(CEHURDES/IFEX) – CEHURDES condemns the burning of newspapers by a student group in the southern town of Janakpur. According to information compiled by CEHURDES, on 21 July 2006 a group of about 15 youths associated with the Nepali Madheshi Students’ Front, affiliated to the Madheshi People’s Rights Forum, burned copies of “The Kathmandu Post”, the […]
(CEHURDES/IFEX) – CEHURDES condemns the burning of newspapers by a student group in the southern town of Janakpur.
According to information compiled by CEHURDES, on 21 July 2006 a group of about 15 youths associated with the Nepali Madheshi Students’ Front, affiliated to the Madheshi People’s Rights Forum, burned copies of “The Kathmandu Post”, the daily newspaper “Kantipur”, the weekly “Saptahik” and other newspapers and magazines in Janakpur.
When a vehicle carrying newspapers reached the Janakpur market, youths with their heads covered with red bands seized the newspapers and burned them, eye witnesses said. The youths also vandalised the shop of a newspaper vendor and smashed the windows of the delivery vehicle.
Police personnel watched the incident but did not intervene. “Had we charged with batons at the vandals, activists would have criticised us for violating human rights,” the daily newspaper “The Kathmandu Post” quoted one of the policemen as saying.
The same newspaper also quoted the chairman of the Nepali Madheshi Students’ Front, Keshav Jha, as saying that they had burnt the publications because these publications had given little attention to issues concerning Madheshis, and the Front wanted to warn the publishers against similar neglect in the future.
CEHURDES condemns the burning of copies of newspapers by the Nepali Madheshi Students’ Front. The act of burning newspapers is a direct attack on people’s right to information and freedom of expression. At a time when the country is moving towards drafting a new constitution, allowing all people in the country an equal say in its governance, all groups should express their views in a restrained and democratic way.
CEHURDES also calls upon local authorities to launch a probe into the incident and to punish the guilty. CEHURDES request that no groups support or encourage such activities under any pretext.
