Nepal finds possible burial site of "disappeared"
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
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KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's human rights commission said on Thursday it had found what may be a burial or cremation site of civilians who disappeared during the country's decade-long war against Maoist rebels.
A team, including representation from the United Nations' human rights agency, found half-burnt logs, partially buried pieces of clothes and plastic bags on a forested slope in the army-protected Shivapuri National Park, 15 km (10 miles) north of Kathmandu.
"People might have been killed somewhere else and buried or cremated here, or they might have been brought and killed here," said Gauri Pradhan, who visited the site as a member of the government's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
"This is a suspicious location," he added, without giving details.
The team did not dig or otherwise disturb the site, and no human remains have yet been found. Both NHRC and the Nepal wing of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged the government to seal off the site, preserve evidence and investigate.
"Failure to do so jeopardises the rights of victims to know the truth and to receive justice and reparation," OHCHR said in a statement.
Hundreds of civilians went missing during Nepal's anti-monarchy Maoist rebellion, which ended a year ago.
Human rights activists say both Maoist rebels and Nepal's army captured people on suspicion of being enemy informants or sympathisers, and some may have been tortured or even killed.
The NHRC said it was told about the site by relatives of some of the 49 people who disappeared from army barracks in Kathmandu in 2003, an incident the OHCHR had said needed investigation.
Nepal seeks extension of UNMINs term
Nepal has sought the extension of the term of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), which is tasked to oversee the management of arms and the army of the Himalayan nation and the Maoist combatants as part of the landmark peace pact signed last year.
The Nepal government has sent a formal letter to the United Nations (UN) requesting the extension of UNMIN term that is due to expire on January 22 next year.
The government said that this was necessary as UNs role is crucial in taking the Nepali peace process forward.
In a letter handed to UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, by Madhuraman Acharya, Nepals permanent representative to UN, the interim government has requested the extension of UNMINs tenure by 6 months with effect from January 23, local media reports said.
However, it is learnt that the government has remained tacitly silent on enlarging the mandate of the UNMIN. Ian Martin, chief of UNMIN, last week, had underlined the need forenlarging the mandate of the UN body, particularly in the implementation of the peace pacts in the country for achieving the desired results.
He had said the violations of various agreements and emergence of political issues beyond UNMIN's responsibility in the course of verification of Maoist combatants, among otherthings, resulted in the failure of the peace process to achieve the desired results within the expected time span.
Martin said it would be in the interest of Nepal to allow UNMIN three additional roles. UNMIN could do more to implement pacts reached in the course of the peace process andassist in a long-term solution to the future of cantoned Maoists. He also sought an advisory role to create a law and order situation conducive to elections.
UNMIN officials have been meeting top political party leaders over the past few months to take up their case with the government in this regard, the report said.
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Nepal's peace process risks being derailed: Report
Nepal's peace process risks being derailed despite a fresh commitment by the seven political parties to hold the crucial constituent assembly elections by mid-April next year, a leading international think tank has said.
"A year after a Comprehensive Peace Agreement promised a definitive end to its civil war, the country remains in political deadlock," said the International Crisis Group (ICG) that works in conflict hotspots around the world.
"The current limbo is inherently unstable", the think tank said in a report entitled 'Nepal: Peace Postponed' that was released earlier this week.
"Nepal needs a coherent strategy to create an environment for elections, not just another quick-fix backroom deal," the report quoted Rhoderick Chalmers, Crisis Group's South Asia Deputy Project Director in Kathmandu as saying.
Despite a fresh commitment of the seven political parties to hold the constituent assembly elections within the next four months, ICG said that Nepal's peace process still risks coming off the rails.
Though the leaders have reached an agreement to hold the polls by mid-April 2008, ICG stressed they are yet to address the problems that led to past delays or tackle crucial remaining issues such as security sector reform.
It stressed the need for the international community to send a clear message on keeping the polls and the peace process on course. With the two armed forces exerting greater influence on the positions of the sides, Maoist parallel structures still holding sway in much of the country, the new ethnic and regional fronts have added to the situation's complexity, the ICG said in its report.
The Brussels-based Crisis Group has a local field representation in Kathmandu and is mainly involved in efforts to prevent and resolve deadly conflict around the world.
Nepal's police arrest 110 in crackdown on armed ethnic minorities
Police have arrested at least 110 members of armed ethnic minority groups in a crackdown aimed at curbing months of unrest in southern Nepal, officials said Thursday.A sweep of the groups' hideouts began Dec. 1 in eight districts where tensions have persisted since early this year, the police headquarters in the Nepalese capital, Katmandu, said in a statement.
Authorities have arrested 110 suspects so far and seized 40 guns and an undisclosed number of bullets, the statement said.
Minority groups have been organizing demonstrations, strikes and transportation shutdowns in southern Nepal to demand greater recognition of their rights. Many of these smaller groups have armed members.The protests have led to violence that has killed more than 80 people.
PM must quit if he cannot hold CA polls: Nepal
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 20 - CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal Thursday said that the Prime Minister must quit if he cannot hold the Constituent Assembly elections within mid-April.
Reminding that it was Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's primary responsibility to hold the polls, he said that PM Koirala cannot shy away from the responsibility blaming other political parties for his failure to hold the CA polls.
Talking to media persons upon his arrival at the Tribhuwan International Airport after attending the 8th general convention of the CPI (Marxist and Leninist) held in Kolkata, West Bengal today, Nepal reiterated that this was the last chance to the PM to hold the polls.
"The PM must clearly tell if he can hold elections or not," Nepal said, "If he can, then he can stay (as the head of the government)."
"If the PM is ready to accept the challenge and confident that he can hold the elections, then this could be the third chance for the PM," he added.
He also said that the current political deadlock was due to the lack of required trust among the political parties themselves.
He said that the issue of the fully proportional electoral system could be resolved through other means if the Maoists demand of round table conference to resolve the issue was not possible.
Lauding the agreement reached among the seven party agreement to hold the elections within Chaitra, however, he warned that the seven parties must realise that if the CA polls are not held within Chaitra (mid-April), then there would be a grave crisis in the country.
Ethnic front demands broader political conference
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 20 - The Joint Republican National Front Thursday proposed for a broader national political conference, saying that an agreement among the Seven-Party-Alliance alone would not bail the country out of the current predicament.
The Front, which groups ethnic and regional forces together including the Joint Tharuwan National Front, Limbuwan, Khumbuwan, Tam Saling and the Gupta faction of the Madhesi People's Right Forum, argues that such a conference should involve parties in parliament as well as the agitating sides.
It has also demanded that the motions passed by the special session of the interim parliament must be enforced without changes.
The motions pressed by the major left parties in parliament sought an immediate arrangement to proclaim the country a republic and to adopt a fully proportional representation (PR) system for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
The front has also expressed dissatisfaction over the reported agreement between the seven parties to extend the number of members of the CA to 601 and to elect 60 percent of the CA members through the PR system.
Organisations condemn civilian killings in Siraha
Kantipur Report
SIRAHA, Dec 20 - Various organisations Thursday condemned the killing of civilians in Saptari district by the cadres of the Jawala Singh-led Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, an armed agitating outfit in the Terai region..
Issuing separate press statements today, the organisations accused the armed group of killing civilians to fulfill their own vested political interests.
Human Rights Protection Centre, Human Rights Organisation, Madheshi People's Rights Forum-Gupta, Lokatantrik (Democratic) Madheshi Organisation and All Nepal Women's Association, among others, urged the armed group not to abduct or kill innocent people.
They also asked the government to arrest and take strong action against the guilty.
On Tuesday night, JTMM-J cadres abducted and subsequently killed Pashupati Shrestha and Gajendra Shrestha, residents of Kalyanpur VDC..
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