mikeldunham

Maoist YCL thugs beat up at least a dozen journalists and political opponents

 

January 31, 2013

 

At least 13 people, including six journalists, were injured in Banepa of Kavre district yesterday after a clash flared up between activists of the Young Communist League (YCL) and opposition parties. The YCL is the youth wing of the Maoists and have often been cited for violence in the past.

 

The clash ensued after YCL hoodlums, many armed with lathis and stones and bussed in from neighboring villages and districts by the Maoists, attacked journalists and activists of non-Maoist parties who had converged on Banepa to protest alleged misuse of state coffers by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. Bhattarai was slated to a attend a Maoist district conference, which was to be held later that day.

 

According to Himalayan:

 

YCL men first hit Prakash Sundas, news coordinator of Radio Namobuddha, on his face before tearing his clothes into pieces and then fell upon Krishnachandra Banjara, a reporter for Abhiyan daily, [who was beaten] with rods because Banjara was wearing a black jacket. Bhola Thapa of Nepal Television, Ramkrishna Chapagain of Nepal Samacharpatra daily and Motilal Timalsina, executive editor of Chesta Weekly, were also injured in the clash. Grace FM’s Krishna Neupane, who was injured after YCL cadres beat him up, has been sent to Kathmandu for treatment.

 

YCL cadres forced Rajdhani daily reporter Keshavraj Poudel, Mountain TV correspondent Kapil Koirala and Kantipur daily reporter Manoj Basnet to delete photos from their cameras and threatened them with death ‘if they dispatched news against them’.

 

YCL activists also detained and beat up Basudev Sapkota of Anaikot. Seriously injured Sapkota has received bruises all over his body and is undergoing treatment in Banepa.

 

Nepali Congress Mahasamiti member Kunsang Lama of Khanalthok lost three teeth, while 63-year-old Homnath Adhikari of Rabiopi was wounded. NC Anaikot VDC unit president Ganesh KC, who received a major injury on his head with a stone, has been sent to the Capital for treatment. Other injured include CPN-UML district committee member Indra Bahadur Tamang of Sarsyukharka, UML area committee member Lila Bahadur Ghimire of Nala and Rupak Mahat of Panauti.

 

 

According to Republica, the approximately 700 YCL cadres were strategically dispersed along the road leading to the Maoist program venue. The peaceful demonstration, organized by opposition parties, which had planned to greet the prime minister’s motorcade with black flags, was foiled by the YCL attack. The violence occurred before the PM actually arrived.

 

It was also reported that YCL cadres issued death threats. According to Kantipur, “YCL threatened to 'finish off' Kantipur district correspondent Manoj Basnet. ‘Kantipur is on a mission to eliminate the UCPN (Maoist). We will not spare them and finish them off,’ YCL cadres vented their ire. “

 

After the incident, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) condemned the attack on journalists and threats and promised to boycott all UCPN-Maoist events until the YCL assailants are detained by the police.

 

Similarly, the CPN-UML and NC parties have condemned the YCL attack on a peaceful demonstration and on the injured journalists.

 

 

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22 journalists flee Western Nepal after Maoists cadres issue death threats

 

January 29, 2013

 

Last week, Reporters Without Borders condemned death threats made by cadres of the ruling Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN) on January 23 against 22 journalists in the western district of Dailekh. The next day, the 22 local reporters were forced to leave the district, halting production at two daily newspapers and one weekly. Those behind the threats also ransacked the premises of the daily Hamro Tesro Aankha.

 

“The threats and attacks on media workers are particularly serious since they occurred in response to calls for justice for Dekendra Raj Thapa, a local journalist who was kidnapped and murdered by cadres of the ruling Maoist party,” the press freedom organization said.

 

[See my January 10, 2013 article on the murder case HERE]

 

“We urge the authorities to put an end to such threats and guarantee journalists the basic right to work in safety.

 

“The decision by the government to halt the investigation into Thapa’s murder is at odds with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s statement to journalists at the 43rd annual meeting of the Press Council when he reaffirmed his commitment to freedom of the press.

 

“The process of national reconciliation now under way does not mean truth and the fight against impunity should be abandoned.”

 

Party cadres threatened journalists who were protesting during a visit by the prime minister to Dailekh district. The party members publicly warned several journalists they could face the same fate as their colleague Thapa, murdered four years earlier.

 

Other UCPN activists forced their way into the editorial offices of Hamro Tesro Aankha and vandalised the premises. These attacks took place on the sidelines of violence between members of the ruling party and opposition groups who were demonstrating.

 

After a meeting the following day of the Dailekh chapter of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), 22 journalists including the chairman of the local FNJ, Pushkar Thapa, and reporters and other staff from the newspapers Nagarik, Republica, Kantipur and Kathmandu Post, the TV station Avenues Television, and local publications and radio stations, concluded that their safety was no longer guaranteed and they should leave the district.

 

Their departure forced the dailies Dhamaka et Hamro Tesro Aankha and the weekly Sajha Pratibimba to halt production indefinitely, while the radio stations Dhruba Tara and Panchakoshi FM stopped broadcasting.

 

A few days earlier, on 12 January, Prime Minister Bhattarai defended the government’s decision to call off the investigation into Thapa’s murder, saying not all war-era cases could be investigated.

 

Referring to the ongoing investigation into the involvement of five Maoist cadres in the murder, Bhattarai said that, if all the cases were investigated separately, the ongoing peace process would be derailed.

 

 

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Maoists murder a journalist and Nepal’s prime minister attempts to block the thugs' arrests

January 10, 2012

 

On January 8, 2013, Nepali Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai publicly criticized the arrest of five of his party members, who stand accused of the 2004 murder of radio journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa. He blamed human rights activists instead.

 

According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) – an independent, nonprofit organization promoting press freedom worldwide – police arrested the five men last week, based on a previous complaint filed by the journalist's wife. Four of them are district-level leaders of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which heads Bhattarai's coalition government, and the other is affiliated with the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, a breakaway faction of the ruling party, according to news reports.

 

Agence France-Press reported that one of the individuals, Lachhiram Gharti, confessed to taking part in the murder and to burying Dekendra Raj Thapa alive:

 

The arrests of the five men, whose detention came days after a Nepalese soldier was held in Britain on charges of torture, are the first in Nepal for crimes committed during the decade-long conflict that ended in 2006.

 

The five men, all middle-ranking cadres, have been charged with the abduction and murder of Dekendra Raj Thapa, a radio reporter and human rights activist who died in 2004.

 

Lachhiram Gharti, one of the accused, had confessed to taking part in the murder, Binod Sharma, an inspector in the western district of Dailekh, told AFP.

 

"He confessed to us that they kidnapped (the victim) under the pretext of a discussion on water supply and took him to a local school," Sharma said.

 

"They tortured him by repeatedly beating him and when he fell unconscious, he was brought to Gharti's home.

 

"Gharti told us that he gave a glass of water to him. After drinking it, he again fell unconscious... so they dug a pit and buried him alive."

 

 

 

The men are being held in the small western district of Dailekh while police investigate. It is still unclear whether formal charges have been filed against them.

 

Bhattarai said two days ago that the government did not endorse the arrests and that they were part of a plot by human rights activists to derail the peace process by reviving cases from the conflict period. Although the armed conflict in Nepal between Maoists and the government ended in 2006, the political climate remains precarious: There has been no parliament since it was dissolved in May 2012 and the opposition has been pressing Bhattarai's caretaker government for elections.

 

 

Both political parties--the UCPN (Maoist) and the CPN-Maoist--also issued statements asserting the men's innocence, news reports said.

 

"The pressure being exerted by Prime Minister Bhattarai and the parties illustrates the problem of impunity in Nepal, where political interference has prevented justice from being served in the murders of journalists," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator. "Police should be able to continue with their work of bringing killers to justice without being subjected to political pressure."

 

CPJ has repeatedly called on authorities in Nepal to ensure killers of journalists are prosecuted as a means to redress wrongs. The country ranks sixth on CPJ's Impunity Index, which tallies countries that consistently fail to prosecute journalist murders.

 

 

For more data and analysis on the precarious situation for Nepali journalists, as reported by CPJ, click here:

 

Committee to Protect Journalists' Assessment of Nepal

 

 

 

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Condemned: Latest attempt by Prime Minister Bhattarai to repress Nepali Media

 

June 20, 2012

 

While Nepal’s prime minister and his two-dozen-member entourage enjoy a change of pace in Rio de Janeiro, media watchdogs have strongly condemned two recent incidents that took place in Nepal, one of which directly involves Baburam Bhattarai and a move on his part to censor free press:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom Form/IFEX Alert

 

The government led by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) grilled the state-run Nepal Television (NTV) management about the live broadcast of a programme involving opposition parties.

 

Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai personally questioned NTV General Manager Deepak Mani Dhital and Director Rajendra Dev Acharya saying, "Why did you broadcast live the programme organized by 22 opposition parties?"

Nepal ranks 6th in the world in unsolved cases of journalists' murder

 

April 20, 2012

 

Nepal ranks 6th in the world in unsolved cases of journalists' murder in the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) new Impunity Index, which was updated this week. Last year, Nepal ranked 7^th in the Index. This year, it overtook Afghanistan.

 

Here are the top-ranking 12 countries with unsolved cases:

 

Journalist murdered in eastern Nepal – Violence against reporters increasing

 

April 6, 2012

Police in eastern Nepal must fully investigate Tuesday night's murder of a TV and newspaper reporter and determine whether the motive was related to his journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ] said today.

Yadav Poudel, who covered local news for the Kathmandu-based Avenues TV, the national Rajdhani Daily, and the local Mechi Times, was found dead near a hotel in the Jhapa District of eastern Nepal late Tuesday, according to KC Poshan, an adviser to the Federation of Nepali Journalists [FNJ]. Initial news reports said Poudel's throat appeared to have been slit, but the English-language daily Republica reported that doctors who conducted the autopsy on Wednesday said he had likely been beaten and thrown from the hotel roof.

LUMBINI, Part Twelve: Interview with a rickshaw driver

March 17, 2012

DUNHAM: How old are you?

DRIVER: 20 years old.

DUNHAM: How long have you been pulling a rickshaw in Lumbini?

DRIVER: For 4 years

DUNHAM: Where do you live?

DRIVER:  In a place near here. The village is called Parsa.

DUNHAM: Have you heard about the 3 billion dollar project in Lumbini?

Maoists Threaten Prominent Nepalis and Former U.N. Officials

 

February 17, 2011

 

Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) released a troubling report concerning two former U.N. officials based in Kathmandu and another well known advocate, who are now facing implicit death threats from Nepal’s ruling Maoist political party and have appealed to the United Nations for help and protection. The report was filed on February 15 by Thalif Deen.

Kul Chandra Gautam, a former U.N. assistant secretary-general and a longstanding deputy executive director of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, and Kanak Mani Dixit, a former press officer at the U.N.'s Department of Public Information (DPI) in New York and currently a senior Nepali journalist, have been declared "people's enemies".

A third individual under threat is Subodh Raj Pyakurel, executive director of Informal Services Sector (INSEC), the largest non- governmental human rights organisation in Nepal.

All three have been blacklisted in a cover story in the monthly magazine Lalrakshak published by the ruling Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist).

Nepal: Under new regime, murderers of journalists could go free

 

 September 17, 2011

On September 15, Nepal's new Maoist regime proposed pardoning killers of journalists. In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote the following letter to Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai:

 

 

Dear Prime Minister Bhattarai:

We are alarmed by recent reports regarding the planned amnesty of criminal cases pending from past political violence in Nepal and are writing to express our concern that people convicted of killing journalists could go free based on political decisions made by your government.

Nepal’s Tolerance of Governmental Corruption: Sapkota vs Dixit

 

The Case of a Cabinet Member accused of murder, the Prime Minister, and counter aggression leveled at journalist Kanak Mani Dixit

June 13, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing has brought into focus Nepal’s permissive attitude toward corrupt officials more blatantly than Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal’s recent appointment of senior Maoist leader Agni Sapkota as Minister for Information and Communications. Sapkota is accused by a long list of human rights organizations as being a leading party to the murder of Arjun Bahadur Lama in 2005. 

On May 24, in a letter jointly written by the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the groups urged Prime Minister Khanal to reconsider Sapkota’s appointment since criminal investigations were pending against him. They also strong objected to Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara’s maneuvering to withdraw human rights cases, including the case against Sapkota. The new home minister is also a senior member of the Maoist party.

The letter said in part: "The appointment of Sapkota, a member of the politburo of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), while he is under police investigation sends a strong signal of government indifference to such serious allegations and reinforces the culture of impunity in Nepal."

The 8th Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival begins today

 

 

December 9, 2010

The Eighth Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, annually hosted by Himal Association, begins December 9 through 13, 2010. 

Sixty-two films (documentaries, fiction, shorts, animation) covering a wide array of subjects – including conflict, culture, climbing, biodiversity, environment, globalization, migration, development and lifestyles – will be screened back-to-back at the Rashtriya Sabha Griha (City Hall), and the Nepal Tourism Board, Pradarshani Marg (Exhibition Road).

Plea to Government just released by Consortium of Nepali Dignitaries

 

December 6, 2010

Yesterday, one of the signatories of a joint Statement in Public Interest forwarded me a copy. The document appeals to the stakeholders of the ongoing peace process to ensure its successful conclusion by handing over the responsibility of supervision of the Maoist cantonments to the Special Committee. It will be remembered that the UNMIN is scheduled to leave Nepal on January 15, 2010.

Here is the document in full:

 

Continued concern over violence against Nepali journalists

 

December 3, 2010

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to promote press freedom worldwide by defending the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. CPJ has a full-time staff of 23 at its New York headquarters, including area specialists for each major world region. CPJ has a Washington, D.C. representative, and consultants stationed around the world. A 35-member board of prominent journalists directs CPJ's activities. The organization does not accept government funding.

Two days ago, CPJ issued a report indicating its concern over a violent attack and continuing threats against Nepalese journalist Shreedeep Rayamajhi in connection with his online reporting.

The US annual report on human rights abuses in Nepal 2008

March 2, 2009

































Published by BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR, issued on Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009


This is excellent resource material. The report’s breakdown includes:

1.    Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
2.    Disappearances
3.    Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishmen
4.    Prison and Detention Center Conditions
5.    Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
6.    Role of the Police and Security Apparatus
7.    Arrest and Detention
8.    Denial of Fair Public Trial
9.    Trial Procedures
10.     Political Prisoners and Detainees
11.     Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies
12.     Property Restitution
13.     Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home by Security and YCL
14.     Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts
15.     Killings
16.     Child Soldiers
17.     Freedom of Speech and Press
18.     Internet Freedom
19.     Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
20.     Freedom of Religion
21.     Societal Abuses and Discrimination
22.     Freedom of Movement
23.     Internally Displaced Persons
24.     Protection of Refugees
25.     Stateless Persons
26.     Bandhs
27.     Elections and Political Participation
28.     Government Corruption and Transparency
29.     Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of          Alleged Violations of Human Rights
30.     Discrimination of Women
31.     Discrimination of Children and Child Abuse
32.     Trafficking in Persons
33.     Persons with Disabilities
34.     Treatment of National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
35.     Discrimination and Abuses toward Homosexuals
36.     The Right of Association
37.     The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
38.     Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
39.     Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
40.     Acceptable Conditions of Work

Nepal Political Update: Maoist Tug-o-war, Food Shortage, Journalist Hazards and Nepali Army

February 22, 2009



























Dissension within the Maoist Party

On the evening of February 9 in Kathmandu, unidentified assailants opened fire on Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Prime Minister Prachanda's personal secretary. Maoist spokesperson Dinanath Sharma was quick to blame the attack on “elements opposed to change in the country and those hell-bent on disrupting the peace process." Prachanda chimed in a few days later at the “Maoist Peoples’ Liberation Army Day” by saying, “Recent violent activities targeting our party makes it clear that reactionary forces do not want the Maoist party to continue serving the people.” But these days the party is under fire from its own party members and the mood among Maoists is defensive and volatile.

Officially, the Maoists prefer to stress opposition outside party membership. The day after the shooting, Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara accused other political parties represented in the Constituent Assembly (CA) of trying to topple the government. The indictment comes at a time when the 18 Constituent Assembly parties, including the Nepali Congress, are demanding to immediately convene the legislative session of the Assembly to settle the contentious issues of new ordinances.

Nepal Political Situation: Freedom of Speech or Freedom of Thugs?

December 22, 2008










Kathmandu: Last Sunday, approximately 50 Maoist-affiliated trade unionists and members of the YCL (the Maoist youth wing) stormed the headquarters of Himal Media, a major publishing company, broke windows, vandalized offices and physically attacked staff members.

Kunda Dixit, the Editor/Publisher of Nepali Times, Kiran Nepal, Editor of Himal Khabar Patrika, and the company’s CEO, Ashutosh Tiwari, were among those attacked. Dambar Krishna Shrestha, who tried to protect Mr. Dixit during the melee, was also roughed up. “They asked me who I was,” he told The Hindu, adding: “I said ‘I am a reporter’, then came their fists.”

A press statement issued by the media group states: “They forcibly entered the premises and started beating up staff. They threatened editorial and administrative staff, saying they had written anti-Maoist stories.”

Nepal: Maoists, Prime Ministers, Naxalites, Money Woes, Bombs and Former Royalty

June 2, 2008

 

 

Power Struggle between Maoists and Nepali Congress
Nepal went back to work on Sunday as government offices and schools opened for the first time since the celebrations following the opening of the Constituent Assembly on April 28.

But already Nepal's leading political parties are locked in a power struggle. They have agreed to have a symbolic president and a powerful prime minister in the new republican system. But the centrist Nepali Congress, the second biggest group in the assembly, say the Maoists are demanding too much. "They can't have both the posts of a prime minister and the president at the same time," said Ram Chandra Poudel, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress.

Nepal: Stakes Raised for Anti-China Protestors

APRIL 22, 2008

For the last six weeks, pro-Tibetan demonstrators in Nepal have risked injury and arrest from armed police in order to protest China’s rule in Tibet. But now protestors could pay with a much higher price — their lives.


25 police and soldiers, all trained mountaineers, have already reached Everest's Camp II, situated at 6,500 meters (21,300 feet) above sea level. The Nepali troops will be tasked with keeping mountaineers from scaling the Nepal side of the mountain while a Chinese team is on the north side, which is closed off altogether to private expeditions. Video cameras have also been banned from Everest base camp and officials said additional security had been deployed there and on the approach trail. The Nepali troops have been ordered to open fire, if necessary, to prevent disruption of the Olympic Torch Relay by China.

Dunham's Second Interview with a Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai

Follow-up meeting with Baburam Bhattarai
January 31, 2008
Recently, I had the opportunity to conduct a follow-up interview with Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai at his home in Kathmandu. For a look at my first interview, as well as background material on Dr. Bhattarai, CLICK HERE

DUNHAM: In your most recent book, Monarchy vs. Democracy, you said that history will ultimately reveal what happened on June 1, 2001: “It is by now universally accepted in Nepal that Gyanendra, his criminally-inclined son, Paras, and the Royal Army chief Prajjwal Rana, were the ringleaders of the bloody palace coup d’etat…” Would you please explain in more detail how this conspiracy transpired?” 

From Kathmandu--Interview with Kanak Mani Dixit

December 2, 2007

Kanak Mani Dixit is a Nepali journalist, activist, publisher and writer of fiction living in Kathmandu. He edits the English-language magazine Himal Southasian (www.himalmag.com) and the Nepali magazine Himal Khabarpatrika (www.himalkhabar.com), the first newsmagazine in Nepali. He also runs a publishing house and Nepal's preeminent printing press, as well as writing occasional children's novels.