Surkhet, October 20:

The Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), Surkhet, organised a workshop cum seminar on

Human rights and international humanitarian law in Birendranagar yesterday.

Speaking at the workshop, Maoist leaders of Jeet Memorial Brigade, Surkhet, including battalion commissars Bishwa Prakash and Shikhar, commanders Subash and Anupam and Maoist Surkhet district secretary Rahul said the Maoist Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) has always followed human rights and upheld humanitarian law. They claimed that child soldiers were not recruited in the Maoist PLA, adding that those taken under control for interrogation could not be termed as being abducted.

They said that though the Maoists have made mistakes in the past, they are now moving ahead by learning from past mistakes. The Maoist commanders claimed that the Maoists would always respect human rights, press freedom and civil rights.

Speaking on the occasion, advocate Krishna Bahadur Hamal urged the Maoists to treat those abducted according to humanitarian law, not to use children in war, not to use schools for politics and not to violate human rights.