Kathmandu, May 5:

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), forwarding letters to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers, has called on the government to take severe action against SSP Madhav Bahadur Thapa for letting security personnel under his command use excessive force against pro-democracy demonstrators at Gongabu.

It has welcomed the government’s reciprocal ceasefire announced on Wednesday. Terming the ceasefire by both the Maoists and the government timely and contextual, NHRC said in a statement it would pave the way for a peace process and rights protection. It also lauded both parties for making public their commitment to go for the peace process and talks.

Thapa visited the NHRC and admitted that “the security men under his command had used excessive force and that he had failed to order his subordinates to use minimum force,” the NHRC said in a statement.

The NHRC also urged the government to identify security men involved in opening indiscriminate fire at demonstrators from the house of AIG Rup Sagar Moktan at Gongabu.