Kathmandu, October 30
Prime Minister Balen Shah has expressed concern over police entering media offices and taking journalists into custody, and has directed the concerned authorities to stop such actions, according to his communications and research adviser, Deepa Dahal.
On Friday, police detained journalists from several media outlets, reportedly acting on orders from higher authorities. Dahal said the Prime Minister’s Office had no involvement in the incidents and was not informed about them in advance.
She said the Prime Minister directed the concerned authorities to immediately release the detained journalists and refrain from entering newsrooms to carry out any form of detention or harassment as soon as he learned of the incidents.
“It is clarified that the honourable Prime Minister, his secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office had no involvement in the incident involving the detention of journalists and had not received any prior information about it,” Dahal said.
“As soon as he learned about the incident, the honourable Prime Minister had already issued clear instructions to the concerned authorities to immediately release the detained journalists and refrain from entering newsrooms to carry out any form of detention or harassment,” she added.
