Commitment Of Parties

PRIME MINISTER and President of the Nepali Congress (Democratic) Sher Bahadur Deuba reiterated the commitment of His Majesty's Government to wipe out terrorism perpetrated by the Maoist terrorists in the country. Prime Minister Deuba, addressing the closing session of the two-day national gathering of his party the other day, made this commitment two days after all mainstream political parties called upon him to postpone the general elections considering the existing poor law and order situation in the country. The violent activities of Maoist terrorists have posed a big threat to multiparty democracy and development process of the country. At the same time, terrorists have aimed at weakening national integrity by means of killing and intimidation. Hundreds of innocent people have already been killed and property worth billions of rupees was destroyed because of Maoist terrorism in the country.

The duty of the government is to maintain law and order and provide sense of security to the people. The government has accorded high priority to law and order and made serious efforts to provide security to the people against Maoist terrorism. The declaration of State of Emergency and mobilistaion of Royal Nepal Army against terrorists were targeted towards ending the violence and restoring peace in the country. The security forces have, indeed, succeeded to weaken terrorists' organisations and activities during their search operations in the last 11 months, which received support and appreciation not only from the people but also from the international community. This is, no doubt, a great success of the government. Although weakened, the terrorist activities have not yet been fully controlled because of various reasons. Commitment of mainstream political parties and their activities against terrorism could be a key in countering and combating terrorism in villages, which appears lacking at present. Unless all mainstream political parties that have faith in the present constitution and democracy actively support and carry out their political activities against terrorism, the government alone may not be fully successful in uprooting terrorism in the country. As stated by Prime Minister Deuba, it is, thus, the responsibility of all democratic forces to be united and act collectively and actively against terrorism, that alone would emancipate the country and the people from violence and terrorism.

Credible Journalism

WHEN one looks at different sectors of national life since the restoration of democracy in 1990, media is certainly one area where remarkable achievements have been noticed. Nepal's media now present quite a different picture from what it did a dozen years ago. Investments have increased following the guarantee from the Constitution itself that there will be no closure of media organisations on any pretext as it used to happen prior to 1990 regularly. The freedom of expression and the freedom of the press are unequivocally guaranteed by the constitution. The emergence of a public that was more interested in participating in the democratic processes allowed by the new constitution meant that many more media organisations could come to existence to meet those demands. The liberalisation of electronic media especially over the late 1990s have resulted in expanding of the radio waves, with as many as two dozen private radio stations on the air at present, several of them community radio. The continuing expansion of the advertisement market also provided economic incentives for private media entrepreneurs to join the field, be it with a newspaper or a radio.

Though this media growth is a positive development, there is quite a room for improvement in order for the media to serve well the people's needs for information, education and entertainment, the three major tasks media have to perform. The continuing situation of media organisations aligning themselves too closely with political or business interests bedevils the growth of a truly independent press. The consequence is that media credibility suffers. Credibility was a word that was much mentioned during the Press Council Nepal function on Tuesday to inaugurate its building and to present the Press Council Gopal Das Journalism Award. Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya in his address to the gathering at the function said credibility was the hallmark of good journalism and emphasized that the media had to maintain it. Other speakers too stressed that Nepalese journalism had to consider impartial dissemination of news and views as a cardinal principle. Related closely to this aspect of journalism is the need for a right to information. Mr. Upadhyaya informed that the Supreme Court had given a directive to the government to chalk out necessary laws in this regard eight years ago. There is no gainsaying such an Act is essential. In the meantime however, irrespective of whether the Act is in place or not in the foreseeable future, Nepali media must do its utmost to maintain its credibility.