Nepal's leading dailies fail to hit stands
Kathmandu, Sept. 28 (PTI): Nepal's two leading dailies "The Kathmandu Post" and "Kantipur" today failed to hit the stands after a Maoist-affiliated trade union obstructed the printing of the newspapers.
The action comes a day after the Nepal Communication, Printing and Publication Worker's Union stopped advertisements in the Kantipur publications in an attempt to put pressure on the management to fulfil their demands.
The dailies published by the Kantipur have halted publication for the first time in their one and half decade publication history, the management of the dailies said.
The two dailies have a combined circulation of 125,000 copies, which is the highest in Nepal.
The Federation of Nepalese Journalists, Kantipur chapter, today condemned the disruption of printing of both dailies. "The trade union's recent moves - first to stop collection of advertisements and then disruption of printing of two dailies on various pretexts despite a series of dialogues have left us stunned," FNJ President Yuvraj Acharya said in a release.
Various media organizations, political parties, professional organizations, and leaders of civil society have condemned the blatant intervention in free Nepali press by the Maoist trade union.
The FNJ president, Bishnu Nisthuri, warned the federation would publicly resort to protest against the Maoist union if they did not stop their intervention.
The Chairman of Nepal Bar Association Biswokanta Mainali said he Maoists were trying to disrupt the elections by creating impediments one after another.
However, Maoist central leader CP Gajurel has denied that his party has any hand in the intervention in the media house's operations.
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