Kathmandu, Feb. 24:Quoting the data provided by the Home Ministry, Amnesty International’s visiting delegation today said that in the last four years, 862 were killed, 1,598 were put in jails and 2639 Maoist activists surrendered their weapons to the police.
AI human rights expert Ingrid Massage quoted the Ministry as saying 1,200 combatants are still fighting for the four-year old Maoist “People’s War” that began in early 1996.
She also said that the delegation team found “many political prisoners” in Nepal but there are no “formally declared prisoners of war” here. “However, ascertaining the prisoners’ involvement in violence is a difficult task,” she added. “We are checking the details on the detainees before anyone could be declared prisoner of conscience.”
General Secretary Pierre Sane said that his team was “alarmed” that no independent investigation was launched on the “killings in encounter”, bodies cremated and the evidence lost before any investigation. The Chief District Officers, prosecutors and district courts turned a blind eye as killings in “disputed circumstances” were reported, he said.
“Home Ministry and police authorities have undermined the authority of courts, failing to comply with habeas corpus orders to produce detainees held under the Public Security Act or re-arresting them after the court orders their release,” he said.
“We were promised that independent investigations would be carried out into 44 cases of disappearances recorded over the past two years,” he said.
Sane also expressed happiness that the government promised his visiting team to establish the National Human Rights Commission immediately. He told a press conference that the special committee to nominate the members of commission would meet tomorrow and pass its recommendations to the King. He also said that leaders of two major political parties – ruling Nepali Congress and the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal (UML) — confirmed their support to the establishment of the commission.
Describing the on-going Maoist “People’s War” as a human crisis, Sane reported that political leaders spoke about the need for “national consensus” in dealing with the four-year old war. “But national consensus should not be at the expense of human rights,” he cautioned.
He further said that the Prime Minister and the political leaders of the major parties assured his team that the proposed bill extending powers to the police and Chief District Officers will be amended to reflect the national consensus and Nepal’s international human rights obligations.