The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Statewatch have included Nepal among those Asian countries which have used ‘war on terror’ as a pretext for introducing laws and regulations to stifle opposition and free expression, with increasing human rights abuses. In their global report ‘Journalism, Civil Liberties and the War on Terror,’ released on Sunday, it is stated that in these countries the ‘war on terror’ is characterised by, among other things, vague definitions of terrorism, acts of terrorism, and public and national security. The report expresses concern over the encroachment on civil rights through new procedures of detention

of suspects and the use of military tribunals. It points out the tendency to detain people indefinitely based on secret evidence or to suppress dissent, and to deny detainees legal remedy.

This clampdown is made all the worse by the fact that most of these governments are non-elected, are not transparent or accountable to the people. The ‘war on terror’ has given rise to global concerns that governments, to some extent even some of the democratic ones, have tended to adopt measures that hinder the normal democratic process of law and justice, giving the authorities sweeping powers over the lives of individuals. The response to the threat of terrorism has been generally out of proportion. Nepal bears an eloquent testimony to this, as the political parties continue to fight for the restoration of multiparty parliamentary democracy and the journalists, under severe curbs, including a general atmosphere of fear, are agitating for press freedom.

One of the most important yardsticks of democracy is the level of press freedom. And peace and freedom are inseparable. The people do not want to lose freedom just because they are told to wait for democracy till peace is restored. So the struggle will go on till freedom is fully won. Partial freedom does not have much of a meaning, with the Damocle’s sword hanging over the individual and the media. One of such restrictive measures is the government’s new one-window advertising policy that seeks to cut the revenue sources of dissenting newspapers

and broadcasting stations. Such measures cannot last long, but these create difficulties and leave scars.