The manner in which the government wanted to impose its will on Kantipur FM 96.1 needs to be roundly condemned as a blatant attack on freedom of the press. It chose the midnight of Friday to stop what it thinks to be unauthorised activities of the FM station—its regional broadcast service from Bhedetar, Dhankuta, and its news programme. Government security officers came into the station, took its satellite uplinking equipment and walked away, thus bringing its eastern regional service to an abrupt halt. The government claims that the station’s eastern regional broadcast lacks permission, while the latter maintains that it holds a valid licence for it. That calls for the resolution of the dispute through the due process of law. That said, however, the government’s midnight action did not reflect in any way even a minimal respect for civilised behaviour; it has been widely described as a smash-and-grab raid.

Besides, the government, since the royal takeover of February 1, has been seeking to put total curbs on newscasts by the FM stations. After all its attempts failed, it has brought out an ordinance to amend the law, though the case is subjudice with the Supreme Court. On August 10, a single bench of the SC had issued a stay order, citing the public’s fundamental right to information, against the government’s move to stop news broadcasts by the FM stations. On September 7, a division bench had upheld the stay order, pending a final decision, despite the government’s plea to revoke it. The court has fixed Novemver 29 for final hearing.

The attack on Kantipur FM will not only present a negative impression of the government around the world, but of the country as a whole. Even foreigners have started saying openly that the government does not respect the judiciary. Nor is it perceived to be a respecter of media freedom. In its Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005, Reporters sans Frontiers, a global media watchdog, has put Nepal in the 160th position, out of 167 countries; that means Nepal fares better than only seven such countries as North Korea, Eritrea, and Turkmenistan. These and other moves, seen as anti-democratic, are making even those who initially gave the government some benefit of the doubt increasingly suspicious of its intentions vis-a-vis democracy. There is an urgent need for all to unite in opposition to all assaults on press freedom and to moves designed to undermine democratic rights.