Tula Ram Pandey has long stopped having any illusions that journalists should not get involved in their stories. As a reporter in the remote district of Kalikot, he was nearly killed in a recent firefight between an army patrol and the Maoists. He has been threatened by both sides, found himself evacuating sick children to hospitals and has even mediated between the state and the Maoists to rescue abducted politicians.
"You have no choice," says 30-year-old Tula Ram, "You can't just say I'm a journalist, that's not my job." Last year, Pandey played the role of a go-between to obtain the release of the UML's Kalikot MP who had been abducted by the Maoists. Neither the Maoists nor the army would trust anyone else.
But that trust is sometimes mixed with suspicion. Every day is a high-wire act for Tula Ram as he tries to stick to professional journalism while keeping the army, the administration and the rebels at arm's length.
He is not always successful. Two months ago, while on a reporting assignment up the valley from Manma he found himself in the middle of a gun battle between the army and the Maoists. Four young Maoist whole-timers were killed, but Tula Ram was lucky that a ricocheting bullet just grazed his leg.
Army officers have threatened to bury him on the spot if he didn't stop filing human rights stories, while a notorious Maoist militia chief warned he would be terminated if his articles weren't more positive. Tula Ram Pandey is the Kalikot correspondent for the Nepali national daily, Kantipur, and has grown used to the dangers. His more immediate worry is the technical difficulty of filing stories: there is only one phone line in the whole district and it is on the CDO's desk. Friendly helicopter pilots are Tula Ram's (and his district's) lifeline to the rest of the country.
Despite everything, he is still positive about the future. "I am an incurable optimist," he says, smiling, "If I wasn't I wouldn't have married last month. You have to believe that someday this madness will end."
Kunda Dixit
