Night raid on Sagarmatha FM
Himalayan News Service Kathmandu, November 27:
Policemen and officers from the Ministry of Communication and Information tonight raided the studio of Radio Sagarmatha, a community FM radio station run by Nepal Federation of Environment Journalists(NEFEJ). This is the second night raid by the ministry in FM stations after the Media Ordinance was promulgated. The incident took place when Sagarmatha was about to air the BBC programme, being up-linked by the FM station. BBC Nepali Service was scheduled to broadcast Maoist leader Prachanda’s interview with BBC. “At 9.20 pm a group of government officials, who arrived at the studio with policemen, seized raided some equipment and arrested five of our staffers,” said Bhupendra Basnet, the general secretary of NEFEJ.
The team reporters Punya Bhandari, Dipak Aryal, Dipak Raj Pandey and Durga Karki and a technician Rajendra Rijal and have been taken to Lalitpur District Police Office. Karki was released being a female and also because the police station did not have a separate room to lodge women. General Secretary of Federation of Nepalese Journalists Mahendra Bista said
that the incident is another example of state terrorism, done on the pretext of implementing the so-called media ordinance. He said that the journalists were arrested on he charge of “supporting the terrorist” even when the FM station had discontinued broadcasting the BBC programme. “This is another example of the state’s mid-night terrorism. The government
has attacked another free radio and taken away its equipment. The government must return the equipment,” he said. He also added that FNJ would soon announce a protest programme.
Policemen and officers from the Ministry of Communication and Information tonight raided the studio of Radio Sagarmatha, a community FM radio station run by Nepal Federation of Environment Journalists(NEFEJ). This is the second night raid by the ministry in FM stations after the Media Ordinance was promulgated. The incident took place when Sagarmatha was about to air the BBC programme, being up-linked by the FM station. BBC Nepali Service was scheduled to broadcast Maoist leader Prachanda’s interview with BBC. “At 9.20 pm a group of government officials, who arrived at the studio with policemen, seized raided some equipment and arrested five of our staffers,” said Bhupendra Basnet, the general secretary of NEFEJ.
The team reporters Punya Bhandari, Dipak Aryal, Dipak Raj Pandey and Durga Karki and a technician Rajendra Rijal and have been taken to Lalitpur District Police Office. Karki was released being a female and also because the police station did not have a separate room to lodge women. General Secretary of Federation of Nepalese Journalists Mahendra Bista said
that the incident is another example of state terrorism, done on the pretext of implementing the so-called media ordinance. He said that the journalists were arrested on he charge of “supporting the terrorist” even when the FM station had discontinued broadcasting the BBC programme. “This is another example of the state’s mid-night terrorism. The government
has attacked another free radio and taken away its equipment. The government must return the equipment,” he said. He also added that FNJ would soon announce a protest programme.
