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Maoist cadres ‘attack’ Dhangadhi daily office
DHANGADHI, JUL 05 -
Activists of the UCPN (Maoist) vandalised the office of the Dhangadi-based Sudursandesh daily on Monday for allegedly publishing anti-Maoist materials.
A group of 10-odd men led by the party’s district committee member Tikaram Sapkota also assaulted some staffers of the newspaper.
“They barged into the building asking for the editor and then started attacking us indiscriminately,” said Prayag Raj Joshi, who sustained deep cut wounds on his head when Sapkota attacked him with a chair. He was admitted to Seti Zonal Hospital.
As the Maoists could not find the daily’s editor and publisher, Hemanta Poudel, in the office, they vented their ire on the office furniture, computers and employees.
Durga Bhandari, the daily’s chief reporter, said the Maoists would have killed Poudel had they found him in the office. Poudel was at Tikapur when the incident occurred.
By the time police reached the scene, the attackers had left the place.
Meanwhile, Poudel said the Maoists had been issuing threats to him for publishing anti-Maoist news and editorials.
The Sunday’s edition of Sudursandesh had printed a news story on Sapkota extorting Rs. 1,20,000 from Munna Damai of Shripur VDC. Monday’s issue of the daily carried an editorial on the Maoists’ terror in Kailali.
The Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) on Monday said it would stage protests in the district against the attack. Various rights groups in Kailali demanded action against the guilty.
Hari Gyawali, the Maoist district in charge, took the blame for the attack and said it was wrong on the part of party men to resort to such action even if the daily published anti-Maoist materials.
Posted on: 2010-07-06 08:06
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