Anarchic posturing will not be tolerated, cooperative victims will get justice: Gagan Thapa

Kathmandu: General Secretary of the Nepali Congress Gagan Kumar Thapa has said the opposition must warn and stand against the ‘anarchic behaviour’ of the government.

Speaking at a programme organised to mark the 33rd establishment day of Nepal Press Union (NPU), an alliance of journalists from a democratic stream, here today, the lawmaker stressed that political parties are not expected to compromise on their integrity and responsibility towards the citizens whether they are in the government or the opposition.

In the programme entitled ‘Significance of media in democracy’, the leader said the issues of misappropriation of the cooperative funds should be an agenda of the opposition regardless of which party holds this space. He stressed on the Nepali Congress’ commitment to addressing the plight of cooperative victims and ensuring justice by pushing for a parliamentary committee to investigate the matter.

The NC lawmaker was confident that a parliamentary committee would be formed to investigate the issue as demanded by the government. Justice will be served for the cooperative victims and those guilty of the fraud will be eligible for legal action.

For this, the NC has escalated its protest to the streets beginning today, according to the leader. As he said, the level of citizens’ trust in public entities has been dwindling due to an extremely non-liberal approach in the governance system in the cover of democracy.

‘The citizens’ faith toward public entities has eroded. Press freedom is under threat and the situation does not suggest good. He said urging one and all to be aware of this,’ the former Minister said. ‘Press freedom is not just a vital component of press freedom, it a democracy in a true sense.’

Taranath Dahal, one of the founders of NPU and the former President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), said the NPU was formed on May 27, 1991 (Jeth 13, 2048 BS) due to the special efforts of the very few people and he was happy to see its increasing size and significance these days. Its establishment aimed to advocate for the rights of working journalists, he added.

He took time to say that the arrest of media entrepreneur Kailash Sirohiya has once again issued an alert to those pro-freedom forces. Any attack on the press on various covers should be avoided, he asserted.

NPU President Shiba Lamsal called for going for a fresh election of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) by granting general membership to all those engaged in journalism.

Socialist Press Association Chair Bishwamani Subedi said the police entered the office of Kantipur Daily to arrest Sirohiya, gesturing a threat to the press freedom and the freedom of expression. Other speakers, including Kiran Pokhrel, Badri Sigdel, Santosh Paudel, Arjun Giri, and Nakul Aryal, called for solidarity among media personnel to counter any threats to press freedom.