Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, January 25:

Human rights defenders, representatives of civil society, including teachers, today urged the government and the Maoists to sign the Human Rights Accord and respect international humanitarian law to pave the way for peace process. They urged both the warring factions to halt extra-judicial killings, disappearances, abductions, torture and other human rights violations and create a conducive environment for holding elections.

“The civil society and activists who participated in the two-day conference titled ‘Human rights and peace conference’ pointed out the need to hold elections through a democratic process,” said National Human Rights Commission member Sushil Pyakurel. He was speaking at the concluding session of the conference organised by the NHRC. The elections should be held in a conducive environment as per the UN standards. The question is whether such an environment can be created, he said. The participants urged the government to bring the guilty to book. “They urged the government to end impunity and do the needful,” said the NHRC secretary, Kedar Prasad Poudel.

Similarly, they urged both the parties to declare schools, hospitals, industries, religious sites and highways as zones of peace.