A demonstrator died and over 100 were injured when security forces opened rubber bullets, rained batons and fired teargas shells on protestors in Pokhara, Udaypur and Nepalgunj on Tuesday, the 13th day of the indefinite general strike called by the seven party alliance (SPA) for the restoration of complete democracy in the country.
Nearly 100,000 people took to the streets in these districts demanding restoration of complete democracy bringing an end to direct rule of the King.
According to reports, Setu BK of Banke’s Bageshwori VDC, who was hit by a tear gas shell during a pro-democracy rally in Nepalgunj died on the way to Lucknow of India for further treatment. Likewise, at least 70 others were injured when security personnel opened fire and lathi-charged them.
In Pokhara, at least 80 agitators were injured when forces opened fire and beat them up in Sabhagriha chowk and Birauta chowk, when protestors defied the prohibitory order by the local administration. Six security personnel were also injured when irate protesters threw stones at them.
They vandalised Gyanendra Chowk, which is under construction and also torched a police van. The demonstrators and police clashed after the former started throwing stones at the policemen in Gyanendra Chowk.
The Kaski District Administration Office, issuing a notice on Tuesday, imposed curfew in areas lying between Seti river and Pardi (except Lakeside) in the west and up to Simpani in the north in Pokhara from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Nearly 50,000 people took to the street in Bhairahawa, Chitwan, Rajbiraj and Dang.
Likewise, demonstrations were held in various districts including, Arghakanchi, Dharan, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Butwal, Bardiya, Bajhang, Bhojpur and Dolakha among others.
Rallies were held in various parts of the capital on Tuesday. Unlike previous days, the rallies were largely peaceful. nepalnews.com pb Apr 19 06
Three leading international human rights groups have called upon international community to refuse entry to senior functionaries of the royal regime and freeze their personal assets.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) issued their call during an international meeting in Geneva convened by the Swiss government to review Nepal’s human rights record. They demanded that top government and military officers should be refused entry to other countries and have any personal assets outside the country frozen.
The leading rights groups said the royal regime has been responsible for serious human rights violations, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of thousands of critics, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and severe restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly. The army continues to violate international human rights and humanitarian law in its war against Maoist insurgents, they said.
The organisations said the sanctions should target those directly responsible for setting or implementing abusive policies, including Nepalese monarch, Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Dr. Tulsi Giri, Home Minister Kamal Thapa, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Niranjan Thapa, and Minister of State for Information and Communications Shrish Shumsher Rana. The sanctions should also cover top security officers including Chief of Army Staff General Pyar Jung Thapa, Inspector General of Police Shyam Bhakta Thapa, and the Inspector General of the Armed Police Force Shahabir Thapa, they said.
“The human cost of the conflict in Nepal has been catastrophic: people have been killed or ‘disappeared’, women attacked and raped, children abducted to fight as soldiers and critics of the regime have been locked up,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Irene Khan. “King Gyanendra’s government seems impervious to the suffering of the people. The international community must now apply pressure through targeted sanctions that will have a direct impact on the King and his cohorts.”
The three human rights organizations said these targeted sanctions should be lifted only when there is clear evidence that the Government of Nepal is complying with the demands of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as set out in the 2005 resolution on Nepal.
Nepal’s biggest suppliers of military assistance — India, the United States and the United Kingdom — have already suspended the transfer of lethal military assistance to the Government of Nepal. Foreign militaries, particularly in India, the United States and United Kingdom, should make it clear that they will not have normal dealings with the Royal Nepalese Army until there is a dramatic improvement in its human rights record, the organisations said.
“Sanctions targeting the King and top officials responsible for such serious human rights violations are necessary to get them to change their abusive behaviour,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “King Gyanendra’s government has shown that it will only respond to international pressure when its interests are at stake.”
The government’s abuses over the last year took place amidst the efforts of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal and in defiance of the strong resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights on 20 April 2005, urging the Government of Nepal to cease arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings, stop the use of torture and ill-treatment, and end impunity for human rights violations committed by members of the security forces.
”The Nepali government’s abusive behaviour took a turn for the worse on the eve of pro-democracy protests called for 6 – 9 April. Members of the police and military, under the King’s direct command, have used excessive force to respond to country-wide demonstrations, killing at least six people and injuring hundreds of others. The authorities have detained thousands of protesters. More than 800 continue to be detained under the Public Security Act, many without access to lawyers or their families,” the leading rights groups said.
“Nepal is in a double crisis – the armed conflict and the conflict over democracy,” said Nicholas Howen, Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists. “By sweeping away democracy and stifling legitimate protest and dissent, the King is denying his people the democratic space they need to decide their future and to resolve the conflict peacefully. It is time for the international community to step up its response.”
The latest political repression has compounded an already grave human rights crisis. Nepal’s decade-long civil war has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their homes, and limited access to food, health care, and education. Both parties to the conflict have carried out gross violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The organizations reiterated their repeated calls on the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to end the practices condemned by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2005. The organizations warned that a combined human rights and humanitarian crisis in Nepal would have implications for regional security.
The human rights groups called on the United Nations Security Council to put the human rights crisis in Nepal on its agenda, and impose a global regime of targeted sanctions on the senior Nepali officials. They invited Nepal’s neighbours and major donors, such as India, China, Japan, the European Union, and the United States, to work together to implement the sanctions immediately.
The organizations recalled that those responsible for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law must be held personally and criminally accountable. nepalnews.com by Apr 19 06
The members of Britain-Nepal Academic Council have expressed opposition to the escalation in violence and the use of excessive force by security forces against people demonstrating for the restoration of democracy in Nepal.
A open statement issued by the Council said, “We condemn the brutality used by the security forces against peaceful demonstrators, including lawyers, professors, medical professionals, and others, as well as the killing of a score of people demonstrating for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.”
Stating that they are very concerned about the human rights violations by the government, which constitute a breach of Nepal’s obligations under the international law of human rights and under humanitarian law, they called upon the government to release without delay political leaders, civil society representatives, human rights activists, journalists, and all those held in detention without trial, and to instruct the security forces to allow people to express their demands for democracy without being threatened, harmed, or intimidated.
They appealed to the King and the leaders of all political forces within the country to initiate a dialogue to restore peace and democracy to the country.
They also called upon the Communist Party Nepal (Maoist) to declare an immediate ceasefire and to renounce violence as a method of political change.
“The CPN(M) must abide by the universally accepted norms of democracy and human rights and join the political process so that it is possible to work for peace, democracy, and prosperity in Nepal without the threat of coercion,” the statement adds.
Hundreds of pro-democracy activists have been injured and over 1,000 arrested from pro-democracy demonstrations called by seven political parties. nepalnews.com pb Apr 19 06
The seven opposition parties have said their ongoing movement will not hamper the two-day national Vitamin A program which started from today (Wednesday).
Talking to Nepalnews today, spokesperson of the Nepali Congress Krishna Sitaula said the party workers around the country would assist in making the Vitamin A program successful. He informed that the parties had already asked the people to avoid demonstrations near the centres set up for the program.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Joint Central Movement Coordination Committee of the seven parties said the parties would cooperate with local health volunteers in administering Vitamin A capsules and de-worming medicines to children as this is a humanitarian issue. The committee also asked the parents to take their children to the centres without fear.
The Vitamin A capsules will be administered to more than 3.3 million children aged between six months and five years. Children between 1 and 5 years of age will be given de-worming medicines as well. More than 48,000 female health volunteers are being mobilised for the campaign.
The UNICEF has said that preparation for the programme has completed, appealing to all concerned sides to help conduct the campaign in a safe and fearless manner.
The mortality rate of children not taking the Vitamin A is four times higher than those who have taken it, it is said. nepalnews.com ia Apr 19 06
Over 200 professionals were arrested in Pokhara on Wednesday from a demonstration organized by Nepal University Teacher’s Association Pokhara Valley Coordination Committee defying curfew orders on the 14th day of the general strike called by the seven party alliance (SPA), reports said.
Various professional bodies and supporters took out rallies from various corners of Pokhara defying curfew orders since early morning today.
The local authorities imposed a daylong curfew in Pokhara from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Demonstrations as part of the general strike called by the SPA continued in Kathmandu and other parts of the country on Wednesday as well.
In the valley, according to reports, demonstrations were held in Budhanilkantha, Banasthali, Kapan, Thankot, Koteshwor, Baneshwor, Chahabil, Bouddha, Ghattekulo, Maitidevi, Gongabu, Balaju, Kalanki, Asan, Chhetrapati, Lagan, Kirtipur, Mangalbazaar, Harishiddi, Kaushaltar and Suryabinayak.
Our Nepalnews correspondent on the scene said police arrested over 40 teachers while they were carrying out peaceful demonstration from Dillibazar. The teachers were planning to organize a rally from Dillibazar to New Baneshwore, but police stopped it immediately after it started.
Other reports said employees of government offices and corporations continued demonstrations and sit-in in the office premises on Wednesday expressing solidarity to the pro-democracy movement of the country.
Police arrested journalist Biswamitra Khanal of state-run Nepal Television, from pro-democracy demonstration. Programme presenters of FM radio and Television also organized a protest programme in Soyambhu, expressing solidarity to the pro-democracy movement of the country, reports said.
In Nepalgunj, demonstrators protested the killing of Setu Sunar, who died of injuries sustained during police baton charge and firing of teargas shells during a demonstration on Tuesday. The SPA declared her a martyr and renamed Gyanendra Chowk of the district as Situ Chowk, according to radio reports.
The SPA has planned a major demonstration in Ring Road on Thursday and appealed all to participate in it. nepalnews.com pb Apr 19 06
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over the continuing mass arrests and violence being directed towards the media in Nepal and reiterated its calls for the authorities to respect the independent role of the media and to desist in targeting the media.
“The situation continues to remain perilous for journalists in Nepal with daily news of journalists being arrested; beaten and targeted,” the international media watchdog said, adding, “In addition, the Nepalese government has reintroduced the media ordinance with its restrictive controls on the media.”
“The continued harassment of journalists and the media in Nepal is out of step with international human rights standards,'” a statement of IFJ quoted IFJ president Christopher Warren as saying.
“We are calling on the king and the authorities in Nepal to respect the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and immediately desist in using violence and intimidation to silence the media in Nepal,” said Warren.
On April 16, 20 journalists were arrested from Bhotahiti, Kathmandu and have been given a 90-day detention order under the Public Security Act 1990 for participating in a protest rally against the unfair treatment of journalists on April 14, the IFJ said.
The IFJ also called for the immediate release of all journalists and media workers currently being held in custody, in particular those who have been charged with a 90-day prosecution order. nepalnews.com pb Apr 19 06
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed separate cases at the Special Court against some ex-officials of different branches of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) in the Kathmandu Valley alleging them of irregularities while issuing letter of credit (LC) for private companies.
The CIAA filed cases against the then Manager Thirtha Prasad Neupane, senior assistant Raghubar Raj Pandey and account officer Anil Kumar Bhandary in the charge of misappropriating US $ 198,750 while issuing LC for Subash Chandra Mundada, proprietor of Mundada Impex with mal-intention. All three were the then officials of the Bhotahiti Branch of the RBB.
The Commission has accused them of returning the deposit amount of Rs. 201,333.74 producing fake documents with signatures and stamps of the concerned customs offices.
Similarly, the CIAA also accused then manager Gopal Bahadur Shrestha, Pandey and Bhandary of the same branch of misappropriating fund while opening LC with Chakra Prasad Pandit, proprietor of New Sapin Enterprises and embezzling US $ 135,483 and a deposit amount of Rs. 135,889.50.
Meanwhile, another charge sheet of the Commission accused the then RBB officials of the Baneshwor Branch in a similar case of opening LC for Dambar Bahadur Thapa, proprietor of Sanam Shalma Traders with mal-intention.
According to the Commission, those accused are manager Shree Krishna Shrestha, senior assistant Mahendra Bhakta Pradhananga, assistant account officer Ram Prasad Rai, field assistant Bal Prasad Neupane and assistant Madan Kumar Siwakoti.
They were accused of misappropriating US $97,200 producing fake documents and office stamps of the concerned customs offices, the press statement said. The Commission has also accused them of embezzling the deposit amount of Rs. 98,464. nepalnews.com pb Apr 19 06
Special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh to Nepal, Karan Singh, arrived in Kathmandu Wednesday afternoon to convey India’s message to the king about its stance on the current political crisis in Nepal.
Singh, who has been accompanied by Pankaj Saran, a Joint Secretary at the Indian External Affairs ministry, landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport on a Jet Airways flight. Nepali media persons were not allowed to enter the airport to meet Singh.
Meanwhile, Indian Foreign Secretary and former Indian ambassador to Nepal, Shyam Sharan, also arrived in Kathmandu from Bhutan this morning. He stayed in Thimpu for two days.
Apart from their meeting with the King, the two top delegates are expected to hold talks with the leaders of various political parties including Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala, president of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Sher Bahadur Deuba, chairman of Rastriya Janashakti Party Surya Bahadur Thapa and CPN-UML leaders. The meetings will start from Wednesday evening.
Singh is scheduled to meet the King on Thursday. He is known to have excellent relations with Nepal’s royal palace, according to media reports.
India decided to send its special envoy to Nepal two days after Indian ambassador to Nepal, Shiv Shanker Mukherjee, met with the King and conveyed India’s message underlining the immediate need for dialogue with political parties and restoration of multi-party democracy.
India and the rest of the international community has been building pressure on the monarch to relinquish power that he seized by removing an elected government 14 months ago.
Expressing “concern” over the tough situation in Nepal, ambassador Mukherjee on Sunday urged the King to initiate dialogue with political parties to forge reconciliation and national consensus. nepalnews.com ia Apr 19 06
At least four persons were killed when security personnel opened fire on a demonstration organized by the seven opposition parties in Chandragadhi in the eastern district of Jhapa Wednesday afternoon.
Reports said the security personnel indiscriminately opened fire on the protesting crowd without provocation from the demonstrators, reports from Jhapa said.
Dozens of others also received bullet injuries. Security personnel also charged batons on the protesters, injuring over 100.
Tens of thousands of protesters took to streets in Chandragadhi against the government clampdown on the seven-party’s pro-democracy movement in recent days. nepalnews.com mk/by Apr 19 06
The government released CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Nepali Congress (NC) general secretary Ram Chandra Poudel from police custody on Wednesday.
Nepal and Poudel were released from the premises of Kathmandu District Court this evening.
The UML general secretary, who remained under house arrest for months, was shifted to Armed Police Force (APF) base in Kakani, Nuwakot district, while Poudel had been in police custody in Kathmandu since last three months.
NC leaders Sujata Koirala, Shashanka Koirala and UML’s Raghuji Pant were also released today.
Talking to reporters at the court premises, Nepal said, “Our movement will not come to an end unless democratic republic is established in the country.” The understanding between the seven parties and Maoists was the only way to establish democratic republic and peace, he further said. nepalnews.com mk Apr 19 06