Price of conflict costing state in excess of Rs. 2.5 billion

The Himalayan Times - Price of conflict costing state in excess of Rs. 2.5 billion - Detail News

Added At: 2011-03-31 6:07 PM

Last Updated At: 2011-03-31 6:07 PM

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LEKHANATH PANDEY

KATHMANDU: As the saying goes, conflict comes at a cost. Nepal’s post-conflict approach to assuage the decade-long conflict-victims reflects it truly.

The state coffers have already been depleted by at least Rs. 2.5 billion just to give a nominal relief package to some of the thousands of victims of the Maoist insurgency, and the cost continues to rise.

Data prepared by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) showed that it has delivered an amount of Rs. 1.4 billion as relief to the kin and kith of 14,064 people who died during the rebellion. It is yet to allocate relief to the remaining 2655 people who suffered the same fate. It means that the state would have to pay at least another Rs. 265 million to the remaining victims’ families.

Relief and Rehabilitation Unit at the MoPR has set a criterion of allocating Rs. 100,000 to the family of every single person killed during the conflict. A total of 16,719 people have been reported dead in the conflict.

“We have already sent necessary relief fund of 14,064 deceased persons to District Administrative Offices concerned to provide relief to their families,” said RRB Division Chief at MoPR Ganesh Prasad Upadhaya. “The remaining will soon get the relief package.”

The relief package costs the state more than Rs. 1 billion for those affected by the conflict, including disabled, disappeared, abducted, dependents, including children and widows. Only 29,000 internally displaced persons out of 78,675 have received nominal relief and compensation from the government and have been resettled in their own place. It has already cost the state at least Rs. 340 million, and the remaining two thirds will certainly cost nearly twice the amount.

At least Rs. 100 million has been used as compensation for some 11,775 cases of physical infrastructure destroyed. Likewise, Rs. 130 million has been expended as relief to the kith and kin of 1302 people who disappeared. The amount has been mobilised through Nepal Peace Trust Fund, a donor-funded Trust to address the post-conflict relief and rehabilitation issues.

An account of the victims in different categories had been prepared by the RRU, based in MoPR, with the help of inter-governmental agencies and the relief fund has been distributed through the local channel. Upadhaya, however, said that RRU had faced the challenge of identifying the true victims of the conflict.

In addition to the relief package, a whopping 5,560 physical infrastructure had been destroyed during the conflict. Only 1,968 has been rebuilt at a cost of more than Rs. 3.7 billion from the coffers.

Enforced disappearance and torture of Jit Man Basnet from February to October 2004

Jit Man Basnet

The case

In February 2011, TRIAL submitted an individual communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding the enforced disappearance and torture of Jit Man Basnet in February 2004. In this case, TRIAL also represents the victim’s cousin, Top Bahadur Basnet.

Jit Man Basnet is a journalist and a lawyer in Kathmandu. On 4 February 2004, he was arrested by security forces and brought to a detention camp known as Bairabnath Battalion barracks.

During this time period (2003-2004) the Bhairabnath Battalion Barracks run by the Royal Nepali Army (RNA) became notorious. In May 2006, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report after an investigation of the Maharajgunj RNA barracks in Kathmandu. The Bhairabnath Battalion, quartered at these barracks, played the primary role in the arrest, illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial killing and disappearance of hundreds of people suspected of affiliation with the Maoists, in 2003 and thereafter.

During the first three days of detention Jit Man Basnet was extensively tortured and beaten. There was no fixed routine, the soldiers would come for him at any time of night or day. Beyond the physical pain inflicted by the severe beatings, not knowing when they would come again provoked an ongoing mental distress. The guard accused him having contacts with the Maoists, when he explained he had no information about Maoists, the torture would only get worse. The detention conditions were inhuman. During 258 days Jit Man Basnet was continuously blindfolded and handcuffed.

On 18 October 2004, Jit Man Basnet was finally released. He was strictly forbidden to reveal the existence of the barracks and was forced to sign a paper stating that he was kept in detention for only 90 days, in accordance with state of emergency laws.

More than seven years have passed and, no ex officio, prompt, impartial, thorough and independent investigation has been carried out by Nepal authorities and no one has been prosecuted, judged and sanctioned for the enforce disappearance and torture of Jit Man Basnet, thus fostering an ongoing climate of impunity

In February 2011, TRIAL thus submitted an individual communication to the United Nations Human Rights Committee asking it:

to recognise that Nepal violated numerous articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights subsequently to Jit Man Basnet’s enforced disappearance and torture;

to strongly recommend that Nepal initiate immediate investigations into the role of the soldiers attached to the Bhairabnath Battalion stationed at the Maharajgunj Barracks in the period concerned and prosecute those responsible for the arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance and torture of Jit Man Basnet;

to urge the State party to immediately suspend from office all army officials against whom there is prima facie evidence that they were involved in the Jit Man Basnet’s enforced disappearance and torture;

to declare that Nepal also violated the Covenant with regard to the suffering undergone by Jit Man Basnet’s cousin, Top Bahadur Basnet; and therefore require that Nepal grant him full and adequate reparation;

to require that Nepal offers integral, prompt, just and adequate reparation for the enforced disappearance and torture suffered by Jit Man Basnet.

General context

In February 1996 the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) overtly declared war against the official governmental authorities of Nepal, which at the time was ruled in the form of a constitutional monarchy.

The conflict rapidly spread all over the country. In 2001, when violence truly escalated into a civil war, a state of emergency was declared. The state of emergency allowed the State to increase its repression against persons who were suspected of helping the Maoist insurgents and to derogate from fundamental rights and liberties. The recourse to enforced disappearances, torture, summary executions and arbitrary detentions by State agents and Maoists was generalized during this period. Arbitrary detention and torture were used years after the end of the state of emergency against all those suspected of affiliation with the Maoists. It is within this context that Jit Man Basnet was detained and disappeared for over 8 months.

http://www.trial-ch.org/en/activities/litigation/the-advocacy-center-trial-act/acts-cases/nepal/basnet-case-february-2011.html

Nepal: Disappeared to be listed on billboard

Translated from Nepal Samacharpatra (accessed 30 Jan 2011)

In an attempt to bring conformity to number of disappeared, the Local Peace Committee of Kaski district in western Nepal has decided to list the names of such people from the district in billboards in all four of its constituencies. The committee coordinator informed that eighteen people have disappeared from the district but indicated the need for more investigation to confirm the number. 

The decade-long Maoist insurgency of Nepal resulted in at least a thousand individuals not accounted so far; however, lack of an official investigation has meant that the exact numbers of disappeared is disputed. The 2006 peace accord provides for the establishment of a commission of inquiry to look into cases of disappeared people but it is yet to form.

Nepal's government has formed local peace committees to carry out peacebuilding activities in districts, including identification of victims, recommendation for their healing efforts and monitoring the implementation, reconstruction of infrastructures destroyed and support to conflict resolution, among others.

बेपत्ता नागरिकको नाम होर्डिङ बोर्डमा

नेपाल समाचारपत्र, (कास्की), द्वन्द्वको समयमा बेपत्ता पारिएका नागरिकको नाम होर्डिङ बोर्डमा टाँसिने भएको छ। लामो समयको वार्ता र छलफलपछि गत पुसमा कास्कीमा गठन भएको शान्ति समितिले द्वन्द्वको समयमा बेपत्ता पारिएका नागरिकको नाम होर्डिङ बोर्डमा टाँस्ने निर्णय गरेको हो। 

शान्ति समिति गठनपछि बसेको बैठकले गरेका निर्णय मंगलबार सार्वजनिक गर्दै समितिका संयोजक रामजी बरालले आगामी फागुन १५ सम्ममा होर्डिङ बोर्ड बनाएर कास्कीका चार वटै क्षेत्रमा बेपत्ता नागरिकको नाम राखिने जानकारी दिनुभयो। बरालका अनुसार कास्कीमा द्वन्द्वको समयमा १८ जना बेपत्ता भएका छन्। द्वन्द्वपीडितहरुको समस्यालाई उजागर गरी त्यसको निराकण गर्नका लागि कास्कीका चार वटै निर्वाचन क्षेत्रमा अन्तरकि्रया कार्यक्रम पनि गर्ने भएको छ।

समितिले जनआन्दोलनमा घाइते नेत्रपाणी सुवेदीको शारीरिक अवस्था दयनीय भएकोले उहाँको उपचारको लागि शान्ति तथा पुनःनिमार्ण मन्त्रालयमा सिफारिस गर्ने निर्णय पनि गरेको छ। समितिका संयोजक बरालका अनुसार द्वन्द्व निवारण र शान्ति निर्माण सहयोग कार्यक्रम ०६७/०६८ बजेट माग गर्ने प्रस्तावना बनाई मन्त्रालयमा पेस गर्ने भएको छ।

समितिको कार्यसम्पादन गर्नको लागि ९ सदस्यीय सचिवालय समिति पनि गठन गरेको छ। द्वन्द्वका घाउमा मलमपट्टी लगाउने भूमिका खेल्न समिति गठन भएको छ -संयोजक बरालले भन्नुभयो- द्वन्द्वको समयमा क्षति भएका भौतिक संरचनाको पुनःनिमार्णको साथै वास्तविक द्वन्द्वपीडितको पहिचान गरी राहतको लागि पहल गर्नेछ। बरालका अनुसार द्वन्द्वपीडितलाई राहत उपलब्ध भए/नभएको अनुगमन गर्न पुनःनिर्माणका कामहरुको अनुगमन गर्नुका साथै द्वन्द्व निवारण र शान्ति निर्माणमा प्रत्यक्ष सहयोग पुग्ने कार्यक्रम गर्न समिति क्रियाशील रहनेछ।

द्वन्द्वपीडितको तथ्याड्ढ स्पष्ट नभएको भन्दै बरालले तथ्याड्ढलाई एकरुपता ल्याउन अनुसन्धान गर्नुपर्ने बताउनुभयो। बरालका अनुसार समितिको लागि शान्ति मन्त्रालयमार्फत वार्षिक ७ लाख बजेट निकास हुने र तीन जना कर्मचारीको खर्च पनि राज्यले नै व्यवस्था गरेको छ।

http://www.newsofnepal.com/detailnews.php?type=samachaar&cat=15&id=52496

दुई छोराको खोजीमा ६ वर्ष

जे पाण्डे

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बर्दिया डेउढाकालाकी सावित्रीदेवी अधिकारी द्वन्द्वकालमा बेपत्ता भएका दुई सैनिक छोरा धर्मेन्द्र र कृष्णको तस्बिर हेर्दै। तस्विरः जे पाण्डे

नेपालगन्ज, मंसिर २४ - बर्दिया डेउढाकला ९ बनगौडीका चेतनारायण अधिकारीले बेपत्ता दुई छोराको खोजी गर्न थालेको ६ वर्ष बितिसकेको छ । दुवै छोराको अवस्था अझसम्म अज्ञात नै छ । 'सोध्दैखोज्दै हिँड्दा थाकिसकें,' उनले भने, न छोरा फेला पारे, न त सरकारले राहत दियो ।

नेपाली सेनामा कार्यरत जेठो छोरा धर्मेन्द्र कर्णाली पुल सुरक्षामा खटिएका बेला ०६१ पुस ७ गते माओवादीसँग दोहोरो भिडन्तपछि बेपत्ता भएका थिए । कान्छो कृष्णलाई पनि साउन ३ गते माओवादीले अपहरण गरी बेपत्ता पारेका हुन् ।

भिडन्तमा पुलको दुवैतिरबाट आक्रमण हुँदा ज्यान जोगाउन करिब २ फिट माथिबाट सहायक लेफटनेन्ट रमेशकुमार बन्जारा, जवान दिलबहादुर भुजेलसहित ५ जना सेना देशकै ठूलो कर्णाली नदीमा हामफालेका थिए ।

तीमध्ये बन्जरा र भुजेललाई नदीबाट निस्केपछि माओवादीले कब्जामा लिई अपहरण गरे । १४ दिनपछि उनीहरूलाई अधिकारवादीहरूले मुक्त गराएका थिए । दुई सैनिक दाजुभाइको भने अझै अत्तोपत्तो छैन ।

माओवादीले यी बेपत्ता दाजुभाइलाई अपहरण गरे/नगरेबारे प्रतिक्रिया दिएको छैन । सरकारले पनि जीवित रहे नरहेको पुष्टि नभएकाले परिवारले पाउने आर्थिक सहयोग दिन अस्वीकार गरेको छ ।

परिवारका सदस्यहरू सेनाको जिल्लादेखि केन्द्रसम्मका सबै निकाय र मन्त्रालय धाउँदा दिक्दार भइसकेका छन् । बेपत्ता दाजुभाइका बाबु कृष्ण अधिकारीले कान्तिपुरसित भने, भद्रकालीस्थित सैनिक अभिलेखालयले राहत र क्षतिपूर्तिको फाइल नै थन्काइदियो ।

यसका लागि जिल्ला प्रशासन, प्रहरी र सुरक्षा समितिले सेनालाई लिखित अनुरोध गरेको पनि दुई वर्ष बितेको छ । यी निकायले कणर्ाली भिडन्तमा रणशेर गणका प्युठ धर्मेन्द्रलाई माओवादीले कब्जामा लिई हत्या गरेको र भवानी बक्स गुल्मबाट उपचारका लागि घर आएका सिपाही कृष्णलाई अपहरण गरी हत्या गरेको भन्दै राहत र क्षतिपूर्ति दिन सिफारिस गरेका हुन् ।

लासमात्र देख्न पाए पनि चित्त बुझ्ने थियो । आमा सावित्रादेवीले रुँदै भनिन्, 'काजकिरिया पनि गर्न पाइएन । पीडित परिवारले माओवादी अध्यक्ष पुष्पकमल दाहाललाई भेटेर छोराहरूको अवस्था सार्वजनिक गरी क्षतिपूर्तिका लागि अनुरोध गरेको पनि दुई वर्ष हुन थाल्यो ।

सबै सुरक्षा निकायले ती सैनिक दाजुभाइले वीरगति प्राप्त गरेको दाबी गरेका छन् । सेनाले भने उनीहरूको पद यथावत् राखेको छ । मृत्यु वा अपहरण पुष्टि नहुँदासम्म पद खाली हुँदैन । बाँकेको राझास्थित नम्बर ४ बाहिनी सैनिक अड्डाका निमित्त बाहिनीपति नैनराज दाहालले

भने, 'जसका कारण परिवारका सदस्यले पाउनुपर्ने सरकारी सुविधाबाट समेत वञ्चित

भएका हुन् ।'

कर्णाली पुलको उक्त घटनामा ५ सैनिक, ५ सर्वसाधारण र २ माओवादीको मृत्यु भएको थियो । उनीहरूमध्ये अधिकांशका परिवारले राहत तथा क्षतिपूर्ति पाएका छन् । नरसिंह दल गणका सिपाही मानबहादुर साउ पनि ८ वर्षदेखि बेपत्ता छन् । उनी माओवादीले सल्यानको गेरासेमा ०५९ जेठ २९ गते भएको भिडन्तपछि  बेपत्ता भएका हुन् । इन्सेकका भोला महतले भने, 'बेपत्ता सेनाको अवस्था त यस्तो छ । अरूको झन् कस्तो होला ।'

बाँके र बार्दियासहित मध्यपश्चिममा करिब ५ सयभन्दा बढी बेखबर छन् । उनीहरू अधिकांशका परिवारले क्षतिपूर्ति पाएका छैनन् ।

प्रकाशित मिति: २०६७ मंसिर २४ ०८:३३

http://www.ekantipur.com/np/2067/8/24/full-news/321777/

द्वन्द्वको घाउ आलै | Demand for basic rights cost teenager his limb

भीमबहादुर सिंह

जाजरकोट, मंसिर १७ -
द्वन्द्वका बेला माओवादी कार्यकर्ताले खुट्टा भाँचिदिएका झाप्रा ८ स्थित नल्फुका तेजनाथ योगी अहिले अपांग जीवन बिताइरहेका छन् । पढ्नकै लागि उनी सदरमुकाम खलंगामा डेरा लिएर बसेका छन् । योगीको गाउँ सदरमुकामबाट दुई दल टाढा छ ।

बाबुलाई श्रमकैदमा राखेको विरोध गर्दा ६ वर्षअघि माओवादी कार्यकर्ता तप्तबहादुर शाहीले उनको खुट्टा भाँचिदिएका हुन् । त्यति बेला उनी ११ वर्षकामात्र थिए । उपचार नहुूदा दायाँ खुट्टा काट्नुपरेको उनले सुनाए । उनी बैसाखीको सहारामा दैनिक विद्यालय आउजाउ गर्छन् । खलंगास्थित त्रिभुवन उच्च माविमा कक्षा ९ मा पढ्दै गरेका योगीले भने, 'माओवादीको सशस्त्र द्वन्द्वले मलाई अपांग बनायो ।'

उनका बाबु शेरबहादुर नाथलाई माओवादीले श्रमजेल राखेर दुःख दिएको उनले विरोध गर्दा यातना दिने क्रममा दाहिने खुट्टा भाँचिएको हो ।

बुवा माओवादी श्रमजेलमा भएका कारण योगीको तत्काल उपचार गरिदिने कोही भएन । उनीहरूलाई गाउँ छाड्ने अनुमतिसमेत थिएन । स्थानीय वैद्यले काप्रो लगाए पनि ठीक नभएको उनले बताए । 'खुट्टा झन्झन् पाकेर थला परें । त्यसको २ वर्षपछि बुवाले अपांग बाल अस्पताल बनेपामा पुर्‍याउनुभयो,' उनले भने, 'तर क्यान्सर भइसकेको रहेछ । अन्ततः खुट्टा काटेर फ्याल्नपर्‍यो । तीन महिना अस्पताल बस्दा ५५ हजार ऋण लाग्यो ।' आर्थिक अवस्था कमजोर रहेका उनलाई सदरमुकाममा बसेर पढ्न मुस्किल छ । उनी आफंै खाना पकाउने, कोठा सफा गर्ने र भाँडा माज्ने गर्छन् । अहिले उनले ओमशिव भक्ति वृद्धाश्रम खलंगामा आश्रम लिएका छन् । तेजनाथ १५ मिनेट हिँडेर विद्यालय जाने गर्दछन् । विद्यालयका उनी एक्ला अपांग हुन् ।

'सरकारले द्वन्द्वपीडित मलाई अहिलेसम्म कुनै सहयोग गरेको छैन,' उनले गुनासो गरे । विद्यालयका हरेक क्षेत्रमा सपांगसँग प्रतिस्पर्धा गर्नुपर्छ । कक्षाकोठाको बसाइदेखि पढाइको छुट्टै व्यवस्था छैन ।

प्रकाशित मिति: २०६७ मंसिर १८ ०९:२०

Demand for basic rights cost teenager his limb

BHIM BAHADUR SINGH

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JAJARKOT, DEC 05 -

The decade-long armed insurgency is a thing of the past for many. But, the conflict frequently haunts this 16-year-old boy who is now living a life of disability.

Tejnath Yogi, then 11, was beaten up by UCPN (Maoist) activists on the charge of defaming the party. They brutally thrashed him, leaving him with a fractured right leg. He could not get timely treatment and the leg had to be cut off after two years.

The one-time rebels took action against the boy when he protested against the Maoists for driving his father, Sher Bahadur Nath, into their ‘labour camp’. The Maoist activists led by Tapta Bahadur Shahi broke his leg in the name of ‘people’s action”. The Maoists also ordered him not to leave the village even for medical treatment.

“My father was in the Maoists’ detention then. Nobody dared take me to hospital mainly due to the Maoists’ threat. A local baidya (healer) plastered my fractured leg, but it did not work,” Yogi narrated his ordeal.

He said that his father had taken him to a Banepa-based orthopedic hospital two years after the incident. “The doctors suggested cutting off the leg suspecting cancer,” the boy tearfully told the Post. The teenage amputee of Jhapra-8, has shifted to Khalanga to continue his studies. “I came here for my studies as I could not attend the school which was a two-hour walk from my house in the village,” said the ninth grader at Khalanga-based Tribhuwan Higher Secondary School.

He is taking refuge at Om Shiva-Shakti Elderly Home in Khalanga. “I am a single disabled student at the school. It is difficult to compete with the other students here,” said he, adding that the government has neither provided him relief not arrested the Maoist activists who maimed him. Yogi said that he asked the District Administration Office for relief but to no  avail.

Posted on: 2010-12-05 08:53

http://www.ekantipur.com/2010/12/05/editors-pick/demand-for-basic-rights--cost-teenager-his-limb/326028/