[lbo-talk] Nepal to probe 'disappearances'

uvj at vsnl.com uvj at vsnl.com
Sun Jul 1 13:04:34 PDT 2007


BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Last Updated: Wednesday, 27 June 2007

Nepal to probe 'disappearances' http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6244946.stm

[More than 800 people went missing during the insurgency]

A former Supreme Court judge in Nepal is to investigate the fate of hundreds of people who went missing during the 10-year Maoist insurgency.

Judge Narendra Bahadur Neupane will try to find the whereabouts of the missing, and recommend possible legal action.

Human rights groups say more than 800 people remain unaccounted for, more than a year after a ceasefire in Nepal.

About 50 people are believed killed - the rest were either arrested by security forces or captured by rebels.

'Legal action'

Correspondents say that during the Maoist insurgency, Nepal became one of the world's most notorious countries for political disappearances.

The majority were people taken by the security forces on suspicion of being involved with the Maoists or helping them.

Others were abducted by the Maoists - some were children.

On 1 June, Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the government to investigate what it called the "large number of enforced disappearance cases".

Judge Neupane will head a three-member inquiry team, and has six months to report.

"The commission is mandated with the task of finding the whereabouts of those said to have gone missing in the course of the armed conflict," Radio Nepal said.

"It will investigate to find those responsible for the disappearances and recommend legal action against them."

The Maoists declared a ceasefire after mass protests forced King Gyanendra to restore parliamentary democracy in April 2006.

A peace agreement with the government was reached last November, ending a conflict in which 13,000 people died.



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