|
 The whereabouts of Shantiram Acharya, who, it’s claimed, has been working as a reporter for a number of newspapers operating in the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal, is still unknown.
Acharya was arrested on January 16, 2007, on the charge of being a Maoist militant. His case was initially reported eight days later on January 24 by Kuensel, the state-owned website. The Bhutan Chapter of Third World Media Network (TWMN) investigated and filed a report on Media Helping Media expressing deep concern about Acharya’s arrest and disappearance. Devi Acharya, a brother of the missing journalist, says the only hope is for international human rights organisations to probe his brother’s detention. Speaking by telephone with a TWMN-Bhutan representative, Devi Acharya said the family feared for Shantiram Acharya's safety.  “The state terrorizing situation inside Bhutan is extremely risky. I do not know whether my brother is inside a cruel Bhutanese jail or even whether he is still alive.” 
“The state terrorizing situation inside Bhutan is extremely risky. I do not know whether my brother is inside a cruel Bhutanese jail or even whether he is still alive.” The Communist Party of Bhutan (CPB-MLM) has already stated that Shantiram Acharya was not affiliated to their party. TWMN-Bhutan called on international media freedom and human rights groups to investigate further.
The writer, T P Mishra, is president of Third World Media Network - Bhutan Chapter and the editor of the Bhutan News Service (BNS) and chief coordinator for Helping Hand - Bhutan (a social organisation). He is also the winner of Bhutan’s journalist of the year award, 2006.
Note: The Bhutan news site Kuensel Online provided another angle on this story. Click here for an earlier version on this site.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Secondly, the story should elaborate more about who Acharya was working for - which papers exactly? Was he a full time reporter or a freelancer? Why are there no interviews or comments from his employers? If he is a journalist then us as reporters and human beings need to stand up and ask for his release.
However, if he is a miscreant creating trouble in a peaceful country we should not allow our profession to be hijacked so people like him can use it as a cover to to damage and harm to others.
The refugee issue is a delicate one. In it's media, Nepal continues to blame Thimphu for dragging its feet. Bhutan, on its part, blames the constant political instability of Nepal for the lack of decisions.
The refugees says they were forcefully evicted from Bhutan, the Bhutanese government says they left on their own accord despite the King making personal visits and pleas to each majority Nepali village. In the end the people of both countries suffer, long ties of friendship are broken. As journalists we need to do our jobs and check our facts and not promote propaganda - God knows there is enough of that.