Nepal
in Crisis 2005: Human Rights |
February
24, 2005 - PRESS RELEASE
HRW
Media
Blackout Heightens Risk of Abuses |
In
Nepal's civil war, both Maoist insurgents and the Royal Nepali Army continue
to attack civilians after the royal takeover of power, violating the laws
of war, Human Rights Watch said today. Army
abuses since the royal power grab seem only to have spurred the Maoist
rebels to commit further abuses of their own. There is a real danger that
war crimes in Nepal will spiral out of control.
Human
Rights Watch researchers in the southern town of Nepalgunj Publicationed several
attacks on civilians by both the Maoist insurgents and government troops,
including the Maoists' burning an ambulance and placing bombs in schools,
and government troops shooting and wounding two members of a wedding party.
King
Gyanendra, who took over all executive authority on February 1 with military
backing, has not yet delivered on his promise to address the brutal civil
war against Maoist insurgents, which has claimed the lives of some 11,000
people, mostly civilians. Since February 10, the Maoist rebels have used
extreme violence to enforce a strict nationwide strike (or "bandh") by
blockading roads and attacking civilians who defy the ban on work or movement.
Maoist fighters have attacked civilian cargo trucks and passenger buses,
and threatened to cut off the hands of drivers who defy the bandh.
"Army
abuses since the royal power grab seem only to have spurred the Maoist
rebels to commit further abuses of their own," said Brad Adams, Asia director
for Human Rights Watch. "There is a real danger that war crimes in Nepal
will spiral out of control."
The
situation in Nepalgunj, at the junction of a north-south road to nearby
India and the Mahendra highway, Nepal's major east-west artery, provides
a snapshot of the country's deteriorating security situation. The Maoist
insurgents' bandh has stopped nearly all motor traffic on the Mahendra
highway and nearby roads, cut the flow of commerce, including scarce petrochemical
products, and closed down schools. Meanwhile, government security forces
heavily censor all local press and monitor the activity of local human
rights monitors.
In
violation of the laws of war, Maoist forces on February 22 stopped and
blew up an ambulance at a roadblock on the Mahendra highway near Kohalpur
village, 18 kilometers from Nepalgunj and about a kilometer and a half
from the Kohalpur Army Barracks. According to eyewitnesses, the ambulance
was returning to the town of Dang with a released patient and a relative
after dropping off two patients at a hospital in Nepalgunj. A group of
some ten Maoist fighters stopped the ambulance at approximately 2:30 p.m.
and demanded to know why the ambulance was defying the bandh. As the ambulance
driver and an ambulance company official tried to argue that they had a
right to use the road, one of the Maoist fighters threw an incendiary device
- most likely a grenade - into the ambulance. The blast caused the oxygen
tank on board to explode and blow the roof off the ambulance; this led
the Maoist fighters to believe that they were being attacked by the Royal
Nepali Army and flee. Under the laws of war, medical transport is protected
at all times from attack. The ambulance had been a gift from the Indian
government on January 26, and was one of the few local ambulances equipped
with an oxygen tank.
Royal
Nepali Army troops from barracks located at Aranico Maidan, on the road
to Dang, on February 22 shot and wounded two men who were part of a wedding
party returning home. The two, a 15-year-old boy and a 56-year-old man,
said they were among 30 or so revelers, including the bride and groom,
who were walking past an army checkpoint at approximately 7 p.m. Troops
manning the checkpoint demanded they stop and put their hands in the air.
Nearly immediately, some of the troops fired between five to ten rounds
at the group. An army major in command at the checkpoint quickly stopped
the shooting. The 15-year-old sustained injuries in both feet, likely from
a bullet that ricocheted off his right heel; the older man was shot in
the left thigh, shattering the bone. The army has not claimed, as it has
in some similar circumstances in the past, that its actions were in self-defense
or otherwise justified. Nor has the army announced any investigation of
the troops responsible for shooting at the group.
A
roadside explosive, allegedly set by Maoist insurgents, on February 21
injured three people walking along Nepalgunj's main thoroughfare, next
to the Teaching Hospital. The bomb exploded around 7 p.m., causing shrapnel
and ball-bearing wounds to a 27-year-old man, whose artery in his left
arm was severed, and to his two companions.
All
government schools in Nepalgunj were closed after a number of explosives,
allegedly set by Maoist rebels over the past week, either detonated or
were discovered by government troops. The Maoist insurgents have repeatedly
demanded that all schools and government offices should cease operations
during their indefinite bandh. Local authorities have not stated when the
schools will reopen again.
"Throughout
the civil war, we've witnessed shocking disregard for the security of civilians
by both the army and the rebels," Adams said. "Both sides claim to be fighting
on the side of the people, but in fact their main targets have been Nepal's
civilians."
Human
Rights Watch called on both the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the
Royal Nepali Army to immediately instruct their forces not to attack civilians
or civilian objects in keeping with the basic tenets of the laws of war,
and to discipline any troops responsible for abuses.
Source:
Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch
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