December 03, 2005

KATHMANDU: Nepal FM 91.8, the private sector radio station set by a network of ten FM stations around the country, has completed its first year of operations.

Addressing a function organized in Kathmandu on Saturday to mark the occasion, chairman of the Nepal FM Pvt. Ltd., Shiva Prasad Ghimire, said the FM would continue to work towards promoting people’s right to information.

Managing director of the FM, Bishnu Hari Dhakal, said all the independent radio stations in the country including Nepal FM had to bear the brunt after the royal takeover in February this year. He said the FM had to knock the apex court’s door against the government’s attempts to close down its news programmes and that the FM was in the forefront of the movement to protect people’s right to information.

Former Justice at the Supreme Court and ombudsman of Nepal FM, Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, said freedom of press and freedom of expression could be protected only in a democratic system. He alleged that the government was attacking independent media, journalists and human rights community from all sides at the moment.

Former Justice at the Supreme Court and one of the drafter of the present constitution, Laxman Prasad Aryal, lauded the role Nepal FM had played in helping people to build informed opinion and uphold people’s right to information.

Dr. Sunad Mani Dixit, senior journalists Hem Bahadur Bista, Binaya Kasaju, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Taranath Dahal, FNJ president Bishnu Nisthuri, among others, also spoke on the occasion and said continued vigilance is the price to be paid to protect civil liberties and press freedom.