Except DD, Nepal stops all Indian channels

Kathmandu : Nepal on Thursday stopped the transmission of all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan, accusing them of airing reports hurting the country's national sentiment. There was no immediate reaction from India on the issue.

People familiar with the development said the Nepalese embassy in New Delhi apprised its views to the Indian government over coverage of Nepal's political developments by the Indian channels. "We have stopped the distribution of all Indian news channels except Doordarshan," Dinesh Subedi, the chairman of Multi-System Operator (MSO), foreign channel distributor, told reporters here.

"We have halted distribution of India's private news channels as they have aired news reports hurting Nepal's national sentiment," he added. The development comes after some Indian channels aired reports critical of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and his government.

However, the Nepal government did not officially announce halting the telecast of the Indian news channels. Minister for Finance, Information and Communication Yuvraj Khatiwada also condemned some of the reports aired by the Indian news channels.

"Nepal government condemns such acts," Khatiwada said while responding to a question on the issue during a press meet on Thursday. "The government will seek political and legal ways against such an objectionable act," he added.