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Razen Manandhar Kathmandu, December 28:

It was like a nightmare for 23-year-old Bhagawati Chaudhari, when she saw a group of armed soldiers dragging her husband from her bed. It has been three years and nine months, and the wife is still waiting for the day the government sends her husband back.
“My husband disappeared from our eyes. We do not know whether he is alive or has been shot dead,” she told this daily today. Her husband was abducted and “disappeared” by security men on the night of Chaitra 29, 2058 BS from her home at Manau village in Bardiya.
“They came in a group, broke the door and dragged my husband, saying they send him back the next morning,” she said.
She was married to Prem Prakash Chaudhary for two years. After living a horrible life of bonded labourers, she started dreaming of her own family at her aunt’s land, by making a thatched shed. But the incident shattered all her dreams. “My son was six weeks old then. He often asks me about his father and I cannot even say that he is dead,” she said. “Rather than abducting him and making me live in misery, I wonder why the army did not kill both of us.”
She is a relative of one among the 848 citizens, whom the state “disappeared” since the Maoists launched an armed conflict a decade ago. The exact number of the total “disappeared” is yet to come because the state never comes up with the data. It is difficult for the public to report about such incidents.
Speaking at the programme organised by the Association of Families of Disappeared People by State here today, a number victims’ families said they won’t go home unless the government makes the whereabouts of the disappeared public.
Mandira Sharma, executive director, Advocacy Forum Nepal, said the present legal provision does not recognise the state’s disappearing the civilians as a crime, which creates problem in finding solution to the problem.
“Any institution which is found involved in disappearing somebody, should be termed criminal and the act should be called as severe a crime as murder.”
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Martin’s message
HNS KATHMANDU: In a message to the victims’ families, Ian Martin, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, said: “The disappearance of persons by the State is a continuing human rights violation that does not end until the person’s fate is finally determined. This is one of the most serious violations because, as all of you unfortunately have come to know, it means family members endure agonising periods of uncertainly, sometimes years, before the fate of their beloved ones is known.”
“With UN secretary-general’s support, we will continue to work for clarification of cases of disappearance in Nepal.”

Himalayan News Service Kathmandu, December 3:

Independent radio broadcasters must resist all sort of attacks against them to cater to the people’s need in this critical situation, legal experts said today. “It is high time that all FM stations to prove they really care for the people and their right to information,” said Laxman Aryal, a former justice at Supreme Court, addressing a programme organised to mark the first anniversary of Nepal FM 98.1. “Government’s continued attack on independent FM stations is not accidental but pre-planned policy and this is possible only when there is an autocratic regime,” he added.
Aryal urged all people fighting for the democracy not to limit their commitment in lip service but also act accordingly. “The King’s regime is ‘a boon in disguise’ because after going through this autocratic and uncontrolled regime the people of Nepal will understand the im-portance and cost of democracy,” he said. Announcement of local elections is like distributing sweets to typhoid patients — at the face value it may look good but once the patients consume the sweets their disease will further aggravate. Former justice Krishna Jung Rayamajhi said that the present government is showing all characteristics of autocracy.
“No matter what the King or his ministers say, the present situation clearly shows that the regime in Nepal is autocratic. Though one preaches about the constitution, the practice is just opposite,” he said.
According to him the people is the biggest force and judgement-factor – no autocracy can sustain the flood of people when they come for democracy. Leader of civic society movement Dr Sundar Mani Dixit said Nepal could be the only country in the world where BBC news is banned. Chairman of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nisthuri said autocracy would be wiped out soon because the journalists’ movement for press freedom has taken a height. Media expert Binaya Kumar Kasaju also addressed the interaction.

Nepal FM to be public radio
HNS KATHMANDU: It was announced on Saturday that the Nepal FM 98.1 would be run as a public radio service with joint ownership of International Media Serivces and the Rainbow FM (RFM). “We announce that from today Nepal FM will be run as public service radio, with joint ownership of International Media Service (IMS) and RFM,” said Shiv Prasad Ghimire, the chairman of RFM, adding, “We believe this cooperation will add a new dimension in the development of responsible media of mass communication.”