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| Kathmandu, Friday December 13, 2002 Mangshir 27, 2059. |
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Institute a probe
The security forces cannot always be
performing the job that would be appreciated by all. The task becomes more challenging and
critical when the security forces including the army are deployed to contain the internal
conflict where the groups on both sides happen to be Nepalese. The government as well as
the citizens do appreciate the difficult role assigned to the army. Governments and the
legislatures in different parts of the world do defend the security forces cutting across
party lines as what they do is supposed to have been mandated by the country as a whole,
and their government on behalf of the citizens.
This sort of unconditional support leaves the
security forces with an enormous responsibility to be accurate about their targets. At the
same time, they have an obligation to be respectful to the life and dignity of the
civilians. That is why the Royal Nepal Army’s decision to set up an internal Human
Rights cell was well-received both in and outside the country. This was a commitment
expressed by the RNA to the Human Rights as guaranteed under our constitution as well as
the international covenants.
But the news from Nuwakot’s Bidur that
at least five unarmed civilians were killed by the army and that their relatives are
moving the court for compensation is shocking. According to the report, all the victims
were returning home after attending the funeral rites of their relative. The event needs
in the best interest of the army to have it probed thoroughly, and let the country as well
as the world know about it. It should not hesitate to punish the guilty involved in that
incident. In fact, that will save the image of the army as an institution.
No doubt, the Nepalese army has a difficult
role to play in the context of fighting the Maoists who are widely known to be using the
human shield with the maximum possibility that civilians would be trapped in the
cross-fire. This is also equally true that the Maoists have been condemned perhaps more
sternly for their Human Rights record which has surpassed that of the government’s,
especially in the past two years or so. But the Bidur incident and some other similar
reports coming from different parts of the country do not fit in the human shield and
cross-fire theory.
The RNA needs to come out clean out of this charge. Internal
probes into such incidents in the conflict zone are nothing new or unusual elsewhere.
Ignoring the charge labelled by the victims’ relatives in the present charged
condition would convey a meaning that the army is least bothered about the Human Rights.
On the contrary, a probe will enhance RNA’s image and approach regarding its
commitment to Human Rights. |
