KATHMANDU, March 21: The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has said that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Devraj Ghimire, has withdrawn his controversial statement about journalists.
On Monday afternoon, Speaker Ghimire called the officials of FNJ to his office at Singha Durbar and told them that he had retracted his statement.
Mr Speaker, Either Prove or Apologize!
In a meeting with the delegation of FNJ on the 17th of March, he was in controversy when he made the statement that 'journalists are for sale'. The senior vice president of the Federation of Nepali Journalists Ramesh Bista said that Speaker Ghimire corrected his statement about journalists in the meeting with them.
He said, “The Honorable Speaker has stated that he is fully committed to the freedom of press and expression in Nepal. Before this, an accidental comment has been corrected by the Parliament Secretariat or the Honorable Speaker. And, he has said that parliament and he himself are fully committed to the freedom of press and expression in Nepal which is guaranteed in the constitution. This was the discussion between the Honorable Speaker and FNJ. And, we have also decided to end this matter.”
Speaker Ghimire has also said that the entire federal parliament and he himself are committed to the freedom of press and expression in Nepal.
