HRW seeks probe into violence

KATHMANDU: An international human rights watchdog yesterday sought an independent investigation into Monday’s protest-related deaths in western Nepal, while warning the situation there may escalate if all sides fail to exercise restraint.

“Nepal’s government is squarely to blame for its failure to engage with the local community and address its concerns, which led to this horrific escalation, but violent attacks on police can only be deplored,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.

Nine people, including six policemen, were killed on Monday in clashes over a draft constitution in the Kailali district in western Nepal, following which the government deployed soldiers in the area to contain the situation. Twenty security personnel injured in the clashes are being treated at a local hospital.

Voicing concern that the army’s deployment may further increase tensions in an already charged situation, the New Yorkbased watchdog said, “It is critical for leaders on all sides of the political divide to call on their supporters to act peacefully.”

Spear-, knife- and axe-wielding protesters from the Tharu community defied prohibitory orders on Monday and clashed with security personnel, resulting in the deaths in Tikapur town in the district. The district’s top government official Raj Kumar Shrestha said yesterday that the situation is now “under control”.

“Security reinforcements have arrived in numbers. Policemen and soldiers are patrolling the area. A curfew has been imposed,” he said.

Protests have erupted in many parts of the country by groups disgruntled by the boundaries of proposed provinces. Nepal’s constitution drafting committee finalised a draft and tabled it at the constituent assembly on Sunday. After agreeing on an eight-province federal model in June, major political parties revised the draft in favour of a six-province model and then finally settled for a seven-province model last week.

Deliberations on the draft are expected later this month after which provisions in it will have to be passed by two-thirds of votes in the assembly. Nepal’s major parties that prepared the draft have the numerical strength to ram the constitution through. In its statement, HRW called on the government to “order an independent and impartial investigation into all protestrelated deaths and ensure that security forces deployed to restore order remain disciplined and respect basic rights”.

“The authorities should not repeat the abuses of Nepal’s decade-long civil war between 1996 and 2006, in which at least 13,000 people died,” it said, noting that the arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced “disappearances” and other crimes at that time remain unprosecuted.