Kathmandu, February 6:

The Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Coordination Committee today flayed the security forces for shooting an innocent civilian and torturing another to death. HRTMCC conducted its on-the-spot probe in Syangja and Tanahun districts following recent clashes between the security forces and Maoists. The team criticised both sides for using human settlements as battlefields.

Encounters between security forces and Maoists at Manakamana VDC 1 and 2 and Kichanas VDC 5 of Syangja district and Ambote and Arunodaya VDC 2 of Tanahun district on January 12 and January 13 reportedly peaked in gross human rights violations. Two civilians, two security men and 18 Maoists died in the violence.

“Sixty-year-old Rel Bahadur Gurung was killed by the forces in crossfire at Manakamana VDC on January 13,” said the HRTMCC report, released at a press meet here. Pritam Bahadur Gurung, 69, died of excessive torture by the army. After the encounter in Manakamana VDC, security forces detained 28 locals. The locals were kept in Chihandanda and tortured. They were released on January 14.

One, an asthma patient Pritam, was taken to Gandaki Zonal Hospital in Pokhara but died after reaching home, said Baburam Bishwakarma, HRTMCC member and the Informal Sector Service Centre official. A HRTMCC team comprising INSEC, HimRights Lifeline, Dalit NGO Federation members conducted the probe from January 18-February 1.

The forces and rebels also fired at 27 houses in Manakamana VDC. Maoists fired at security men who were using the houses as shields while the forces attacked the Maoists with bullets and bombs in human settlements, the report said. The forces also seized food and property from Maoists’ families and civilians. They shot dead a 22-year old unarmed Maoist girl in Chitrebhanjyang of Syangja.

INSEC general secretary Kundan Aryal urged both the government and Maoists to respect human rights and international humanitarian law during encounters and to refrain from targeting civilians.