KATHMANDU: The government has come under widespread criticism over the arrest and police intervention involving journalists on Friday. Meanwhile, Prime Minister’s Chief Political Adviser Kumar Ben has drawn attention for making a sarcastic remark on the issue.
On Sunday afternoon, Ben posted a list of journalists on social media and made a sarcastic comment about the reported claim that the Prime Minister’s Secretariat had prepared a list of 28 journalists and instructed police to arrest them.
In his Facebook post, he wrote, “Who is your favourite among these 28 journalists? If you are not among the 28, you are not a journalist but a friend.”
The remark has raised concerns over press freedom and the constitutional spirit of freedom of expression, particularly amid growing criticism of the government’s handling of journalists.
Ben appeared to be responding to a report published by Naya Patrika daily, which claimed that the Prime Minister’s Secretariat had provided police with a list of 28 journalists and directed their arrest.
In his post, Ben mentioned the names of Sameer Balami, Jaisingh Mahara, Roshan Khadka, Rupesh Shrestha, Krishna Acharya, Anil Giri, Shivahari Ghimire, Pradeep Karki, Om Sharma, Ramesh Subedi, Gokarna Awasthi, Raju Ghising, Manoj Satyal, Umesh, Chiranjibi Poudel, Shridhar P. Poudel, Kamal Sargam, Tikaram Yatri, Keshav Khadka, Basanta Basnet, among others.
Comment