In a surprising development, a Nepal Army squad comprising about 60 personnel entered the premises of the state-owned Nepal Television (NTV) and Radio Nepal located inside the Singha Durbar compound, the seat of the government, on Thursday morning to “securitize the location”, which they said was necessitated by the increasing security concerns.
Reports said that, while most of the army personnel were put on “standby position” at the premises itself, a few soldiers entered the television station without permission from the management, citing security reasons, much to the bewilderment of the employees. They are said to have also entered the newsroom and reportedly went through files of the NTV chairman while he was out of the office. The army personnel were from Sri Jung battalion, which looks after the overall security of Singha Durbar.
According to the NTV news bulletin at 6:10 pm, the management and the employees “felt uneasiness” over the unauthorised entry of the army men. Quoting Lt Col Naresh Bhatta of Nepal Army’s Directorate of Public Relations, the NTV said the unarmed army men were there as part of the inspection of the location, which is under the security of the army battalion stationed inside Singha Durbar. The army squad is also said to have entered Radio Nepal building and discussed about setting up a permanent army post at the compound.
According to the NTV report, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has expressed concern over the presence of army personnel inside the TV and radio studios. The FNJ branch in NTV and the NTV Employees Union have also expressed serious concern over the entry of army men into the studio.
(Source: Nepal News/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Photo: Radio Nepal studios