00:00Hi, I have with me Ajit Hakur. He is the CEO of Nepal's news media outlet, which is Evinews TV.
00:22Thank you so much, Ajit Hakur, for speaking with AsiaNet News.
00:25You know, the visuals that are coming out of Nepal, they are quite disturbing.
00:28What is the current situation? How bad it is?
00:31You know, as far as Nepal is concerned, it's slowly spiraling out of control, the way it has been, panning out since the morning.
00:42It's like, you know, it started at about 9 o'clock in the morning, the protest, and now we are at 5 o'clock local time.
00:51So it's almost now 8 hours, and it first was restricted to a certain section of Nepal.
01:00It's called Maidigat Mandela, where these people were supposed to congregate and to protest against both the closure of the social media networks,
01:11as well as of the, like, you know, corruption.
01:15So this social media network, the Russian social media network, and stuff like that, as well as corruption, they were actually going hand in hand.
01:23And until that point of time, it was just looking like an absolute, and even until now, it looks like an absolute Gen Z kind of a protest,
01:34where these are all youth, you know, well-educated, even less educated, all kinds of people they joined.
01:43And they started this whole thing, and they were, peacefully, they were proceeding towards the Parliament House,
01:52and it's called the sunset over here.
01:55So they were going over there, and then things spiraled, quickly spiraled out of control.
02:01And they just gate-crashed the Parliament, there were scenes of, you know, the students getting into Parliament annex,
02:13and, you know, some of them went roughed up, the cops, but at the same time, the cops struck back.
02:20The most important or the disturbing thing which has come up as of now, the disturbing news which is coming,
02:26and it's that over 80 people have been injured, 17 people have been confirmed dead, and the figure is expected to rise.
02:35And this thing has actually even spiraled beyond, in the sense that what has happened is,
02:43it's also now across the rest of the country.
02:47So, like, you know, places like Virat Nagar, which is in the east, to Birganj, which is in the centre, and even fires.
02:55So, we are getting, you know, reports from all over the place.
02:59Students are breaking into this spontaneous protest, and they are clashing with the authorities.
03:03Journalists are also part of this protest.
03:05What are they actually saying? You know, this bill was not passed in Parliament,
03:10but the government cited the Supreme Court's directive, which also kind of asked these social media companies
03:15to go ahead and register with the Nepali authorities.
03:18So, what exactly are the journalists and the youth of the country are saying?
03:21See, first of all, like, you know, I think back in India, if you would have seen, you know, people coming from Nepal,
03:28and even across the globe, the people coming from Nepal are actually connected to each other,
03:33mostly through the social media platforms and instant messengers.
03:37And so, what happened is, essentially, you know, in a country which is trying to, you know, get its infrastructure into place,
03:46what is happening is, okay, you have the communication, you know, platforms, you have got mobile phones and stuff like that,
03:53but the broadband networks, the social media, they become the mainstay for connecting between different countries,
03:59and between different people. So, now what happens is, you know, for the journalists also, this is, you know, one of the source of, you know, sourcing information,
04:08because quite a few of the media houses have got, you know, alignments.
04:14So, there's a general kind of a discontent, you know, even in the people over here, they look more at social media for the correct picture of things.
04:26So, that's what happens is, like, and of course, the youth of this country, they are interacting more over here through this social media platform.
04:34Not to forget the fact that these social media platforms, you know, they are also a great source of income for a lot of these youths,
04:44because, you know, influencers and, you know, opinion makers and, you know, videos and stuff like that.
04:49So, there's a huge population which also depends upon that. And most importantly, in our democracy, like, you know, this is one of the best places for them to give in to their feelings.
04:59Now, that was something which was not happening. And like, you know, with these kinds of closure, I mean, again, for the past,
05:05now, a little more than 72 hours, this country has been battling slow networks and stuff like that.
05:12Even, you know, the roaming calls from other countries, which was, on the first day, it was okay, but it's also started, like, you know, going down, it's become erratic.
05:26We can, you know, censor, you know, hand of the government and all this.
05:30So, what is happening is, and to, you know, sort of add insult to injury, last evening, the prime minister, like, you know,
05:39the prime minister just got a thundering majority to, you know, extend his stay as the leader of the ruling UML party.
05:51And which they amended the constitution essentially to make him the party supreme for a third term, as well as they also removed the cap for the upper age limit, which was 70 years or so.
06:04So, what has happened is, in that, I think, in one of the plenary sessions, he actually laughed at the Gen Z protests.
06:12Because this was happening, this shutdown was happening, parallel to the, you know, parallel to the UML's, you know, convention which elected him.
06:23So, of course, there are different schools of thought, but the prime minister also, like, you know, laughing it off.
06:31That also added a bit of insult to injury. So, that's what, how things, like, you know, just went out of control over here.
06:39Right. And I'm also trying to get a sense of the situation on ground. Is it only the anger because of the ban on social media?
06:46Because we have been hearing reports about protests against unemployment and against corruption in the government.
06:52See, ban on the social media was the flashpoint. That was the last thing that the government should have done.
06:58See, what happens is over here, like, you know, opinion is pretty fragmented and pretty polarized.
07:07So, you know, you have got medias, you know, alignments and stuff like that.
07:11But most importantly, what has happened is, this was, you know, in terms of press freedom index,
07:17Nepal is much, much higher than practically all the South Asian countries.
07:22So, I mean, it's actually in the top 60s.
07:25So, what happened was, like, you know, people cherish that freedom a lot.
07:29And these are, mind you, youth. Nepal is a young country.
07:32Over 65 to, you know, 70% of the population is young.
07:36So, what happened was, this was the only thing that they could do to rent out their feelings against unemployment.
07:42Every year, almost 3 to 5% of the people from here have to migrate overseas to get a decent living.
07:50There is, you know, the GDP is not exactly much to talk about.
07:55Most of the economy is being run through, you know, through remittances.
08:00So, what happens is, there's been a growing discontent amongst youth.
08:05Although, all the political parties, you know, draw their strength from these people also, from the youth also.
08:12But this time, it was like a more enough is enough.
08:14And, you know, the platform that, you know, they used to, used to give vent to their feelings, that was actually going off the radar.
08:23So, that's how this whole thing, you know, spiraled out of control.
08:26And, I don't see it like, you know, these people are in a forgiving mood on this side.
08:32Just last question from my side would be, what are we hearing from the government side?
08:37Because, as you quoted, 17 people have died so far.
08:40What is the government saying so far?
08:42What can we expect in the future to tackle this situation?
08:45Because, is it also simmering down or it continues to be as such?
08:49See, if you may recollect about, I think it was half a year ago, a couple of months back, there was a pro-monarchist protest which happened in this country.
08:59And, that also led to the, you know, the death of two people.
09:05Incidentally, one of them was one of our, you know, he was one of our cameramen who was out there, a guy called Suresh Rasad, who was out there shooting this whole incident.
09:16So, that claim also, there was something that we, you know, these disturbing things we have seen happening over there and the government literally crushed the protest.
09:25Now, this time also what is happening is, you know, the things that we are getting from unconfirmed sources are that like, you know, most of the people who are injured might have been just injured because of bullet wounds.
09:38So, we actually don't know at this point of time because, till the government actually comes out with a, maybe a white paper or a clear statement on this.
09:47But, one thing is definitely clear that the government was caught napping.
09:51Because, the way this whole thing panned out and, you know, the police, like we had been tracking the police communication and stuff like that.
10:00And, what we saw first hand was that like, the government was totally caught off guard.
10:05But, more than that, what is happening is, this is also going to be, it's not going to be an easy task for the government to wriggle out.
10:12Mind you, this is a UML, Nepali Congress government.
10:16The Prime Minister is from the UML, the Communist Party.
10:19And, diametrically opposite ideology is the other ruling opposition, the ruling coalition partner, the Nepali Congress.
10:30And, the Home Minister is from the Nepali Congress.
10:33So, what is going to happen right now is that, while, you know, this whole thing was triggered off by the UML, the ruling UML's communication minister.
10:43And, this thing is, you know, going to pan out over here.
10:45So, there are also simmerings within the ruling coalition because, the way this has been handled, mind you, the elections are less than two years away, the parliamentary elections.
10:59So, this could also be, you know, a huge sign as to what, how things are going to pan out in the future.
11:07But, as of now, currently, there is an uneasy silence.
11:11The government has not yet spoken, although the government has gone into some kind of, you know, meeting and stuff like that.
11:18Some kind of meeting or whatever.
11:20But, the thing is, no one, none of the leading political leaders of this country in the past six years, six hours of, like, you know, citizens or youth versus, you know, police.
11:36None of them have, like, you know, have spoken even a word about it.
11:40There are also talks of, you know, there are also whispers, I would say, although it's unconfirmed.
11:45We had, of course, seen it in the past of, you know, these political party aligned vigilantes, like, you know, having a shot in the dark and such situations.
11:56So, we are also, like, looking at such a situation panning out over here.
12:01So, we actually don't know at this point of time what the government is going to say, but the government has not said anything as yet.
12:08Right. And, you know, given the fact that all the major social media outlets are banned, I think journalists are resorting to other social media which are not banned.
12:16For example, Reddit and TikTok. That's what we are hearing here in India.
12:21TikTok, well, it's the, I mean, like, you know, TikTok is pretty cute because that's the one which they and Reddit actually ran the whole show over here.
12:31In fact, we drew all our strengths from there itself, you know, tracking things, you know, what is being planned and stuff like that.
12:40But mind you, even when they shut down everything, we saw the crowd climbing from a mere 100 to almost 20, 25,000 plus in less than three hours flat.
12:56That was TikTok for you. That was Reddit for you.
12:59So, this country is, you know, way far, you know, beyond that, like, you know, what its government would have imagined there used to be.
13:07And, I mean, I would say full marks to the kids the way they have been, like, you know, they have, you know, managed themselves with the way they have come together.
13:19But then, again, the thing is, we don't know which way that things are going to pan out at this point.
Comments