JUNE 18, 2009 UCPN (Maoist) activists burnt Thursday's edition of thousands of copies of The Kathmandu Post (TKP) and Kantipur in Bhairahawa of Rupandehi district, lies in the western part of Nepal.
Maoist cadre intercepted Kantipur Publication's delivery van (Na 1 Cha 9234) at Buddha Chowk and burnt the papers at around 7 a.m. for defying their general strike. This is the second such incident in one week. A delivery van carrying several thousand copies of TKP and Kantipur in eastern Nepal was brunt last week.
Maoist ethnic wing Madhesi National Liberation Front had called Rupandehi banda on Thursday to protest President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav’s “unconstitutional move’ reinstating Chief of Army StaffRookmangud Katawal.
“Two motorcyclists forced us to stop the vehicle and seized its key” said Bahadur Sitang, an employee of the publications. He said that 10 to 12 protesters immediately took out the papers and burnt them. Police personnel, who were near the incident site, did nothing to prevent the newspapers from being burnt.
Freedom Forum denounces the incident on press freedom. Torching of daily newspaper whose only objective is to disseminate information to people is a condemnable act. In spite of the continue attack on press, Maoist—the largest party of Nepal-- is still being failure to curb such incidents. Freedom Forum urged the concern party to stop such anti-press activities. The Forum also asks the government to identify the people involved in the incident and take necessary legal action.
For more information,
Freedom Forum
monitoring@freedomforum.org.np
01-4102030/ 4102022