Kathmandu, April 11:

The Amnesty International today urged the government to “rein in” security forces since it feared an increase in violence in the coming days.

The UK-based international human rights watchdog urged the government to probe allegations of misuse of force and firearms by the security forces and bring justice to the victims and their families. “Rather than justifying the use of excessive force, the government should be ensuring that the police and army act within the law to protect people’s lives,” said Purna Sen, Asia-Pacific Director of the Amnesty International, in a statement.

The rights body warned that the restriction on peaceful demonstrations by ban orders

and curfews and arbitrary arrests of hundreds of people would only inflame an already “volatile situation.”

“The government must order immediate and impartial investigation into all allegations of the misuse of force or firearms by the security forces,” said Sen adding that “victims and their families deserve justice and compensation.”

AI further urged the government to uphold the people’s right to peaceful political protests. “Some human rights activists who attempted to intervene in cases of police brutality have themselves been subjected to assault and harassment,” it added.