MEDIA MONITOR SOUTH ASIA

As the fundamental rights of the citizens, including freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution of Nepal 2047 have been withheld since February 1 royal proclamation, Nepalese press at present is passing thorough an extremely critical phase. So far as the question of the districts is concerned, the situation is deplorable. The government's stance that the royal proclamation was made for peace and democracy and the state of emergency was declared to tackle the Maoists has been found nothing more than a false propaganda. The king had assured that the press could write or broadcast on any subjects except the ones that promote terrorism. But the local bodies and the security forces have openly disregarded king's assurance and issued orders at their whim.

The fact-finding mission members interacted with journalists and the representatives of the local civil societies in the 7 districts of the far western region. After the state of emergency was declared, media-persons had to write news as per the orders of the police and army. In some districts, the soldiers showed off weapons and fired in front of the newspaper offices just to terrorise journalists.

Monitored districts: Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Achham, Baitadi, Doti and Darchula

Team members comprised: Kishore Nepal, coordinator; Ganesh Basnet, SAFMA Nepal; Ghanashyam Ojha, The Kathmandu Post; Rajendra Aryal, Suryodaya Weekly; Dipak Acharya, Channel Nepal; and Manmohan Swar, local coordinator (Dhangadhi Post).

Dailies published regularly: Dhangadhi Post Daily; Seti Samachar Daily; Nepal Times Daily; Sudur Sandesh Daily and Nayaa Samadhan Daily.

Six printing presses were locked in the district as soon as the emergency was imposed. Thus, the district witnessed no newspaper for 5 days. The printing presses were opened only after the concerned proprietors of all newspapers were called to the regional headquarters at Dhangadhi and were made to sign papers stating they would publish no news on the political activities against the royal takeover. On Magh 24, only one paper called Seti Dainik was published. Other dailies and weeklies followed the lead from Magh 25.

Even after the papers resumed their publications, the District Administration Office's team led by administrative officer Chiranjivi Sapkota visited various media offices and attempted to censor the news materials. When media persons strongly protested against the action, the administration removed army personnel from the newspaper offices, but ordered a strict self censorship.

Though no case of detention was reported during this period, yut the security forces continued to bully journalists till Falgun 13 and even showed weapons at the Dhangadhi. When local journalists Dirgharaj Upadhyaya and Rajesh Bagchand were on their way to report the Maoists attack on Kailali Jail, the security forces threatened to kill them and identify them as Maoists, besides smashing their cameras.

All advertisements published in the newspapers have been completely stopped after the royal takeover. The publication houses are on the verge of collapse after government advertisements were completely withdrawn while private sector's advertisement went down by 90 per cent. Thus, the papers are reeling under serious financial crunch.

Not only the government security forces, but also the Maoists pose a threat to the local journalists. After the security forces banned newspapers to write anything related to the Maoists, a Maoist leader called local journalists and said: 'If you publish the army's news, then you will have to write about us too. If you are to write one sided news then leave your jobs and come over to our camp.' The Maoists have put a restriction on the distribution of Sudur Sandesh in areas out of Dhangadhi for disobeying their orders.

While discussing with local political parties, the representatives of human rights organisations and civil society, journalists were found to have played a positive role.

Dailies published regularly: Chure Times, Abhiyaan Daily, Far West Times Daily, Nayaa Abhimat Weekly, Angel Times Daily and Aajako Samachar Daily.

After the royal proclamation, Abhiyaan Daily was published on February 4, but others were not published till February 8 because the security forces issued warning against publishing news materials without getting it censored. In the district, the security forces and the administration were somewhat cruel towards the media. On February 3, the administration forced media-persons to sign a minute book that incorporated various conditions against their will. The administration continued the censorship till the first week of April. Violating the agreement between the journalists and the District Administration Office, the latter repeatedly detained Khem Bhandari, editor of Abhiyaan Daily for 11 days. Similarly, Arjun Dhanuk, the executive editor of Nayaa Abhimat Weekly, was detained for his alleged involvement in the activities of political parties.

The security forces threatened to kill Abhiyaan Daily's sub editor for publishing news on detention of Mr. Bhandari and the protest programs of the political parties. In another incident, the administrative officer refused to obey the orders of the Chief District Officer. There is a complete ban on writing on corruption in army, police and the administration department. Administrative officer, Bishnu Adhikari, and the army's major jointly issued a warning not to run any news without their permission. The newspapers were not allowed to quote even the national dailies published from Kathmandu and the journalists who wrote on those issues faced repeatedly attempts to harass and threaten them.

Chure Times remained closed after the state of emergency was declared. Not only this, but many more newspapers are likely to break down as the administration has stopped not only the government advertisement, but also threaten the private sector advertisers. However, the political parties and the civil society was found to be working for the welfare and safety of the journalists.

So far, no papers have been published at the local level. Local correspondent of Kantipur Daily, D. R. Pant, was arrested and later sent to jail on the accusation of disturbing security. This incident halted the process of all newspapers getting ready to be published. Only correspondents of different newspapers published from Kathmandu could be found in the district. District president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and Channel Nepal's reporter, Chhatra Saud, and Himalaya Times' reporter, Umesh Bhatta, were arrested on February 19, but released on the same day after they were made to sign a paper stating that they would not write any news on the activities against the royal proclamation. D. R. Pant remained detained till April 12 and released after signing a paper saying that he connived with the political parties and that he would not repeat it in future. Similarly, on March 25 Far West Times reporter, Ganesh Mahar, was arrested and detained for 8 days. Ajaymeru Weekly has been closed for the last six months. Amar Gadhi Weekly is also out of print from February 1.

Published newspapers: Bimba Weekly, Doteli Awaj Weekly and Khaptad Express Weekly.

In Doti district, the administration and the security forces have been extremely negative towards the press. No one has been sent to jail so far, but journalists have been detained for a short time for terrorising them. On February 1, the editor of Bimba Weekly, Rambahadur Yer, and Khaptad Express's editor, Ganesh Joshi, were detained and taken to the police station.

They were released after they agreed to sign a paper stating that they would shun all programs against the royal proclamation. Naresh Ale, the treasurer of FNJ Doti branch, was beaten for taking pictures of a protest programmes. His camera was also smashed. FNJ's central member and Nepal Samacharpatra's reporter, Bimal Bista, was psychologically tortured.

Apropos a police-related reporting prior to the proclamation, the head of the District Police Office threatened to murder Dil Bahadur Chhatyal, Kantipur correspondent. It is worth to know that the district administration and the security forces are preparing a list of people identifying people who support the government and who do not. Three newspapers faced censorship till April 20. The administration did not allow the news on the release of political activists who were set free by the appellate court. Government advertisements are completely banned.

The Chief District Officer issued order to the chief of the Khaptad National Sanctuary for publishing one advertisement in Bimba Weekly. The administration has been successful in creating a rift among the news persons; therefore, a great deal of hostility was felt among the local journalists.

Though no paper is published in Achham district, but the local correspondents are also affected. The administration asked the journalists to regularly report on movement of the Maoists and the political parties. This has led to the displacement of all reporters from the district. At the same time, the Maoists too issue threats to the local journalists. When Maoist rebels accused journalists Bedprakash Timilsina and Suraj Kuwar of being informers of the administration, they along with other fellow journalists fled the district.

There are no publications in these two districts and like other districts journalists associated with various national dailies are being psychologically tortured in this district. Strict orders have been issued to get the news censored before sending them to the media. Journalists have been threatened that they would not be allowed to stay in the district if they do not support the royal proclamation. The army sent news in the name of Laxmi Dutta Pandey and got it broadcast from Radio Nepal. The same news made him the target of the Maoists that led to his displacement from the district. The life of Mr. Pandey is at stake as he is the target of both army and the rebels. Despite such conditions, journalists are fighting for their rights.

The study team in the Far West Nepal held separate interactions with journalists, political parties and civil society. The team managed to force the Chief District Officers (CDO) and security officers in all districts to lift the censorship and pre-censorship provisions. The mission held talks with Brigadier General Rajendrakumar Thapa at Dipayal and made him take actions against Royal Nepal Army's captain, Dambar Bohora, and Unified Command's police inspector, Nawaraj Adhikari, for his immoral activities against citizens and journalists. As a punishment, the division head transferred Bohora from Dadeldhura to the division headquarters. The mission held talks with the CDOs and security chiefs of all the districts and exchanged views on the security matters and betterment of the journalists' community as well as of the newspapers in the region.

In the course of the study, the mission witnessed a complete lack of coordination between the government offices and the security forces. Though in theory the Far West Division at Dipayal maintains the security units in all these districts, every district has its own particular modus operandi for threatening and giving psychological torture to journalists. The army majors in the districts carry out the orders of the Division in their own ways; the administrative officers do not bother about the orders of the CDOs; and the district police chiefs openly violate the law of the land and thus they afflicted the journalists. To put it in plain terms, the CDOs, police and army chiefs in all the districts are trying to rule with an iron fist under the pretext of orders from the top rung.

Though, it is said that the state of emergency was imposed to restore peace and consolidate democracy, the administration and security units are joining hands in secret plans to cripple the political parties on one hand and to pressurise journalists to quit their quest for democracy and press freedom on the other hand. Their undercover plan is to do away with the media at the district levels. Instead of controlling terrorism, the police, army and the administration appear to be focused more on media and the political parties.