Bara, October 7:

Separate teams of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and INSEC, a human rights organisation, arrived here today to facilitate the release of journalist Birendra Shah, who was abducted from the Dhodi Pipara bazaar of Bara district on Friday.

The FNJ team comprises Ramesh Bista, a central member of the FNJ, Gagan Bista, general secretary of the Press Chautari Nepal and Junarbabu Basnet, treasurer of the Nepal Press Union. The INSEC team comprises Kundan Aryal, general secretary of the INSEC, and Krishna Gautam, central regional coordinator of the rights body.

In a meeting with journalists, chief district officer Bimal Prasad Dhakal and superintendent of police Shyam Bahadur Khatri accused the Maoists of pursuing a double standard and claimed that the Maoists were behind the abduction of Shah.

Together with local journalists, the FNJ team left for the incident site to gather information.

Meanwhile, the Bara chapters of the INSEC-affiliated Human Rights Awareness Centre, Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum, the CPN (UML)-affiliated Democratic National Youth Association Nepal, Teli Welfare Society and the Nepal Students’ Forum appealed for a safe release of Shah.

Shah is a central member of the Press Chautari Shah and is also associated with Nepal FM and Avenues Television. His whereabouts are still unknown.

In Pokhara, the Kaski chapter of the Press Chautari Nepal (PCN) organised a demonstration here today to protest against Shah’s abduction. Addressing a protest meet, central vice-president of the FNJ, Gangadhar Parajuli demanded Shah’s whereabouts. A report from Kavre said journalists here staged a sit-in at the Kavre DAO on Monday to press for immediate release of Bara-based journalist and central member of Press Chautari Nepal Birendra Shah.