Kathmandu, August 29 :

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) today called for a “strong leadership among the families of the victims and their supporters and the concerned government to end impunity for forced disappearances in Asia.”

Nepal is one of the leading countries where cases of disappearances have been widely reported in recent years, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said in a statement issued here today on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, which falls on August 30.

Abductions and disappearance cases have “terrible consequences” in Asian countries including Nepal, it said. During the conflict in Nepal, and particularly since 2001, the security forces used arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and other gross abuses together with disappearances “under guarantees of complete impunity”, the AHRC said. “Since April, the incidences of reported abductions have dropped considerably, but most of the cases remain unresolved,” the AHRC said.

In league with Nepal are Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines, where cases of disappearances are extensively reported, too.