In the name of democracy, go!

On February 1 this year the king seized power and suspended the Constitution. The status of habeas corpus is unclear. A 20 point direction has been issued prohibiting any comment by the media regarding the security forces ‘‘that could affect their morale’’. The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Ordinances (TADO) was promulgated by Royal Order, allowing for detention for one year without production before a magistrate. Recent directives of the Courts to the government to show cause have been disregarded. The king, though he is now the Chief Executive, is constitutionally exempt from the criminal jurisdiction of the courts. Now even the courts have fallen silent.

The NHRC which had in 2003 reported the extra judicial execution of 19 persons by the RNA in the Doramba massacre has been reduced to a toothless body merely receiving complaints and recording cases. It cannot visit places of detention without prior notice to security forces. Members of the Bar played an active role in the movement. S.N. Pyakurel a former president of the Bar was arrested along with N. Bhandari, Secretary of the Nepal Bar Association and K.C. Kalyan a Human Rights Lawyer from Biratnagar. The press have suffered the same fate. Tara Nath, President of the Nepal Federation of Journalists has been forced to go into hiding. Gurung Bisnu Nisthuri the General Secretary of the Federation was arrested from his house at night. The BBC Nepali news service was forced to suspend broadcast and K.C. Netra its correspondent in Nepalganj was arrested and released. The king’s secretary ominously warned the press that he would be unable to help if the military decided to ‘‘disappear’’ journalists and editors ‘‘for a few hours’’, FM stations across the country are laying off reporters. A foreign journalist was hit on his head by a policeman after showing identification. The Himal media group offices lie abandoned. Mr. Jeet Man Basu, Editor of Sagarmatha is in hiding. He has been assisting the NHRC as an eye witness in the enquiries into the custodial death of Krishna Sen and the torture in the Bhairav Battalions barracks. Human Rights organisations have also come under attack. Krishna Pahadi and Suresh Chandra Pokhrel of the Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES) have been arrested. Sukhram Maharjan, Member of the Human Rights Organisation of Nepal (HURON) was arrested by plainclothesmen from his home. His whereabouts are not known. The activists of the Collective Campaign for Peace (CoCAP) have been forced underground. Prakash Thapa a member of Amnesty International was reportedly arrested and tortured at the army barracks, Singha. The U.N. Working Group on Disappearances visited Nepal in December 2004 and reported detention of persons without access to judge, lawyer or family, and the torture and enforced disappearances of persons suspected of being maoists. According to the U.N., Nepal had the highest rate of disappearances in the world in 2003 and 2004. The U.S. role is most suspect.The previous US Envoy, Micheal Malinowsky regularly visits frontline troops. Between October 2001 – September 2004 the US provided $ 29 million in assault rifles, grenade launchers, night vision equipments, body armor and communication equipment. In early 2003 US military experts traveled to Nepal to train the army in the Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET). Though Clause 502 b of the Leahy Amendment to the Foreign Exchange Act prohibits security assistance by the US to any country engaging in a gross violation of human rights, the US has not issued a single condemnation of the human rights violations taking place.One reason appears to be U.S. corporations interests in Nepal’s hydropower potential the second largest in the world after Brazil.

Anxious not be left behind India provided, over the last three years, about $ 40 million plus arms not counting development aid. General Vij remarked that India was prepared to provide any type of military assistance. Indian bullets for Nepali hearts. There has not been a single comment about human rights violations. India supported the king when resolutions critical of the army were tabled at Geneva in April this year and opposed U.N. International mediation in Nepal.

All this money goes into the pocket of the king.Parliament has not met. The budget is not approved. It is passed through a palace ordinance.The military budget dominates all.The king is not accountable.In the name of a ‘‘war against terror’’ the funds are used for a war against the people of Nepal. In the meanwhile the situation is darkening ominously.In January this year Nepal and India secretly signed an extradition treaty making possible the sending back of persons possibly to their death.This is contrary to the principle of non-refoulement in international human rights law. On 6th of February Nepali planes are reported to have dropped bombs in Dailekh district. The time has come for the Indian people to know what their embassy in Kathmandu is doing in their name.

The writer is a lawyer