Kathmandu, June 14: The annual report of Amnesty International (AI), released world-wide today, manifests a gloomy picture of the global human rights situation. The report expresses concern over the widespread culture of impunity, increased degree of crime against humanity inflicted by the governments and opposition armed groups and violence against the rights defenders and journalists.

The report points out an equally disturbing situation in Nepal. It notes an alarming number of “possible” extra judicial executions, emerging pattern of disappearances, torture and death in custody, arbitrary arrest and detentions and widespread culture of impunity.

It also flays the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai government for failing to address human rights violation inflicted in context of the “People’s War” declared by the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in early 1996 and pursuing a hard-line approach and granting further judicial powers to district administrators.

The report claims that the police killed at least 300 people in 1999 by using “lethal force” in situations where such force was “unjustifiable”. It further claims that the police caused 18 incidents of disappearances and long-term unacknowledged detentions last year. It alleges the police for using “secret places of detention” and vehicles without number-plates.

The report also notes the political and criminal detainees were tortured physically to force confessions and to intimidate suspects. It claims that the number of “political prisoners” in custody, those arrested on suspicion of being members of or sympathetic to CPN (Maoist), in the mid-November was 1,560.

The report is cautious for human rights violations inflicted by the CPN (Maoist) also. However, it fails to give details on incidents of human rights violation inflicted by the Maoists. For example, the killing of Yadu Gautam in March last year and burning alive of eight civilians in a house in Rolpa barely two weeks after that.

Maoist activists killed Gautam, who was contesting the parliamentary elections in Rukum-2, while on an election campaign. Both these gruesome murders were part of the Maoists’ strategy to force the boycott of the general elections.

It alleges the insurgents of “deliberate” killings of civilians judged by the CPN (Maoist) to be “enemies of the revolution”, including alleged police informants. It also alleges functioning of “People’s courts” in some parts of the country and reports that such “courts” handed down beatings, amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments.

Nepal’s other South Asian neighbours also come under cross section of the report that alleges them of number of human rights violations. Bhutan is alleged of discriminating against its Nepali-speaking citizens denying them police clearance, which is required for opening bank accounts, travelling abroad, seeking employment opportunities and at time of school admission of children. It also alleges Bhutan of restricting freedom of expression and detaining 119 political prisoners last year.

The report accounts India of passing 18 death sentences in 1999 and counts 35 people on death row but fails to confirm whether the death penalties were carried out. It also notes widespread impunity, attacks on the dalits and tribes, peoples connivance of police and local authorities, violence against rights defenders, torture and death in custody and 700-800 disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir alone.

AI report 2000 registers that 13 people were executed, 258 were sentenced to death and more than 3000 people on death row in Pakistan in 1999. It alleges the Pakistani government for closure of nearly 2000 NGOs and harassment against rights activists and journalists and arrests of political activists on “unfounded” charges. It also registers at least 260 extra judicial executions, religiously motivated killings and honour killings.

The AI report claims that 19 people were sentenced to death in Bangladesh but non were executed. It expresses concern over police violence, torture and mistreatment by police, custodian violence, rampant violence against women and widespread impunity.

Amnesty International registers widespread impunity, long-term detentions of political prisoners without charges or trials, torture including rape, estimated 540 cases of disappearances and rampant child soldiering in context of guerrilla war waged by Liberation of Tamil Tiger Elam in Sri Lanka.

The AI report registers extra judicial executions in 38 countries, judicial killings in 34 countries, prisoners of conscience in at least 61 countries, incidents of disappearance in 37 and custodian torture and ill treatment in 132 countries.

AI keeps trails of human rights situations in 147 countries in the world. The report identifies Burundi, Chechnya, East Timor and Kosovo as crisis areas and appeals that the armed interventions on other potential crisis areas should respect human rights of all. It also appeals that economic sanctions imposed on various nations should not violate social, economical and cultural rights of people of concern countries.