Yet again, Freedom Forum has recorded an incident of press freedom violation in the southern plain of Nepal on November 6, 2012.
The cadres of the Madhesi Students' Forum (Democratic), a student wing of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Democratic), a party led by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, burnt the national and local dailies at Bhanu Chowk of Janakpur city, reasoning the newspapers did not publish the news about students' district convention.
Talking to Media Monitoring Desk of the Freedom Forum, Briz Kumar Yadav, chief editor at the local Janakpur Today daily said, "The Minister's cadres burnt the copies of the Kantipur daily, Annpurna Post daily, and local dailies as Janakpur Today, Jagaran Nepal, Mithila Dot Com, Daily Express, and Tahalka Dot Com."
The Students' Forum did not inform about its convention but suddenly burnt the newspapers, he added.
The incident shows even the cadres of the responsible political party and leaders are very hostile towards media.
Despite the government says it honours freedom of expression, the cadres of the ruling leaders turned aggressive and burnt newspapers. It is also the indication that the political party of Deputy Prime Minister wants to keep media under its control.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident, and urges the DPM to teach his party cadres and student wing about the value of press freedom and freedom of expression.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022