Kathmandu: A number of human rights activists
were detained on Monday after they held a demonstration in front
of the Constituent Assembly to protest the move to grant
general amnesty to those involved in serious rights violations
during the country's decade-long conflict.
Over 40 right activists were detained after they tried to
enter the prohibited zone in the government secretariat,
police spokesperson Dhiraj Pratap Singh said.
They were staging a sit-in under the 'Civil Campaign
against General Amnesty', a protest they had launched opposing
a bill that would enable the government to grant blanket
amnesty to those implicated in several cases of rights
violation during the armed conflict.
The campaigners had submitted a memorandum to Prime
Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Constituent Assembly Chairman
Subash Nembang, Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala and
CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal yesterday.
"We found the government turning a deaf ear to our concern
towards the issue, thus, we were compelled to stage a peaceful
sit-in protesting the same," Dinesh Tripathi, a lawyer said.
The government cannot initiate the process of pardoning
those who were convicted during the conflict for committing
serious human rights violations, he added.
The activists also demanded immediate formation of a Truth
and Reconciliation Commission to provide transitional justice
to the conflict-period victims.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 02, 2012, 18:46