14 Jul, 2002
Human Rights Activists Gautam Navlakha and Anand Swaroop Varma Released. Four Nepalese Activists to be deported from India to Nepal.
On July 11, six human rights activists connected with the India-Nepal Peoples Solidarity Organisation (Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Ekta Samaj -ABNES) were arrested by plain clothes Special Branch police of Delhi in a clampdown on the ABES, a public forum which has been foucusing attention on the Nepal state's human rights violations in its war against the Maoist insurgency in Nepal. The two Indian human rights activists who are also journalists, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Swaroop Varma were released at 8:00 pm (IST) the same day. We thank all friends and colleagues who responded to our earlier appeal about the illegal arrest of Gautam Navlakha .
Four Nepalese Activists are threatened with summary deportation to Nepal. Four activists of the Akhil Bhartaiya Ekta Sangh in New Delhi were arrested on July 11 for organising public meetings on the Nepal state's war against the Maoists uprising in Nepal. Three of them Partha Chettri, Maheshwar Dahal and Aditi Shah (Woman) are journalists. The fourth person is Moti Prasad. A Habeas Corpus petition is being filed in Delhi High Court by advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan.
In this connection it is important to note that at the request of the Nepal Government, Indian authorities have been arresting and handing over Nepali and in some cases Indian citizens from different parts of eastern India without any legal procedure. We have credible information that police personnel of the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have been instructed to visit private medical clinics and hospitals in the border towns of India to search for Nepalis who are being treated for any kind of injury. An injury is taken as evidence of these persons being Maoists. These patients are being forcibly removed from these hospitals and are being handed over to Nepali army or police. Nepali press has reported several such incidents in the past two months. A fear has been expressed that some of these persons might have been summarily killed by the Nepali army.
As a counter insurgency measure, Nepal government has closed down medicine shops in small towns and villages in the Maoist effected areas of Nepal. Medicines are now only available in distict headquatters. Doctors all over Nepal have also been instructed not to provide any kind of treatment to any Nepali who come to then with any kind of injury without reporting them to the nearest police or army post. As a result of this many Nepali citizens are being forced to cross the Indo-Nepal border and seek treatment in private clinics and hospitals in Indian town. This is in direct violation of international human rights law and humanitarian law.
We request you to immediately intervene in this matter. If these four are deported to Nepal, there is every chance that they will be denied a fair trial. They may even be killed in custody as the killing of editor of Mr. Krishna Sen, Jana Disha shows.
Thanking you for your kind cooperation, Tapan K. Bose, Secretary General South Asia Forun for Human Rights
A few useful addresses:
Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee,
vajpayee@sansad.nic.in, pmosb@pmo.nic.in, Fax: +91-11-3016857
Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, Deputy Prime Minister of India,
Fax: +91-11-3017763
Mr. Justice J. S. Varma Chairman,
National Human Rights Commission of India, nhrc@ren.nic.in
To Contact International Solidarity Campaign with the People of Nepal nepal@ilps2001.com