KATHMANDU, JANUARY 8

At a time when various political parties, dissident groups, and stakeholders have been staging demonstrations for and against the dissolution of the House of Representatives, a decision which is sub-judice in the Supreme Court, the National Human Rights Commission today said its attention had been drawn to the possible impacts of these acts on the protection and promotion of human rights.

The rights body informed that it was closely watching and monitoring the demonstrations and protest programmes in Kathmandu and other parts of the country. “We have been notified that various political forces, groups and civil society activists are scheduled to launch more protest programmes throughout the country over dissolution of the HoR. The NHRC is serious about any untoward incident resulting from these protests,” read a press release issued by the rights body.

In this context, the authorities of NHRC Bagmati Province Office today discussed the present situation with Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Parajuli, Lalitpur CDO Dhundi Prasad Niraula, Kathmandu police chief Ashok Singh and Lalitpur police chief Kiran Bajracharya. During the meeting, the NHRC authorities directed them to respect the citizens’ rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression by adhering to the principle of the use of minimum force on the demonstrators, while preventing the loss of lives and property.

NHRC also reminded the CDOs and cops about the legal prohibitions that prohibit use of excessive force on the demonstrators during the peaceful protests. Bed Bhattarai, NHRC secretary, urged the local administrations and police to play a constructive role so as to let the citizens enjoy their constitutional rights. He also appealed to the demonstrators to express their differences in a peaceful manner by exercising maximum restraint.