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Kathmandu,Monday June 05, 2000 Jestha 23, 2057.
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Bhattarai speaks against Khatri as HRC
chief
By a Post Reporter
KATHMANDU, June 4 - The newly appointed chairman of Human
Rights Commission (HRC) Nayan Bahadur Khatri came under fresh fire today, with former
prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai throwing putting his weight behind an
already-powerful group of politicians and rights groups who are calling for the ouster of
HRC chief.
Bhattarai said Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
"must have been pressurized by the Palace" into appointing Khatri. "It was
wrong to appoint Khatri. I would not make the decision if I were the Prime Minister,"
said Bhattarai. "I don’t know why Girija Babu took the decision...Such pressures
do come from the Palace but he should have rejected it."
Addressing a public rally discussing the infamous incident in
1974 where dozens of pro-democracy Nepali Congress cadres were killed in at Timburbote,
Okaldhunga. The King officially appointed Khatri as the chairman of HRC on May 26 as
recommended by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Main Opposition
and Chief Justice.
Khatri has been embroiled in controversies since, with rights
activists and politicians charging him of foul play as Chief Justice during the Panchayat.
Many lawmakers have said that Khatri actually headed bench that handed down death
sentences to pro-democracy activists during the autocratic regimes.
A pro-Nepali Congress newspapers quoted Khatri as saying that
he supported the Panchayat but Khatri subsequently said he was wrongly quoted by Tarun
weekly.
"The upcoming generation has forgotten how much
sacrifices ministers have made during the democratic movement...I and Bal Bahadur have
struggled. Not all people are as lucky as Nayan Bahadur," said Bhattarai pointing at
former minister Bal Bahadur KC, who was a minister in the Bhattarai government. When The
Kathmandu Post asked Bhattarai what he was to do about the growing voice against Khatri in
the Nepali Congress, he said: "Just wait and see". He wouldn’t elaborate.
Two NC cadres, Luk Bahadur Gurung and Jasdan Rai -- survivors
of the Timburbote massacre -- were felicitated today by the ruling party.
Meanwhile, at another programme chairperson of Human Rights
and Peace Society (HURPES) Krishna Pahadi said that his organisation will "have
nothing to do with HRC as long as Khatri remains its chairman." Khatri’s
appointment has come under fierce attack from the rights activists as well as lawmakers
from both the ruling party and the opposition.
In another programme, former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana said
that the commission is "not independent" and is rather a "government
body".
The members of the commission are -- Gauri Shankar Lal Das,
Indira Rana, Kapil Shrestha and Sushil Pyakurel."Despite constraints in the Act,
there is a lot of space for improvement of human rights situation in the country,"
said Sushil Pyakurel, member of the HRC.
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