Government arrests then quickly releases a high-profile journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay - The arrest and quick release yesterday of Kanak Mani Dixit, a prominent journalist, underscores not only the current perils of Nepal?s free press, but also a dilemma its new government faces. It?s just been over a month since King Gyanendra took on absolute powers to fight the Maoists. But the going hasn?t been easy amid widespread international calls to restore democracy. Dixit, 49, editor of Himal South Asian magazine and publisher of Himal Khabarpatrika, was arrested two days after his arrival from a New Delhi conference where he had voiced his reservations against the royal putsch and the imposition of a state of emergency. Dixit has been a high-profile rebel. While most other editors and human rights activists have been happy lying low, Dixit has been vocal against the new regime in the international press, including CNN and The Economist. Only yesterday, New Delhi categorically told the visiting Foreign Minister Rameshnath Pandey that restoration of political freedoms would remain central in its resumption of military aid to Nepal, suspended since Feb. 1. The United States and Britain have taken similar positions, though all three powers may be willing to give the King the benefit of the doubt for a while. How does that play out in terms of press freedom? Dixit?s arrest follows fresh censorship measures that forbid journalists from reporting on the Maoist conflict without official vetting. The government can convict journalists or media outlets whose reporting ?affects the morale of the security forces.? This issue is of enormous public concern, as the toll of the Maoist ?people's war? exceeds the 11,000-mark. "It [the arrest] gives a window into uncivilized behavior of our rulers," Dixit told us Tuesday morning of his overnight detention. He had spent a night at a Jawalakhel police station, not too far from his home in Patan Dhoka, where some senior political party leaders have been locked up since Feb. 1, without much contact with the outside world. "They [the leaders] have been less fortunate [than me]," says Dixit. To a government facing international isolation, the Dixit saga yesterday exacted some price. Within hours, online news sites reported that Dixit had been picked up from his home by plainclothes security forces to ?see a DSP? (Deputy Superintendent of Police). As word of his arrest spread like wildfire, late news reports had more time to talk to his family members who said that they had delivered him sleeping bags and clothes late in the evening at the police station (Dixit himself told us Tuesday morning that he was prepared for a long haul). Overnight Monday, emails and telephone messages voicing concerns for his safety traveled round the world. In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the CPJ, soon showed solidarity with the veteran journalist through a statement. ?The jailing of Kanak Dixit is another severe blow to the ideals of democracy and press freedom that once seemed so promising in Nepal,? said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. The CPJ called for Dixit?s immediate and all other journalists in detention. Cooper went on to voice her concerns about the situation in Nepal. "Despite international censure of the king's actions, journalists remain in jail and conditions for the press are dire,? she said. In its homepage (www.cpj.org), the CPJ noted that criticism of the King?s actions has been banned in Nepal, along with independent reporting on the ongoing Maoist conflict. Upon his release, Dixit, once again, used the bully pulpit to lecture the government, while he candidly admitted that not all the journalists and human rights activists have been released after a few hours in detention. "Some of us are privileged in Kathmandu," Dixit told us, ?but make no mistake, the country's civil liberties and press freedom have taken a knock. They have been pushed back several decades. The situation of journalists and human rights activists, especially outside Kathmandu, is anything but normal." At least five journalists remain in prison. Forty FM radio stations have already fired most of their journalists because the government no longer allows private stations to air news programs. Major newspapers face prospects of huge layoffs as advertisement revenues continue to plunge amid deepening political instability. Many Nepalis nodded in approval when King Gyanendra in his televised address of Feb.1 blamed the squabbling political parties for the country's failure to fight the Maoist insurgency. A month on, many of them are now wondering whether sweeping clampdowns on fundamental rights, including press freedom which followed the speech, would help that fight. www.kantipuronline.com