Nepal saw historic changes like abolition of 237-year-old Shah Dynasty and dawn of republic in the 2008 but the human rights situation of the country remained poor in the year as well.
The year started amid uncertainty about the election of the constituent assembly. Although the decade ling conflict has ended formally from 21 November 2008 with the signing of the CPA by the Maoists and the government the reminisce of war continue to hunt normal life in the year. After being postponed for two times the CA poll finally held on April 10 2008 fulfilling the decade long aspiration of the Nepali people.
The then seven political parties and the Maoist had started the consensus politics since signing of the 12 points Delhi agreement broke down after the CA election after second largest party of the CA Nepali Congress opted to fulfill the opposition role citing differences in division of portfolios in the coalition government. After the formation of the new government led by Maoist the security situation of the country did not improve as expected. Maoist cadres' activities couldn't improve. Especially in the terai region, the security situation worsened day by day due to the different violent activities by the various armed groups.
The data of Human Rights Violation in the Year 2008 is as follows:
|
SN |
Events |
Time |
|
|
Murder |
Abduction |
|
1 |
156 |
352 |
101 days ( Beginning of 2008 to CA election) |
|
2 |
191 |
198 |
125 days ( CA election to new government formation) |
|
3 |
194 |
179 |
139 days ( New government formation to end of 2008) |
|
Total |
541 |
729 |
|
Source: Nepal Human Rights Yearbook 2009 of INSEC
In the above data, Maoists involvement was high in Human Rights violations as compared to other parties. While analyzing the security situation of the country, the year did not remain satisfactory. Especially in the 20 districts of the terai region Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Shaptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi,Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Chitawan, Nawalparasi, Rependahi,Kapilbastu, Dang,Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur have witnessed various violent activities of armed and other groups. Only three hundred eighty three people have been killed in the Terai region in 2008, while three hundred sixty three people had been killed in this region in 2007.
Not only in the terai districts violent activities occurred but also occurred in hilly districts of eastern regions including Taplegung, Panchthar, Ilam, Dhankuta, Terhathum, Bhojpur, Sankhawasabha, Khotang, and Solukhambu in the last year. 41 people had been lost their life in these districts in 2007 while 30 people had been killed in 2008 in these and one additional Okhaldhunga district.
Maoist's unruly activities couldn't decrease despite of their involvement in the government which encourages the youth organizations of the other political parties to be actively participate in the violent activities, mainly the different criminal groups in Terai. People couldn't feel safety of their life and the issue of human rights and social justice remained in shadow due to the youth organizations of the coalition partners.
As per the data of INSEC, 50 people have been killed by state, 12 by Maoist, 2 by CPN-UML, 75 by the different armed group active in terai, 229 by personal crime and 169 by the unknown groups. In the abduction case, 304 people had been abducted by Maoist, 23 by National Peoples Front Nepal, 22 by UML, 2 by Congress, 149 by armed groups in terai, 35 by personal, 195 by unknown groups. So, the Maoist which is also leading the government has also take the lead in illegal and extra-judicial activities in the Year 2008.
Different criminal activities of Maoist cadres have been encouraging other criminal groups to move actively in the violent activities. So, the criminal activities of the youth organizations of the coalition partner must be completely stopped to respect the human rights and rule of law. Hope all the political parties will not repeat their acts as of 2008 in 2009 and respect human rights.
( The writer is associated with Human Rights Journalists' Association, Nepal )
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