Shivpuri scandal : NHRC hopes to get foreign experts soon

Kathmandu, January 4 :

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today said the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)-Nepal will provide the support of foreign experts to probe the controversial Shivpuri incident.

“It is expected that the OHCHR will provide experts from next week as it has given word to do so,” NHRC member Gauri Pradhan said today.

Pradhan said the OHCHR has assured the NHRC that it will provide a forensic anthropologist and an expert to examine the remains of burnt firewood and coal found at the Shivpuri area.

“OHCHR officials assured me that they will provide the experts next week to probe into the issue,” Pradhan said. The NHRC has been investigating whether 49 disappeared persons from Bhairavnath battalion were killed and buried or dumped at Shivpuri.

Though the NHRC was expected to get the initial report from the committee today, due to some reasons the committee told the NHRC it will submit the report next week. Sushil Bar Singh Thapa, spokesperson, Nepal Police Headquarters, and other officials were not available for comment. Moda Raj Dotel, spokesperson for the Home Ministry, said: “We have not received any request from the NHRC, but if we do we will provide support without delay.”