KATHMANDU: The ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has called a Secretariat meeting following the arrest of several journalists by plainclothes police personnel.
Party Chair Rabi Lamichhane has convened the meeting for 11 am today (Saturday). A party leader said a message was sent to Secretariat members on Friday night, asking them to attend the meeting to discuss current political developments.
Earlier on Friday evening, Lamichhane had held discussions with the party’s lawmakers, including Law Minister Sobita Gautam.
On Friday evening, plainclothes police personnel entered the newsroom and arrested journalists Bishwamani Subedi, Dheeraj Basnet and Shobhraj Baral.
Similarly, plainclothes police entered the office of Naya Patrika to arrest journalist Nawaraj Mainali. However, after Mainali was not found at the office, police personnel were involved in a confrontation with Naya Patrika editor Khagendra Pant that lasted around two and a half hours.
The arrests triggered widespread criticism. In response, both the government and the government-led RSP issued statements claiming they had no prior knowledge of the journalists’ arrests.
RSS spokesperson Kharel said the government must answer for police personnel entering media offices. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat stated that the Prime Minister had no involvement in the arrest of the journalists. Police later released all the journalists who had been taken into custody.
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