Reporters Without Borders calls on the government to redouble its efforts to obtain the release of Birendra Shah, a journalist who was kidnapped in the Bara region on 5 October. “The authorities and the leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) must do everything possible to ensure that Birendra Shah is rescued,” the organisation said. “The absence of any news about Shah is very worrying.”
During a meeting yesterday with Shah’s family and the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), the Maoist leader known by the nom de guerre of Prachanda promised to punish those who kidnapped Shah. “He did not deny the reports that Maoist activists were involved in Shah’s abduction,” FNJ president Bisnu Nishthuri said.
Prime Minister Girijia Prasad Koirala yesterday told Shah’s family that the place where he is being held would be made public in the coming days.
The media and some parliamentarians have been very critical of the CPN-M’s leaders in the Bara region, including Lal Bahadur Chaudhary, Kundan Phaujdar, Ram Ekwal Sahani and Hareram Patel, on account of their alleged role in Shah’s abduction.
Some 200 journalists demonstrated in the capital yesterday in protest against the abduction of Shah, who often wrote about the Maoist former guerrillas.
