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Human Rights Groups Demand International Intervention in Nepal
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=C3227D:2AB91D3

Britain, India have suspended military aid to Nepal, and US says it
will review all its assistance if King Gyanendra does not restore
democracy      





Nepal's King Gyanendra, who is also Commander of the Royal Nepal Army,
takes the salute at the Army Day function in KathmanduThe New
Delhi-based Asian Center for Human Rights wants the international
community to suspend humanitarian aid to Nepal, where King Gyanendra
assumed absolute power last month and imposed a state of emergency.

The king said he acted because political deadlock was preventing the
government from ending a nine-year bloody communist rebellion.

But in a report prepared for the United Nations, the Asian Center says
conditions for the average citizen are worse, not better under the
king. And the Maoist rebels are solidifying their control outside the
capital.

Suhas Chakma, director at the Center, says the international community
must step up pressure on Nepal to improve the human-rights situation,
and also help the country end the Maoist insurgency.

"We are calling for embargo on humanitarian and economic development
aid because the government of Nepal does not have the capacity to
deliver this aid because 70 percent of the country is under the
Maoists," said Suhas Chakma. "We are also calling for international
interventions in respect of involvement for mediation between the
Maoists and the government of Nepal."

Britain and India and have suspended military aid to Nepal, and the
United States says it will review all its assistance if the king does
not restore democracy.

The Asian Center's Mr. Chama says under the King's emergency rule,
civil liberties have been wiped out and there is an increase in
human-rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings.

"The Royal Nepal Army has been given carte blanche [total freedom] to
perpetrate all kinds of human-rights violations for three reasons:
there is complete ban on political activity, second there is complete
ban on press freedom, and third there is a ban on monitoring of
human-rights violations by restricting or by confining and detaining
people in Kathmandu Valley," he said.

In recent years, international human-rights groups have accused both
the Nepalese authorities and the rebels of widespread human rights
violations. Thousands of people have disappeared in the conflict that
has claimed more than 10,000 lives.


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