2003-11-09 - incident - Kaski district २०६०-०७-२३ - घटना - कास्की जिल्ला

Archive ref no: NCA-10785 अभिलेखालय सि. नं.: NCA-10785

Alleged incident overview | घटेको भनिएको घटनाको समीक्षा

Information regarding alleged incident | घटेको भनिएको घटनासम्बन्धी जानकारी

  • 56. Prakash Khanal (alias Sailesh)
  • Between November 4 and November 10, 2003 (Kartik 18-24, 2060), Nepali security forces arrested a group of nine persons from the Pokhara area, following a CPN-M attack on a police post in Dadanak, Kaski district. The arrest of the nine persons was announced in local newspapers, and involved mostly students, some of whom were involved in CPN-M or its affiliate, the All-Nepal Free Students’ Union (Revolutionary). CPN-M issued its own statement on November 11, 2003, identifying the nine arrested persons as CPN-M activists and "well-wishers," and giving the CPN-M party names for many of the detainees.49
  • At around 5 a.m. on November 5, 2003 (Kartik 19, 2060), about a dozen armed RNA soldiers in civilian clothes arrested 24-year old Netra Prasad Baral, in Bharat Pokhari VDC-7, where he was staying at a friend’s house. The army also arrested three other people and the owner of the house they were staying in. The owner of the house was later released, while the other three people remain missing. The next day one of Baral’s friends who had witnessed the arrest informed his family.
  • Through a relative who works in the police the family found out that Baral was first taken to Fulbari barracks. On April 20, 2004, Baral sent his family a letter saying that on December 26, 2003, he was transferred to the Mahendra Gand army barracks in Gorkha. The family did not inquire with the barracks, fearing persecution.
  • Baral’s relatives reported the case to the ICRC and INSEC. The latter announced the "disappearance" in a local newspaper and on the local radio, but the family did not receive any further information on Baral’s whereabouts.
  • Baral was a recent school graduate and a member of All-Nepal Free Student Union (Revolutionary), a Maoist-affiliated organization.50
  • About a year before his arrest twenty-year-old Tirtha Nata Luitel, from Hemja VDC in Kaski district, was befriended by some CPN-M activists, who convinced him to drop out of school, join CPN-M, and become an underground activist. His family had not heard from Luitel in nearly a year when they learned from the newspaper that he had been arrested on November 8, 2003 (Kartik 23, 2060). The family reported the "disappearance" to INSEC and other human rights organizations, and was visited by ICRC representatives who also documented the case. They did not approach government officials, unsure about what could be done for them. They have had no information about Luitel since reading about his arrest in the newspaper.51
  • Two of the arrested men, twenty-six-year-old Budhi Pande and twenty-five-year-old Prakash Khanal, were from Chitwan district, and had come to Pokhara for their studies. Their families had not had extensive contact with them during their studies, and were thus unaware if they were actively engaged in CPN-M activities.
  • Budhi Pande was studying at the Prithivi Narayan (PN) campus in Pokhara at the time of his arrest on November 4, 2003 (Kartik 18, 2060). He had been living in Pokhara for nine years, and his family learned of his arrest through the newspaper. The family reported the "disappearance" to the ICRC and Amnesty International, as well as to local human rights groups. On March 15, 2004 (Chaitra 2, 2060), the family received a short phone call from Pande, who confirmed he was still being held in detention but could share few other details, and told his family not to worry.52
  • Prakash Khanal had failed his high school exit exams, and had been moving from city to city, first living in Birgunj and then moving to Pokhara, where he arrived just weeks before being arrested on November 9, 2003 (Kartik 23, 2060). After learning of the arrest five days later, his relatives went to report the case to the ICRC, INSEC, NHRC, and other human rights organizations. The family has had no information or contact with Khanal since his arrest.53

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