Journos, activists take out rally; 'Radio
can resume its transmission': Minister Shahi
As media bodies and rights groups continue condemning the government’s
act of raiding Radio Sagarmatha FM and seizing its equipment,
interior minister Dan Bahadur Shahi has said the station can air
its transmission immediately.
Talking to BBC Nepali Service Monday evening, Minister Shahi
said the government had instructed the radio not to re-broadcast
the interview with Prachanda. “We haven’t asked them
to shut down their entire transmission,” he added.
Meanwhile, talking to the state-run Nepal Television, Minister
for Information and Communications, Tanka Dhakal, said the government
had taken action against Radio Sagarmatha “for airing notice
repeatedly regarding interview with a person against whom a Red
Corner notice has been issued.”
He was referring to the interview with Maoist chairman, Prachanda,
over the BBC Nepali Service on Sunday. “The Radio violated
the law outright. You can’t make mistake by saying that
other person is also committing the same mistake,” he added.
Officials with the Radio Sagarmatha, however, say police raided
the station, seized equipment and took five journalists and technical
staff into custody when they had dropped the interview with Prachanda
already.
Reporter Durga Karki was released late Sunday while four others
were released on Monday.
Radio Sagarmatha relays live transmission of BBC Nepali aired
from London.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of journalists, professionals and
civil society activists took part in a rally organised to protest
the police intervention at Radio Sagarmatha.
Addressing the corner meeting at Maitighar Mandala, rights activist
Krishna Pahadi said the state had given rise to a new debate by
alleging that Radio Sagarmatha was promoting terrorist activities
by trying to re-broadcast Prachanda’s interview.
“Terrorists are those who fear of poems, who fear of artistes
and who fear of pen. They live in palaces, not in ordinary huts,”
he added.
Editor of The Kathmandu Post daily, Prateek Pradhan, warned that
the government was likely to enact similar episodes of what he
called ‘naked dance’ in the future. He said the Maoists
were contemplating on renouncing violence. But, if they returned
to peaceful means, this government will lose everything, he added.
Chairman of the Radio Sagarmatha management committee, Laxman
Upreti, demanded that the government return the equipment seized
from the radio station immediately. Dipak Raj Pandey, a programme
presenter at the Radio Sagarmatha, narrated his tale in the overnight
police custody.
Earlier, hundreds of journalists and rights activists had marched
from Babarmahal to Maitighar chanting pro-democracy slogans.
The Supreme Court is also examining the case related to newly
promulgated media ordinance and seizure of up linking equipment
from Kantipur FM. nepalnews.com pb Nov 28 05
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