Writ demanding management of open border; another writ filed against Online Media Directive

Kathmandu / March 26: A writ has been filed at the Supreme Court today demanding management and control of the open border between Nepal and India.

The Office of the Prime Minister, Home Ministry, Defense Ministry have been named as defendants in the writ filed jointly by advocate Dr Chandra Kanta Gyawali, border expert Buddhi Narayan Shrestha among others. The petitioners have argued in their writ that the provision of maintaining records along with an identity card while crossing the Nepal-India border that was mentioned in the Nepal gazette in 2009 B.S. should be implemented, as the porous border was giving way to terrorist and smuggling activities.

The Nepalis have suffered a lot due to absence of regulation of the border, it is stated in the petition that calls for a mandamus order to review the open border which has not been mentioned even in the 1816 and 1950 Nepal-India friendship treaty.

Writ petition filed at SC against Online Media Directive

In another incident, a writ petition has been filed at Supreme Court against the Online Media Operation Directive the government issued recently.

The Directive was issued to make systematic the registration, renewal, operation and monitoring of the online media.

Filing petition on Sunday, journalist Prabesh Subedi and advocates Baburam Aryal and Santosh Sigdel, demanded that the SC repeal the Directive, arguing that it was against freedom of expression, right to information and the constitutional provisions.

Meanwhile, various media related organizations have expressed concern over the Directive, saying that it was oriented towards control of internet-based media rather than their management.

The government had published the Online Media Operation Directive in the gazette on March 20.

Chairman of Federation of Nepali Journalists Dr Mahendra Bista protested the Directive stating that the government did not heed the suggestions the FNJ and other media organizations gave relating to the Directive. “It has come not in a way to manage but to control the online media,” he underscored.

According to him, the government brought the same old Directive that was against the freedom of expression on internet.

Similar version of the protest to the Directive came from General Secretary of Press Union, Ajay Babu Shivakoti, Chairperson of Press Chautari Nepal, Ganesh Basnet and former Chairman of FNJ Bishnu Nisthuri. They said the government needs to bring the online media directive based on the stakeholders’ suggestions. RSS