NHRC probe team concludes visit to Pili

August 20, 2005
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A team of National Human Rights Commission has concluded field visit to Pili of the mid-western district of Kalikot where at least 43 Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) soldiers and over two-dozen Maoists were killed in a fierce battle two weeks ago.

The probe team comprising of commission member Gokul Prasad Pokharel, Nepal Bar Association (NBA) vice-president Sher Bahadur KC, former president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Tara Nath Dahal, NCRC consultant Diana Becker and three other NHRC officials, has arrived in district headquarters Manma from Pili, a press statement issued by NHRC spokesman Kedar Poudel said Saturday.

The team that had landed in Pili by a helicopter carried out field inspection of the incident site and acquired information from local eyewitnesses and security forces on the August 7 clash. The probe team is likely to arrive in Nepalganj today itself.

The RNA has said the Maoists brutally executed several soldiers after taking them under control. News reports citing RNA officials said the Maoists lined up the captured soldiers and shot them dead and they chopped off the body parts of some of the captives.

Meanwhile, the NHRC statement said that probe teams have returned to the capital after completing investigation into the violence between the Maoist insurgents and local people in Makwanpur and Dhading districts.