Journalists in Sunsari district, an eastern district of Nepal, revealed at a discussion programme on May 13 they have been receiving threats from UCPN-Maoist leaders and cadres.The programme was held after a leader of the Maoist party's Kochila state committee threatened THT scribe Somnath Bastola on May 12.
Sita Mademba, BBC's Dharan-based correspondent, said that party cadres working in the guise of journalists had put the life of professional journalists at risk.She went on to urge persons concerned to identify themselves as party cadres or take to professional journalism.
Some days ago, Maoist leaders in Dharan had threatened Mademba over a report. Later on, a UCPN-M-aligned journalist threatened her when she posted a comment on 'Facebook' about the threat.Mahesh Shrestha, Dharan reporter of Terai TV, said he had also received indirect threats from the Maoists. He said a co-worker had spied on him."We should break our silence and confront such threats," Shrestha said ahead.
Freedom Forum urges the government to provided security to the journalists at the earliest. The Forum dubs the incidents as the 'direct violation to the notion of free press'. "Terrorizing journalist through constant threat is not tolerable in democratic and civilized society", the Forum says.
Freedom Forum further calls upon the government to investigate the incident and bring the guilty to book before it's too late.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022