Eight student unions affiliated to the opposition political parties have urged the United Nations to form a committee to investigate the killing of CPN-UML cadre Umesh Chandra Thapa in Dang on February 8 and charge the guilty at the International Criminal Court. They handed over a memorandum addressed to Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations to Matthew Kahane, the resident representative of the UN System in Nepal on Monday.
Representatives of eight student organisations handing over an appeal to UN Resident Representative to Nepal, Mathew Kahane, at the UN building in Pulchook on Monday, urging to form an independent committee to probe the killing of CPN (UML) activist Umesh Chandra Thapa in Dang last Wednesday. nepalnews.com/rh
Thapa was shot dead while Krishna Giri of Nepali Congress sustained serious injuries when Royal Nepalese Army personnel opened fire at a group of political cadres who were returning home after staging a peaceful demonstration at the district headquarters on the polling day.
The letter appealed to the secretary general to investigate the incident in order to bring the case before the international court, not only to those who ordered the firing but also to those who sanctioned it.
The memorandum states that Umesh should be announced a ‘martyr’ and the issue should be raised in the International Criminal Court as Home Minister Thapa had issued “orders to fire”.
The students said the report prepared by various human rights organizations also indicated that the shooting was intentional and Umesh was shot without following basic security guidelines.
A fact finding mission of Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Coordination Committee (HRTMCC) has said that the murder of UML-activist Umesh Chandra Thapa in Dang last week was “intentional and brutal”.
Earlier, the students took out a rally from the Patan Multiple Campus, chanting slogans against the government, the Dang killing and the autocracy, before it concluded in front of the UN House at Pulchowk.
The government had given unlimited power to the security forces to foil any anti-poll activity on the day for the municipal elections on February 8.
Home Minister Kamal Thapa a day before the elections said that security personnel have been empowered to take stern action including to open fire against anyone “who try to disrupt municipal polls.”
The Defense Ministry, however, claimed that Thapa was killed and NC activist Krishna Giri was injured when security personnel opened fire in self-defense after an unruly crowd tried to attack a polling center at Bal Mandir and somebody from the crowd opened fire injuring a police inspector.
Independent reports, however, said Thapa was killed nearly one km away from the polling center and that demonstrators had kept themselves away from the polling center so as to avoid confrontation.