Kathmandu, January 9:

Nepali journalists and their associations have condemned today the slaughter of Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickrematunga of The Sunday Leader yesterday.

“All of the Nepalese journalists have been rendered speechless by the heinous killing,” they said in a statement, extending condolences to colleagues at the Leader Group as well as all journalists of Sri Lanka.

“The editor of The Sunday Leader has always been at the forefront of the struggle for accountability, rule of law, human rights, and healthy and peaceful politics,” the statement reads.

“At the end, the editor Wickrematunga had to pay for his ethics and high principles with life.”

“We believe that they will not let the lamp of free media and democracy die even forces bent on destruction take recourse to the tools of violence and assassination.

Lasantha was a trail blazer for journalists all over South Asia, and his absence shall forever remind us of the value of free and fearless journalism for the protection of democracy and human rights,” the statement added.