NEPALESE JOURNALIST SHOT DEAD BY MAD MILITANTS
January 17th 2008 09:11
Nepalese journalist Pushkar Bahadur Shrestha was murdered on January 12, near the southern city of Birgunj. Responsibility for his shooting was claimed by Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha, a militia led by Jwala Singh, which says it defends the population of the southern plains.
It called Shrestha a "pahadi" journalist, meaning one from the hill region.
Reporters Without Borders said, "Shrestha's murder tragically highlights the violence affecting civilians, including journalists, as a result of the ethnic tension in southern Nepal Hope of defusing the tension this year seems to be evaporating in the face of the inability of the authorities to curb the repeated violence."
Shrestha, the publisher of two local weeklies, Highway Weekly and New Season, was shot in the back while with his brother in a small town near Birgunj, which is on the border with India. He was killed the day that the latest issue of Highway Weekly was published.
A man who said he was a local representative of Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha called reporters in Birgunj to claim responsible for the murder. He said Shrestha was killed because he was a "pahadi" and a "journalist." The group has promised to continue committing acts of violence until one of its leaders who is imprisoned, Tulasi Das, is released.
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