Naya Nepal Naya Blog

Freedom Forum, a media rights watch dog, on Sunday said it denounced the vandalism carried out by cadres of Youth Force (YF), a youth wing of the Communist Party of Nepal--Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) in the office of Jhapa-based Janasamsad daily in the eastern plain of Nepal on June 1, Thursday.

A group of YF cadres led by Raju Karki, a central committee member,vandalised the newspaper office over a news story covered by the paper.

YF cadres attacked the newspaper's office as the paper published a story stating that the YF illegally took control over two motorcycles owned by Mahendra cooperative organisation in the region.

Similarly, Saroj Adhikari, a Pokhara-based journalist, was thrashed and looted by an unidentified armed group on July 1, Thursday.

Journalist Adhikari of Gandaki Media House was beaten nearby District Police Office, Kaski-a western district of Nepal. The perpetrators behind the incident are yet to be identified.

In yet another incident, staffers of Land Revenue Office (LRF) of Bhaktapur adjacent to Kathmandu attacked journalist Bhesh Bahadur Karki, an editor of Loktantrik Dabab Weekly, Bhaktapur.

Following a news item published in the newspaper regarding irregularities at the LRF, a group of staffers headed by Devraj KC threatened journalist KC of life.

Freedom Forum urged the government to take immediate action against those involved in incidents.

"This kind of activities by the cadres of ruling party is regrettable and is against the motives of free press. The Forum asks the concerned party to help investigate into the incident and bring the guilty to book and show commitment that such incident do not recur in the days to come," stated a press release issued by Freedom Forum on Sunday.

Similarly, the Forum also urged the local authority to identify and punish those involved in assaulting journalist in Pokhara. Further, the Forum called on the government to take action against government officials involving in abusing journalist in Bhaktapur.