National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

Under Pressure

The Nepalese media is under pressure during the emergency, but not cowed down

By BHAGIRATH YOGI

At around midnight on February 28 this year, editor of Nepal Samacharpatra daily, Pushkar Lal Shrestha, had just gone to sleep after preparing an article on the challenges to press freedom in Nepal. He woke up to a terrible knock on the door of his bedroom. Four soldiers carrying automatic guns asked him to switch on the light. While accusing him of giving shelter to some Maoist activists, they searched his whole house without any search warrant. They left after two and half hours without a word of apology.

Journalists at the seminar : under pressure

When Shrestha later inquired with the concerned authorities, they just expressed ignorance. Some of his friends even advised him to keep quiet. "I am more worried about the trauma my family members had to undergo, rather than my personal safety," Shrestha, who is also the president of the International Press Institute (IPI) Nepal chapter, told a seminar on "Press Freedom and the State of Emergency" in the capital Friday.

Since the imposition of state of emergency in November 2001 by the government, media people have been the target of security forces. According to local and international press freedom groups, more than 100 journalists have been detained over the last seven months out, of which over a dozen are still behind bars. A fact-finding team from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said last month that the journalists' arrests have created a climate of fear, and self-censorship was widespread.

The press has become the second largest target of the security forces under the emergency rule despite the government's assurance that it had been imposed solely to contain the insurgency, the CPJ said.

"The situation is very grave and could become worse if the emergency lingered," said Ram Krishna Regmee, a senior journalist, presenting a paper at the IPI seminar, supported by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. "There was palpable confusion in the country's media as to the limits imposed on it and the kind of news it was expected to publish and not." Regmee further said the Nepalese press was in chains but not tied.

The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has, however, appealed the media community to throw away the chains by announcing two-phase programs under the theme, "Let the Journalists Live and Work Freely." Its protest programs include boycotting news related to the ministers and keeping the editorial space blank. The FNJ has demanded that a high-level judicial commission be set up to probe into alleged atrocities against journalists since the imposition of the state of emergency.

Media professionals at the seminar discussed at length about the rationale of the state of emergency. "The directive for emergency is not unconstitutional, but it was unnecessary," said Dhruba Hari Adhikary, a senior journalist. "If someone falls critically ill, he or she is taken to the emergency, then transferred to another ward and is finally discharged. The country can't be put into the state of emergency forever."

And, there are limitations on the side of the press as well. While some big publications started toeing the government line as soon as the emergency was imposed, some media have ventured deep into the conflict zone and reported the situation there to wider public. "Himal khabarpatrika has done on-the-spot reporting about the people allegedly killed by security forces. This shows that media has not been barred from going to the scene of action," said Purushottam Dahal, general manager of the state-owned Rastriya Samachar Samiti. "Of course, we need to be serious regarding the issue of access to information.'

BBC Correspondent in Kathmandu, Sushil Sharma, agreed that the emergency in Nepal was somewhat liberal in nature compared those in other countries. But there is a situation of unpredictability which causes psychological terror, he said. "In the context of the geo-politicalsituation in which Nepal is located, any kind of violence is directly related to the regional security. At a time when big powers are interested in this region, the violence in Nepal could not be seen in isolation."

Media persons from outside the capital said the situation there was worse than what people thought. "Thirty-eight people including myself were picked up by the security forces while taking part in a meeting, taken around the city in an open vehicle and detained for several days," said Bal Krishna Chapagain, editor of Jana Sangharsha daily, published from western town of Butwal. "Now prospective investors are shying away from the media, considering it a risky profession."

No profession can be free of risk in a country like Nepal, where Maoist rebels target school teachers and innocent civilians for not obeying them. The security forces, too, have been alleged of using high-handedness while conducting the `cordon and search operation.' In such a context, a free press could play the role of watchdog and contribute to protect fundamental rights of the people.

"Press freedom deserves our strongest support, but the press has obligations as well as entitlements," said Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate. "Indeed, the freedom of the press defines both a right and a duty, and we have good reason to stand up for both."