Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 27:

Legal eagles today urged the government not to issue any ‘draconian law’ to curb the rights of the free press. President of Nepal Bar Association, Shambhu Thapa, accused the government of trying to indirectly curtail the fundamental rights guaranteed by the 1990 constitution regarding the press and publication rights and freedom of speech and expression. “The government is trying to amend the press law unconstitutionally and indirectly amending the Constitution,” Thapa said, adding, “It is the basic feature of the Constitution that the press has the right to print everything with some limitations though, but the government is trying to curb the entire powers of the press,” he added. Thapa was speaking at a programme on Nepal’s 1990 Constitution and the Proposed Amendment of Press Law organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association here today.

Former Attorney General Badri Bahadur Karki said that the government is trying to amend the press laws with rigid provisions to punish the pressmen. “Press laws should not have such rigid provisions to scrap their press credential certificates as press law is taken as a soft law all over the world,” he claimed. “The government is trying to limit the rights of the free press and it is a difficult task to preserve the right now,” Karki added. Former President of NBA, Harihar Dahal, said that the government is threatening the free press. He also said that the government has no right to promulgate any law with retrospective implementation. Journalist Rajendra Dahal said there is no way but to launch protests to press the government against amending the laws.