KATHMANDU, Jan 13: Parliamentarian Babban Singh, independent, on Tuesday afternoon threatened to disrupt the House if the home minister did not respond to lawmakers´ questions and concerns about the killing of journalist Uma Singh. [break]
- Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam
"We will not allow this House to run unless the home minister makes a statement on the murder," Singh said speaking in the parliament.
He accused the government of failing to provide helicopter when Federation of Nepali Journalist Chairman Dharmendra Jha requested for it to be sent to Janakpur to bring journalist Singh to Kathmandu for treatment. Kalpana Rana of Communist pary of Nepal (United) leveled the same accusation against the government.
"The very day Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal assured the nation that media won´t be attacked, journalists were attacked at Pashupati Temple, and within days, Uma Singh was killed," said Singh.
The lawmaker also alleged that local Maoist leader in Janakpur, Dilip Sah, killed Singh´s father and brother after abduction. The whereabouts of Singh´s father and brother remains unknown to this day. The family has accused local Maoist leaders and cadres of carrying out the abductions.
"This goonda (goon) government will collapse," the lawmaker added. He himself faces several criminals cases and is accused of masterminding serial blasts in Kathmandu in September 2007.
Local goon injured as police open fire to arrest him
Nepali Congress lawmaker Meena Pandey said the government´s failure to take serious initiative to arrest the
culprits and its failure to inform the people about the incident has made the incident more mysterious.
Other lawmakers – Sarita Giri of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi), Bishwendra Paswan of Dalit Janajati Party, Gayatri Sah of Nepali Janata Dal, Radha Gyawali of CPN-UML and Sumitra Sah of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum among others – expressed serious concern over journalist Singh´s murder and demanded that the guilty be brought to book.
The young journalist was attacked by armed men at her residence in Janakpur at around 7 p.m. Sunday and she died four hours later while being brought to Kathmandu by road.
