Creeping control over the press in Nepal

The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) government is taking incremental steps to curb press freedom, hoping no one will notice. But added up, they represent a serious threat to the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression of citizens and journalists.

With federalism, controls on the press also seem to be decentralised, with provincial governments drafting laws that would jail journalists for perceived infractions. A new criminal code last year already announced punitive measures against reporting construed to infringe on privacy, or ridicule political figures. This week, the government proposed new laws to punish objectionable content on social media with a Rs1.5 million fine, or 5 years in prison.

There is a disturbing trend to roll back on freedoms guaranteed in the constitution by politicians, businessmen and power brokers who seem rattled by recent media exposes. This intolerance is reflected in threats of legal action against mainstream journalists, digital portals, and social media content providers.

Read also: Gagging the press in installments, Sewa Bhattarai

In 2018, there were numerous police crackdowns on journalists covering public demonstrations, the Minister of Communications cancelled a TV show for asking uncomfortable questions, politicians threatened social media users with imprisonment for lampooning the prime minister.

There is a clear feeling of déjà vu of Stalinistic tactics used by the newly-elected Maoist government headed by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to attack the media in 2008. The party deployed its notorious Young Communist League (YCL) to vandalise newspaper offices, burn distribution vans and use militant unions to shut down media.

The following piece I wrote 10 years ago in my blog, Humanature Journal, is as current today as it was then. Circumstances have changed, but the cast of characters and the goal is still to muzzle the media.

Ajay Pradhan is based in Vancouver and works as senior policy adviser on Indigenous-Crown relations and treaty negotiations.

Maoist's Attack On the Media Continues: Are YCLs the New Mandales?

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2008

By Ajay Pradhan

These are strange times. But these are not unique times. History repeats itself.

In Nepal, under the implicit protection and complicity of Maoist leaders in the party that leads the coalition, its unions have got a free pass from the leadership to unleash a reign of terror on the free press.

Despite leading the governing coalition, Maoists are continuing their insurgency-time behaviour of using violence to intimidate journalists that dare to report news that they do not like. Such attacks on the free press are unacceptable and should not go unpunished.

On Sunday, 50 Maoist-affiliated trade union members, most of whom were the feared Maoist-affiliated YCL, carried out a vicious physical attack on the journalists, management and staff of Himalmedia, a Kathmandu-based media enterprise that publishes the Nepali Times and the Himal Khabarpatrika and vandalised their head office. Many Himalmedia staffers were injured in the assault by a large gang of masked Maoist YCL.

The attack drew immediate national and international condemnation. The embarrassed Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda put a political spin on the matter and blamed the attack on “ex-monarchists” who had infiltrated his party to defame it.

The very next day, however, the defiant Maoist trade union chief, Salikram Jammarkattel, who is also a Maoist member of the Constituent Assembly, ironically rendered Prachanda’s spin doctoring worthless when he threatened further, more vicious attacks on Himalmedia if it did not yield in to the demands of a Maoist union. Two Maoist trade union leaders who led the attack were safely ensconced in a YCL camp.

Physical assault by a group that is affiliated with the party in power can only be construed as the government’s attempt to muzzle the free press. Maoists maintain that this is a labour dispute, but the facts prove otherwise. Sunday’s assault was triggered by criticism of Jammarkattel the previous day by the publication. This is deeply troubling: the Maoists must realise that their days of guerrilla insurgency are over.

The previous week, on 25 October 2008 Maoist perpetrators attacked with stones the Himalmedia CEO and his driver. On 16 November Maoists burned 5,000 copies of Himal Khabarpatrika at a distribution depot, making death threats against staffers.

Earlier, the Maoists vandalised the offices of Kantipur Publications that publishes The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur for ciriticising the Maoist party. Even after winning the CA election, Prachanda is on record warning Kantipur not to criticise his party, making unspecified threats if it did not comply.

This is not how a government builds a nation, earns trust and inspires confidence. Intimidation and violence cannot muzzle the media. Prachanda would do well to keep this basic tenet of free speech in his mind. Otherwise, the infamy of vicious YCL activities will engulf his credibility, much like what the infamous Mandales did to expedite the demise of the seemingly invincible partyless Panchayat system that ruled Nepal for 30 years.

https://aspradhan.blogspot.com/2008/12/are-ycls-new-mandales.html