Nepal Government Urged to Act on Killings

Nepal Government Urged to Act on Killings and Threats Against Media

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on Nepal’s Government to act immediately to protect journalists facing increasing attacks and threats in Nepal’s Tarai region, following the murder of Today media group chairman Arun Singhaniya on March 1 and threats against other journalists in recent days.

According to the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), an IFJ-affiliate, Singhaniya was shot dead in the south-eastern Nepali town of Janakpur as he returned home from celebrating the festival of Holi.

News reports indicate that two local armed groups – the Tarai Janatantrik Party (Madesh) and the Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha – claimed responsibility. The killing is believed to be linked to Singhaniya’s opposition to the development of the Tarai, or Nepal’s lower southern plains.

On March 2, a threat was made against Janakpur Today editor Brij Kumar Yadav. The FNJ said in a statement that the central chairman of the Terai Janatantrik Party (Madhesh), Mukesh Chaudhary aka Arjun Singh, called a journalist attending a meeting of the FNJ’s Dhanusha chapter and threatened to kill Yadav within a week. The call was made from an Indian number.

Arjun Singh was previously associated with Tarai Ekta Parishad before reportedly breaking away recently to form his own armed militia.

In 2009, police arrested several activists of the Tarai Ekta Parishad in relation to the brutal murder of Uma Singh in Janakpur in January 2009. Uma Singh worked for a radio station owned by Singhaniya, and her reporting on the problems of land confiscation during the years of the Maoist insurgency had reportedly irked local armed groups.

Meanwhile, another journalist, Manoj Kumar Gharti, of the Naya Patrika daily, also reported receiving threats. An unidentified caller threatened to kill Gharti over an article he wrote on Kathmandu-based media entrepreneur Jamim Shah, who was murdered last month.

“Journalists in Nepal’s southern plains are contending with serious threats and targeted violence amid deteriorating security in the region,” IFJ Asia- Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said. “The Government must direct its authorities to conduct full and immediate investigations into violence against media personnel, and take comprehensive action to ensure local media is able to conduct its work in the public interest.”

The IFJ has been told by local sources that many of the armed groups in the Tarai are sheltered and protected by gangs operating across the border in India, and use the open border between the two countries to pursue their agendas.

In this connection, the IFJ also calls upon authorities in India, notably in the eastern state of Bihar, to show appropriate urgency over the need to bring the disturbed security situation in the Nepali Tarai under control.

ENDS