Radio station threatened by Maoists

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the threats made against Radio Parbat, the only community radio station in the western district of Parbat. The station suspended broadcasting on 22 April for an indefinite period. The radio station’s staff said members of the ruling Maoist party had threatened to set off a bomb at the station. After the Maoists staged a demonstration outside, a group of youths vandalised the main entrance and warned of “serious consequences.” “They telephoned us and threatened to bomb our office if we did not stop broadcasting,” said Tulasi Ram Sharma of Rural Awareness Society, which runs the station. The Maoists had reportedly accused the station of firing employees without paying their salaries. However, the senior Maoist party official in the district denied that the party had threatened the station. Yagya Raj Thapa, the correspondent of Radio Nepal and Nepal Samacharpatra in the central district of Dailekh, was meanwhile attacked by an inebriated police officer, Shanker Thapa, on 25 April. He was gathering information about the inauguration of a road when the policeman threatened to kill him.