Current Affairs

In a rare show of solidarity editors from Nepal's mainstream media outlets handed a 5-point memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal protesting against the arrest of Kailash Sirohiya, Chairman of Kantipur Media Group (KMG). Sirohiya was arrested from KMG's central office in Kathamndu on Tuesday on a recent complaint filed at the Dhanusha District Police Office questioning his citizenship, and subsequently transferred to Dhanusha. He was presented before the District Court there on Wednesday, only to be remanded on a three-day judicial custody by the District Court Judge Chudaman Khadka.

The arrest has drawn widespread criticism.

In their memorandum the editors have urged Dhal to investigate the circumstances leading to Sirohiya's arrest which follows a series of in-depth reporting by KMG outlets implicating Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in financial scams and embezzlements worth hundreds of millions of rupees deposited in cooperatives. Sirohiya has been arrested to intimidate the media outlets, the editors said in a joint-statement.

While none of the government agencies have interrogated Sirohiya with regard to the complaint lodged at the district police office, the arrest from the offices of a media house is only intended to create pressure and fear on the press, the statement issued by 31 editors reads.

The statement claims that the Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister has been vehemently attacking the media outlets as they continue to question and expose his and Gorkha Media Network's role in scams amounting to around a billion rupees. Before joining politics and being elected to the House of Representatives from Chitawn in 2022, Lamichhane was a business partner at the Gorkha Media Network where he served as the Chief Executive Officer. Lamichhane has claimed that he was only offered a small percentage of "sweat share" by the Network's promoters led by G B Rai, who is believed to be residing in Malaysia to avoid his arrest.

“We also want to draw the prime minister’s attention to this matter and remind you that it is your responsibility to ensure that the police investigation against Lamichhane moves ahead and builds an environment for prosecuting the case against him impartially,” they said.

The editors said they are well aware of press freedom, the rule of law, and their responsibilities, adding they will not compromise when it comes to defending the freedom of speech and expression. 

Editors’ joint letter to prime minister

Right Hon'ble Prime Minister,

We, the undersigned editors working at major media outlets in Nepal, want to draw your attention to a recent case of arrest from a media house:

1. Police arrested Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohiya from his office on Tuesday. All citizens should equally abide by the laws of the land and Sirohiya should be punished as per the law if he has done anything against it. Sirohiya himself has publicly said that he is ready for that.
2. The context and the allegations levelled against him and the modus operandi of his arrest have raised serious questions. We have taken the arrest from inside a media house as intended to create pressure and fear on the press. The government agencies have never interrogated Sirohiya about the allegations. Yesterday he was suddenly arrested over some technical issues of his citizenship certificate. This issue will now be resolved by the court.
3. Mr Prime Minister, we want to remind you—Rabi Lamichhane was not a Nepali citizen when he first became home minister in your Cabinet. Though he reacquired Nepal’s citizenship following a court order, he was and is someone who can be punished for simultaneously holding passports of two countries.
4. We also want to make it clear why Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has recently been attacking the media with animosity. The problem of cooperative fraud has become severe. Billions of rupees deposited by millions of Nepalis in cooperatives have been misappropriated, and they have not received their own deposits back. Media has continuously reported on around one billion rupees misappropriated by Rabi Lamichhane and Gorkha Media Network, where Lamichhane was one of the partners. In his recent address at the ongoing Parliamentary session, Lamichhane claimed that he was a victim of a ‘media trial’. However, investigations conducted at the municipal level and by Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) have established that he and the media company he managed embezzled massive cooperative funds. The home minister has prevented prosecution and the filing of charges against him by abusing power. We also want to draw the prime minister’s attention to this matter and remind you that it is your responsibility to ensure that the police investigation against Lamichhane moves ahead and builds an environment for prosecuting the case against him impartially.
5. We editors, who have been working in Nepali media for a long time, are well aware of press freedom, rule of law and our responsibilities. And we also want to make it clear that we won’t make any compromise when it comes to defending them and fulfilling our responsibilities.

The signatories (in alphabetical order) include:

Akhanda Bhandari, Annapurna Post
Ameet Dhakal, Setopati
Arun Baral, Khabarhub
Basanta Basnet, Onlinekhabar
Bijay Paudel, Kantipur TV
Bimal Gautam, Lokaantar
Biswas Baral, The Kathmandu Post
Durga Khanal, Ekantipur
Gunaraj Luintel, Nagarik
Hari Bahadur Thapa, Baahrakhari
Kamal Dev Bhattarai, The Annapurna Express
Kiran Nepal, Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
Koshraj Koirala, Republica
Kosmos Bishwakarma
Madan Lamsal, Arthik Abhiyan
Prakash Rimal, Nepalminute
Prateek Pradhan, Baahrakhari
Purna Basnet, Nepalkhabar
Pushpa Dulal, Clickmandu
Rajaram Gautam
Ram Prasad Dahal, Ratopati
Rameshwar Bohara, Ukaalo
Rupesh Shrestha, Kantipur TV
Sagar Pandit, Nepal Samacharpatra
Sanjeev Satgainya
Saroj Mishra, Rajdhani
Shiva Gaunle, Onlinekhabar
Sudheer Sharma
Sujit Mahat, Ukaalo
Umesh Chauhan, Kantipur
Yubraj Ghimire, Deshsanchar