Kathmandu, May 18

Various political leaders and human rights activists have condemned the recently inked nine point deal, saying some of the provisions in the deal signed between CPN-UML and Unified CPN-Maoist were against universal human rights principles.

At an interaction organised in the capital today, human rights activists asserted that points 3, 5 and 7 in the recently inked agreement were against the spirit of human rights.

They also claimed that deal was aimed at protecting the perpetrators.

Nepali Congress treasurer and parliamentarian Sita Devi Yadav said if the incumbent government introduced a new law that granted amnesty to those involved in disappearance and killing of innocent citizens during the decade-long insurgency, the NC will not endorse such a law.

Stating that she was the widow of a martyr, she questioned, “How can I pardon the murderer of my husband?”

Similarly, CPN-UML central committee member and parliamentarian Garima Shah argued that amnesty was possible only when the victim’s family agreed to it. She also urged the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to punish the perpetrators.

Likewise, human rights activist Charan Prasai said the perpetrators should be brought to justice as per the existing laws. “No culprit should be granted amnesty,” he added.

Acting chairman of Conflict Victim National Committee Kalyan Budhathoki; human rights activists Bhawani Prasad Kharel and Sushil Pyakurel; and advocate Dinesh Tripathi, among others, demanded that anti-human rights provisions in the nine-point agreement be scrapped.