The pain, which the people of Nagarkot were bearing, could be seen in the major dailies of Nepal on Friday.
The senseless firing by army man, Basudev Thapa, claimed lives of 12 people and injuring 19 others, who were enjoying a local fair. It will be hard for the families of victims to forget the pain while the day will remain as a black spot in the history of the famous local fair.
According to locals, the incident followed a minor scuffle between RNA soldier Thapa and local villagers who were singing, drinking and dancing till late in the evening after a local fair at the Kalika Devi temple at Chihandanda, some 28 km east of Kathmandu.
All the major dailies published from Kathmandu on Friday covered the incident with due importance. Kantipur daily, in its front-page box news, reported that 11 people of Nagarkot were murdered by a soldier. In a sub –heading, “Nagarkot is Mourning,” the paper described the situation of the village after the incident. The newspaper also published the news about the probe committees formed by the government and RNA.
In its front page, Kantipur daily published the picture of Krishna Kumari Nagarkoti along with her eight-year-old son, Ravi, the death of her husband Ram Lal and 18-year-old daughter Nanu. The daily also carried photo feature of the incident including pictures of the site of the incident and injured people undergoing treatment at the army hospital at Chhauni.
In its editorial, Kantipur daily questioned about the discipline, conduct and exercise of the Royal Nepalese Army. The paper also raised question about the mobilisation of army and arms management within the RNA. “How could a solider who was off duty get hold of a weapon and able to commit such incident all alone?” the daily asked.
In its banner news ‘Midnight slaughter of innocents at Nagarkot,’ The Himalayan Times provided details of the incident. The paper in its front page coverage described about the incident. In its editorial entitled “Big question mark,” the daily described the incident as a case of excesses of RNA. The paper wrote, “Though it may be unfair to blame the entire army for the act of a soldier, such acts cannot fail to reflect poorly on the army, particularly at a time when it is being widely criticised for harsh treatment of political opponents as well as for its excesses of various kinds in the name of countering the insurgency. Indeed, the Chihandanda killings are not the first, second or even third case of army excesses in recent times.”
According to Army officers, an army man is not allowed to carry weapons, while he is off duty.
The Kathmandu Post in its editorial “Gory massacre” raised a series of questions. The paper said, “In the Nagarkot case, people deserve to know how come a drunken soldier got hold of a rifle, and that too in a civil dress? Why were the soldiers involved in such local festivals? How did the “culprit” soldier die? Who killed him? And, most importantly, how is the RNA going to change itself, so as to avoid such gory incidents in the future? The people are also eager to see what action will be taken against the authorities who allowed the drunken soldier with the gun to attend the festival.”
Apart from giving details of the incident, Nepal Samacharpatra daily published photos of dead body after postmortem at the Bhaktapur hospital. The paper in its third page gives the gloomy picture of Bhaktapur,
which was in pain after losing its members.
In contrast to the private-sector media, the state run The Rising Nepal and Gorkhapatra dailies highlighted the compensation provided by the government to the victims’ families, and other decisions taken by the government in the aftermath of the incident.
The incident, however, could not get editorial space in both the state-run media.