Call for action over Nepal’s ‘human rights catastrophe’

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL appealed yesterday to the Nepali government and the international community to prevent a “human rights catastrophe” in the country where security forces are battling a Maoist revolt.

“The armed forces seem to be pursuing a strategy of disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial executions as part of their counter-insurgency operations,” Javier Zunger, senior director of the London-based international human rights body, told reporters.

He urged the government and the international community to take urgent measures to prevent Nepal “from sliding towards a human rights catastrophe”.