Nepal Army still protecting killers: UN

Friday, December 22, 2006

http://www.indiaenews.com/nepal/20061222/33354.htm

The United Nations' human rights office in Kathmandu Thursday said Nepal's army was still protecting soldiers and officers guilty of gross abuse and torture, leading to death of detainees, covering up such incidents and refusing to share details with it or police.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Thursday released the results of its investigation into the death of a 15-year-old girl that had become a cause celebre two years ago, with international rights bodies and foreign governments appealing to Nepal for justice in the case.

In February 2004, soldiers of the then Royal Nepalese Army raped and killed a woman, alleging she was a Maoist guerrilla and when the murder was witnessed by another woman, raided the latter's house to stop her from speaking out.

However, since the eyewitness was not at home during the raid, soldiers arrested her daughter, 15-year-old schoolgirl Maina Sunuwar, and took her away to an army peace operations training centre.

Later, when Maina's relatives went to the army barracks soldiers denied any knowledge of the arrest.

Much later, the army claimed she had been killed while trying to escape.

But investigations by Amnesty International, the army itself and now, the OHCHR, found the teenager was severely tortured in the presence of seven army personnel with electric shocks administered to her hands and feet, then left blindfolded and foaming at the mouth to die without medical treatment.

When mounting international condemnation forced the army to 'investigate' the death, an internal inquiry found three officers only guilty of negligence and let them off with a light sentence.

The OHCHR said 'justice has not been done' and the army was sheltering guilty personnel, not only in Maina's case, but in several other incidents.

'The horrifying details of Maina Sunuwar's torture and death suggest that the army's refusal to provide such documentation directly to OHCHR was part of an attempt to cover up the gravity of the abuses.'

Saying that the results of the court martial were 'wholly inadequate' and instead of deterring future criminal acts by the security forces would likely encourage such abuses, the UN agency is asking for an exhumation and re-opening of the case.

It is also asking for abuses to be tried in civilian courts instead of military tribunals that are not transparent.

The credibility of the multi-party, 'democratic' government and the army, that claims to have reformed itself, remains linked to Maina's murder, the UN rights body said.

'There is still an opportunity for the government to demonstrate to the Nepali people and the international community that it is serious about ending impunity by holding human rights violators accountable for their actions.

'The Chief of Army Staff has given his assurance to OHCHR-Nepal that he is committed to cooperating with the Nepal Police in this matter. It is essential that he fulfil this commitment and that the authorities ensure that justice finally take its course in the Maina Sunuwar case, and that other cases of serious human rights abuses will not be similarly blocked from the civilian courts.' It said

The UN report comes close on the heels of another investigation by a team of parliamentarians that found the army behind the death of a popular communist MP, Hem Narayan Yadav.

However, the army has not taken action against those found guilty of the killing by the investigation, saying it was just an allegation and that they were conducting their own investigation.

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Nepal army official found guilty of MP's murder
Saturday, December 02, 2006
http://www.indiaenews.com/nepal/20061202/30920.htm
Nepal's army, under heavy criticism for gross rights violations under King Gyanendra, had its image tarnished further with a probe finding a senior officer guilty of masterminding the abduction and killing of a parliamentarian.
Hem Narayan Yadav, from the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, the country's second largest political grouping, had a strong base of supporters in the southeastern Siraha district. He was abducted in February 2004.
A day later, his body was found buried near a river, draped in a flag of the Maoist party. However, the Maoists denied involvement in the killing.
The probe report, tabled in parliament Friday, said Col. Babu Krishna Karki of the Indradhoj battalion was the mastermind behind the murder and asked the government to suspend him, arrest him and slap him with a murder charge.
Following the murder, Amnesty International had voiced suspicions about the involvement of the army, pointing out that the abduction occurred close to an army barracks.
After a new government came to power this year, a committee of MPs was formed to look into the murder.
According to the investigators, Karki had roped in a man in Siraha, Jaya Prasad Upadhyay, to spy on Yadav and keep the army informed about his movements.
On the fateful day, after the spy informed the army that the legislator was going to attend a party meeting and would pass close to the barracks, Karki and his accomplices swung into action.
The MPs have also asked the government to arrest Upadhyay and punish him.
A number of investigations found several army personnel, including the former and present army chief, guilty of human rights abuse. However, none of them were ever tried in a civilian court.
The army says it conducts its own court martial, which takes place behind closed doors, and the sentences, according to rights groups, are ridiculously low, fostering a culture of impunity.
Though after the fall of the royal regime the army said it was ready to serve the country and the new government and has been keeping a low profile, it is uncertain whether soldiers found guilty of abuses have been brought to task.

Nepalese Maoists sign peace accord with government
Future of monarchy will be put to vote
By Somini Sengupta and Tilak P. Pokharel / The New York Times
Published: November 22, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/22/news/nepal.php

KATMANDU: Euphoria and relief swept through Nepal on Wednesday as people celebrated an end to a crippling war that had raged for more than 10 years and killed thousands.
The government declared Wednesday a public holiday to celebrate the accord, signed Tuesday evening in the Nepalese capital. The deal promises to bring Maoist rebels, who control vast swaths of the destitute countryside, into the political mainstream. The rebels have pledged to lock up their guns, at least for now, and let voters decide the future of the country.
But with the agreement, Nepalese said, came a new burden: how to lay aside arms and old enmities.
"The peace accord will be a success only if people feel peace in the air," The Kathmandu Post declared Wednesday in a front-page editorial. "There should therefore be no more extortion, abductions, intimidation, torture, disappearings or any other sort of rights abuse."
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Whether the Maoists, who once functioned as a political party but abandoned the electoral path for armed struggle, will now play by the rules of parliamentary democracy is the most important question.
"It is the beginning of a new beginning," the Maoist leader, known by his nom de guerre, Prachanda, said Tuesday night after signing the agreement. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said: "This has given a message to the international community and terrorists all over the world that no conflict can be resolved by guns. It can be done by dialogue."
The peace agreement paves the way for the fulfillment of one of the Maoists' chief demands: elections to decide whether Nepal will remain a monarchy. The interim government, which the rebels have agreed to join, will organize elections next year for an assembly that will determine whether Nepal will remain a kingdom and if so, what kind.
The Maoists have repeatedly promised to run in the elections and abide by the results. On Saturday, during a visit here to the Indian capital, Prachanda reiterated that pledge, saying that even if Nepal voted to keep the monarchy, his cadres would continue to press for its abolition - but would do so peacefully. In recent months, his forces have been accused of rights abuses, including widespread extortion, even as the party's senior leaders have been huddled in negotiations with the government.
The agreement came a year after the rebels teamed up with Nepal's main political parties to topple King Gyanendra, who dismissed the country's elected politicians and took control of the state early last year. Street protests, blessed by the Maoists, in April of this year prompted Gyanendra to turn over control to the elected Parliament, which had been suspended four years earlier. This week a government-appointed panel found the king responsible for rights abuses against the pro-democracy protesters and called for him to be punished.
After the king yielded to Parliament, it was swift to take vital powers away from him, including control of the army, and engaged in peace talks with the rebels, who declared a unilateral cease- fire. Under the peace accord, the Maoists will sequester their armed fighters in cantonment sites, and the Nepalese Army will return to its barracks.
The rebels, still apparently distrustful of politicians and the palace, have not laid down their arms entirely. They have agreed to lock up their weapons but are holding on to the keys. The UN is to monitor the safekeeping of weapons through a system of closed- circuit cameras. Ian Martin, the UN envoy to Nepal, said in a statement Tuesday that agreement had been reached on the locations of the cantonment sites.
Human rights groups have accused the rebels of continuing to recruit members in the countryside, including children, but the Maoists have denied the charge.
The Maoists say they want their troops to be integrated into a new national army. How many and in what fashion remain unclear. "We are not dogmatic Communists, and we are prepared to change and debate our beliefs with anybody," Prachanda was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Maoist insurgencies have blossomed in South Asia long after the demise of Mao and his ideology in China. In India, a loose confederation of Maoist rebels are active in a swath of territory from the jungles of the far south all the way north to the border with Nepal. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, recently described them as the country's most pressing internal security threat.
The peace accord in Nepal includes a provision to establish a truth and reconciliation commission.
Within minutes of its signing, crowds of well-wishers lined the streets and lighted candles as they waited for Koirala's motorcade to pass.
"Both sides give up state of war; it's celebration time," Kanak Mani Dixit, the editor of Himal magazine, said by telephone amid hoots and hollers on the street. "The only challenge that now remains is that the Maoists, in particular their militia, be held to account by the peace deal."
Tilak P. Pokharel reported from Katmandu, and Somini Sengupta from New Delhi.

Commission finds King Gyanendra guilty of suppression: report
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
http://www.indiaenews.com/nepal/20061115/28752.htm
A high-level commission set up in early May to investigate excesses by King Gyanendra's government in trying to put down a 19-day pro-democracy movement found King Gyanendra 'guilty of suppression and killing of people', newspaper reports said Wednesday.
Headed by former judge of the Nepalese Supreme Court Krishna Jung Rayamajhi, the panel was set up soon after a pro-democracy movement forced King Gyanendra to hand over power in late April to a seven-party coalition.
King Gyanendra did not reply to a set of questions sent to him by the panel in the course of its investigations of those responsible for allegedly using 'excessive force' to put down the movement spearheaded by the Seven-Party Alliance and the Maoists.
The daily Himalayan Times cited sources in the Rayamajhi panel as saying that the commission found that King Gyanendra was responsible for suppression and the deaths of people during the pro-democracy movement.
The commission decided to urge the government and parliament to take necessary steps against the king, as no law permits action against him.
The commission, which spent 184 days to complete its investigation, is scheduled to submit its report Friday to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
'We have decided to recommend the parliament to take necessary steps against the king, as we found him guilty,' a highly placed commission source reportedly told the newspaper.
He added that they have said that though the king did not respond to the commission's questionnaire, it does not mean he did no wrong.
This is the first time in Nepal's history that a commission, seen by some as a panel set up by the victors to punish the vanquished, has found a king guilty.
'Since he was the chairman of the council of ministers, we found him responsible for all the decisions taken by the cabinet,' the source added.
The commission specifically recommended that the government take strong action against members of the king's cabinet and the chiefs of the security agencies who ordered use of 'excessive force' to suppress the movement.
The panel had questioned 294 people over human-rights violations and alleged misuse of the national treasury.
It has accused some security personnel of ordering the shooting of demonstrators and decided to recommend prosecution of them on charges of murder.
'Around 150 people were found guilty of killing and suppressing the people,' Himalayan Times quoted the panel source as saying.
The commission held the then vice-chairmen of the council of ministers, Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista, Home Minister Kamal Thapa and other ministers guilty of violating human rights.
The commission is set to ask the government and parliament to promulgate a law so that the alleged perpetrators can be prosecuted on charges of abusing human rights, as Nepal has no specific law to prosecute anyone on charge of human rights abuse.
The commission named certain officials and recommended dismissals, demotions and departmental actions against them.
Many ministers and regional administrators were also found guilty of misusing the state treasury.
The commission decided to recommend that they be prosecuted under the 2002 Anti-Corruption Act, the newspaper reported.
The panel report, which appeared to have been leaked to the local press, was carried Wednesday in all major Nepalese newspapers.
About two dozen people were killed and thousands reportedly injured in the April pro-democracy movement launched by the Seven-Party Alliance, with the active support and participation of the Maoists.