National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Yearning For Assurances

The silence of the Maoists over the media atrocities has distrubed the Federation of Nepalese Journalists

By A CORRESPONDENT

The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has stated that it could not be assured about the Maoist intention towards the free press in the wake of killing of a journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa.

The FNJ had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Maoist leadership to make their viewpoint clear regarding the media freedom. The ultimatum had been issued nearly two weeks ago. But the Maoist leadership is yet to make their viewpoints clear.

The media community in the country had condemned the Maoists actions in one voice after Thapa was killed despite appeals from domestic and international media and rights organizations.

Thapa was killed even though a group of FNJ representatives and human rights activists had visited Surkhet and Dailekh district to effect his release. International media organizations like IFEX and CPJ had also appealed for his release.

Furthermore, the Maoists had also issued death threats to ten journalists of the mid-western region. They had also threatened to chop off the hands of a few journalists in Dailekh district for writing stories about Maoist extortion.

In the wake of a series of atrocities against media personnel, the FNJ had held meeting with editors and publishers and demanded the Maoists to make their intention regarding the free press public.

Even as the FNJ had issued the ultimatum to the Maoist leadership, a district level Maoist worker had issued death threat to Kanitpur reporter Bijaya Mishra of Siraha district for not writing the news about the arrest of its leaders. This has further worried the FNJ.

In the last nine years of insurgency, 18 journalists have already been killed at the hands of both the state and the Maoists. Likewise, dozens were abducted and scores displaced.

With these incidents, Nepal is slowly turning into one of the deadliest places for the journalists in the world. Though Nepal does not figure high up in the list of places that are the most deadly for journalists yet, the trend is disturbing. According to the record of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the total no of confirmed deaths of journalists between 1994-2004 was 51 for Algeria, which tops the list. Likewise, the list states Russia in the second place with 32 deaths, Colombia - 31; Iraq - 31; Rwanda - 16; India - 15; Philippines - 15; Sierra Leone - 15; Brazil - 13; and Afghanistan - 11. According to the CPJ, since 1994, 75 journalists have died in conflict, and 273 (many of them locals) have been murdered, often as punishment for their stories.