Kathmandu, July 10: Nepal's government today launched
an investigation into the disappearance of a newspaper editor
but alleged the journalist had in fact been a senior member of
the Maoist rebels.
Paris-based watchdog reporters without borders has
demanded information on Krishna Sen, the editor of the
pro-Maoist Nepali-language weekly Janadesh (the people's
mandate), who it said was detained by police on May 20 and
killed in custody.
An investigatory committee will have 15 days to complete
a probe into the incident.
"The committee has been instructed to be free, fair and
impartial," state minister for home affairs Devendra Raj
Kandel told a news agency.
However, he said Sen was not an innocent reporter but a
senior Maoist terrorist who had been involved in state
terrorism".
He said the government had put a 2.5 million-rupee
(32,051-dollar) price on Sen's head for his involvement in
Maoist activities, adding that Sen was an advisor to the
Maoist leadership.
"Journalists should not encourage the Maoist terrorists",
he said.
The investigatory committee is headed by the home
ministry's joint secretary, Sushil Shumshere Jungbahadur Rana,
and will include senior officials from Nepal's intelligence
department and attorney general's office, Kandel said.
The Federation of Nepalese Journalists said it would not
accept the findings of the investigation because it would
amount to the police probing their own conduct.
Bureau Report
