Journos misbehaved, threatened

Kathmandu Jan 21-Security forces confiscated the video footage of the residence of CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal in Koteswor on Friday taken by CNN-IBN and Star News crew. The TV crew said they were misbehaved by the security personnel stationed at Mr. Nepal’s residence despite showing their press accreditation and curfew passes.

The TV crew handed over the footage when security personnel began to call their seniors and threatened the journalists. Video cassettes with the footages deleted were returned after five hours, according to reports.

The government had banned the transmission of Aaj Tak and a number of other Indian news channels immediately after the royal takeover of February 1, 2005.

The authorities have not bothered to furnish any clarification regarding the incident as yet.
Private cable operators in Kathmandu have been asked to suspend transmission of two leading Indian news channels, Star News and Aaj Tak, from Friday, reports said.

The authorities have accused that these channels had transmitted materials “that were harmful to security and sovereignty of the country and were provocative in nature.”

Reports from Nepalgunj said that local administration is censoring Indian newspapers that carry news on Nepal 's latest political developments. News related to protest programmes and arrests of Nepali political activists published in The Hindustan Times and other newspapers were cut out before they were allowed to circulate in the area.

In yet another incident, Khuman Singh Tamang, a district reporter for Kantipur daily in Kavre district east of Kathmandu, escaped an attempt on his life by a policeman on Friday as he was trying to take photographs of detained students leaders at Banepa police post.

A police man nearly shot him with a SMG gun as Tamang was taking photographs, the Kantipur daily said