Human rights activists have urged the CPN (Maoist) leadership to abide by the Code of Conduct signed during the first round of talks between the government and the Maoists on Friday.

Their comments came after the Maoists participated in a mass meeting in combat dress displaying khukuris in the southern town of Janakpur on Saturday.

Coordinator of the Maoist talks team, Krishna Bahadur Mahara– who signed the code of conduct banning exhibition of arms and to move in combat dress—addressed the mass meet in Janakpur organized by his party.

Talking to Nepalnews, chairman of Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a leading rights group, Subodh Pyakurel, said the Maoists should teach politics, awareness and philosophy to their cadres to stop such incidents.

According to Pyakurel, Maoist cadres have been found committing such acts despite formal appeal from their party leadership.

He said though the government and the Maoists are expected to call on the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal to monitor the truce, the rights bodies in the country will continue monitoring the ceasefire as they did in the past.

Likewise, Sudip Pathak, member of National Human Rights Commission, the national rights watchdog, said the Maoist leadership should issue circulars to party cadres not to repeat such acts in the future, adding such issues should be resolved with mutual consent.

“The incident might have occurred due to lack of communication, so the Maoists and the government should be careful not to repeat such incidents in the future,” Pathak added.

Commenting on reports that the Maoists and the government were likely to ask Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal to monitor the truce, Pathak said, “As there is a national institution– National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)– to monitor rights situation in the country and one of the mandates of the OHCHR is to provide technical assistance to the NHRC to strengthen its capability, the NHRC should not be excluded from the process.”

“Since it is the right of the NHRC to monitor the truce, both the sides should not by-pass it and its mandate of monitoring should not be handed over to international institutions by neglecting the national rights watchdog,” Pathak further added.

The government and the Maoists signed a 25-point code of conduct on Friday to be observed during the time of ceasefire.

Earlier, reports said Maoists have been continuing extortion and committing atrocities against civilians against the repeated commitment of their party leadership that such acts won’t be repeated. Nepalnews.com pb May 28