Honoring Perpetrators Of Human Rights Violence

The current government has been embarrassment to the NC and CPN-UML, as the government has awarded the honors to the people without consulting the concerned agency and awarded the police and the army men that had been indicted for their ruthless dealings with the people participating in the People’s Movement of 2006 provoking strong public reactions to it.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal Ram Prasad Shrestha has said that the government has failed in consulting the judicial Council for selecting the recipients of awards from the judicial service. Following the rules, the judicial Council has to first approve state honors for judges and then the Chief Justice has to endorse it. He has also said that the judges received the honors that they really don’t deserve, as they had not contributed to the judicial system significantly and some of them had joined the judiciary only a few months ago.

On Monday morning, May 31, 2010, family members of the martyrs that had sacrificed the lives during the People’s Movement of 2006 have held a protest rally against conferring the state honors to the people labeled as the "culprits of People’s Movement-II" at the Kalanki area in Kathmandu. Family members of the martyrs and the people injured in the People’s Movement of 2006 have chanted slogans against the government for honoring former Nepal Army Chief Rukmangud Katuwal, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Dhurja Kumar Rai, and others that were held accountable for suppressing the People’s Movement of 2006 by the Rayamajhi Commission set up by the then government for looking into the human rights abuses. They have said that honoring the culprits of the People’s Movement of 2006 on the second anniversary of the Republic Day, the Madhav Government has insulted the martyrs and the people that had fought for the republic.

On Monday morning, May 31, 2010, representatives of the victims of the suppression of the People’s Movement of 2006 have met with Prime Minister Madhav Nepal and demanded the government annul the decision on awarding the honors to the people found guilty for killing the participants in the People’s Movement of 2006, as honoring such offenders will certainly disgrace the martyrs and injured people that have sacrificed the lives for the republic.

“We asked the government in a memorandum either to declare them (the accused) innocent or withdraw the decision to honor them,” said Drona Prasad Lamichhane, the son of martyr Yam Lal Lamichhane of Bardiya according to the Myrepublic.com. Mr. Lamichhane has said that the Prime Minister did not assure them of annulling the decision on awarding the honors and did not want to insult the martyrs, too.

The Rayamajhi Commission and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) hold many of the recipients guilty. After the public pressure, the government has cancelled the awards given to Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Dhurja Kumar Rai and Superintendent of Police (SP) Kuber Singh Rana on Tuesday, June 01, 2010. Many public figures have refused to accept the state honors protesting against the awards given to the perpetrators of human rights abuse. The Rayamajhi commission set up after the people's movement of 2006 to probe the cases of human rights violence had recommended actions against Rai and Rana for human rights abuses.

In response to the lawsuit filed by Gopal Krishna Siwakoti and Shree Krishna Subedi against the government conferring honors to the people accused of the gross human rights violations, on Thursday, June 03, 2010, the single bench of Justice Tahil Ali Ansari of the Supreme Court of Nepal issued an order to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and the Home Ministry to put on hold the decision on awarding the honors according to the Nepalnews.com. On behalf of the INHURED International, the two advocates had filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, June 01, 2010, seeking the Supreme Court’s order against the government's controversial decision. The petitioners had mentioned in the lawsuit that the recipients of the state honors made public on the Republic Day include the perpetrators of human rights abuses and serious breach of international law during the decade-long internal armed conflict and subsequent People's Movement of 2006.

Honoring the perpetrators of human rights, Prime Minister Madhav Nepal has shown his real traits.

June 11, 2010