National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the government to publicise the status of over 700 people said to have been disappeared after they were allegedly taken into custody by the security forces.

The top human rights watchdog of the country, in a letter sent to the Office of the Prime Minister on Friday, said the government mist make public the condition of disappeared citizens immediately.

NHRC’s latest call came as the families of ‘disappeared people’ continue to organise sit-in at the premises of the NHRC at Pulchowk since Thursday. They have asked the NHRC to exert pressure on the government to make the condition of disappeared people public.

The peaceful agitators said police mishandled children and women participating in the sit-in Friday afternoon.

In a statement issued Friday, the NHRC said as per discussions with the Association of families of people allegedly disappeared by the State (AFDS) the Commission would constitute a five member task force soon comprising two representatives from the Association.

Talking to Nepalnews on Saturday, journalist and a member of the Association Janmadev Jaisi said they had not entered into any such agreement with the NHRC. “This is totally false and exposes lack of sensitivity on the part of the Commission towards the issue,” he said.

The Association has condemned the NHRC statement and said it would continue its sit-in protests indefinitely.

The Association submitted a memorandum to vice-chairman of the council of ministers Kirtinidhi Bista on Thursday demanding that the government publicize the status of nearly 1,300 persons said to have been ‘disappeared’ at the hands of the state.

Members of the Association are also collecting signatures, which they said would be submitted at the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva later this month.