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Kathmandu Tuesday December 11, 2001 Marga 26, 2058.
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PM Deuba denies innocents
killed in RNA operations
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Dec 10 – Just when opposition
leaders have begun to air misgivings about the state of emergency imposed two weeks ago,
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has vowed that the emergency powers will not be
misused.
And for the first time in the last two weeks,
the prime minister also categorically denied that any innocent civilian has been killed in
the anti-Maoist operations conducted by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and police forces.
"No single innocent person has been killed
since the RNA’s mobilization," Deuba declared categorically addressing a sombre
function held to mark the 53rd World Human Rights Day. The function was organized by the
Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON). "I will be compelled to take serious
action if innocent people are killed by RNA. Those taken into custody are in good
health."
But even those assertions have failed to cut ice
with the opposition, mainly the main opposition CPN (UML) which is now arguing that
imposition of emergency rule was unnecessary.
At the same function, main opposition leader and
UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal argued that the army mobilization would only
aggravate the present fluid situation instead of solving it. "Declaring the state of
emergency will not solve the problem," Nepal said. "If the country is to be free
from terrorism, it is necessary to identify its root cause."
Bam Dev Gautam, leader of the CPN (ML), a
splinter of the UML, also came down heavily against the imposition of emergency.
"Nobody will be able to live in peace after the mobilization of army," he said,
adding, "If the RNA starts committing atrocities against innocent people, we will be
forced to protest vigorously against its mobilization."
Other communist leaders also continued in the
same vein in another human rights related programme in the capital Sunday – this one
organized by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
CPN-UML leader KP Oli, speaking at the NHRC
function, said that the government which has a mandate from the people should seriously
protect the rights of the people. Oli emphasized on the need to end the state of emergency
soon, otherwise, he warned, the government will have to face "grave
consequences."
"If government makes slightest mistake then
democracy may not recover from the present crisis," Oli said. "We are
celebrating Human Rights Day at a time when democracy has been wounded". He pointed
out that the government could have mobilized army without declaring the state of
emergency.
Likewise, speaking on the occasion, NHRC
Chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri said that the present crisis was mainly brought about by
politics "not heading in the right direction." Political scientist Lok Raj Baral
pointed out that the present crisis came about because "there were no changes in the
development field, which could deliver to the people."
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