after five months since the
government imposed it to quell the Maoist insurgency. The orders permits all political
parties to hold gatherings only with the permission of a district development officer,
besides the permission to publish or transmit news reports and articles. However, such
reports, news stories or political gatherings must refrain from aiding the Maoist
"terrorists". This is an encouraging move. Such an approval no doubt shows
"visible" respect to freedom of press in this country. The government had had to
declare the state of emergency only when the Maoists withdrew themselves from the talks
last November and launched an all out attack on security forces. The state of emergency
led to suspension of fundamental rights, keeping especially the media in darkness. But the
Lower House of Parliament has also passed the terrorist and disruptive activities bill
introduced as Royal Ordinance at the time of declaring a state of emergency. The bill,
which aims at curbing terrorism, proposes a special anti-terrorism court to try charges of
terrorism. Now the bill is required to obtain the Royal Assent by April 9. The bill, which
is similar to India’s POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Act), authorizes security forces
to detain people without warrant and provisions for life imprisonment and seizure of
property of those involved directly in terrorist activities.
Any attempt to curb freedom of opinion or press
certainly affects democratic exercises. But these provisions are invoked under the
constitution itself, which recognizes the need of curbing some rights in times of
emergency. Take for instance, the right to assemble freely without arms. This right is
given not merely to the political parties but to others as well. What our political
parties seem to forget is that if they have the right to take out peaceful demonstrations,
they have no right to block the rights of others who want to use the road. The same goes
for "bandhs" and shut-downs. This is why in all civilized democracies, the
considerations for the right of others are an important aspect of any freedom they
exercise. The observations by a section of responsible UML workers, who term the emergency
orders as "black law", fail to understand that the very same black law flows
from the constitution. No wonder the Attorney General deemed it fit to resign over the
issue of the emergency orders. There seems to be a sizeable section of the people who
perceive that workers of some of the political parties deceived themselves as legitimate
party workers during daytime and change their colour and don the Maoist coat in the thick
of the night. Political parties must guard against such workers. And indeed no political
leaders or media have right to misuse the freedom granted by the present relaxation of the
emergency. |
