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RIGHTS-NEPAL: Return to Peace Threatened by Vigilante Groups

Renu Kshetry

KATHMANDU, Sep 18 2008 (IPS) - Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s defence in parliament of continued vigilante action by the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of his Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist (CPN-M), has disappointed rights activists as detrimental for a quick return to the rule of law.

Dahal, also known as ‘Prachanda,’ justified the paramilitary powers that the YCL continues to enjoy by saying, on Sep. 14 in parliament, that a solo effort by the Nepal police was not enough to maintain law and order in the country.

This statement, activists and observers say, not only encourages the YCL to continue taking the law into its own hands but also serves as a cue to youth vigilante groups formed by rival political parties to follow suit.

Political parties that have raised their own youth wings include the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) or CPN-UML with its Youth Force (YF) and the opposition Nepali Congress party that is busy setting up the Tarun Dasta (Youth Group).

This proliferation of youth groups is being seen as an impediment in the speedy return of the rule of law in a country emerging from a decade-long civil war that resulted in the deaths of more than 13,000 people. Continued incidents of clashes between rival youth groups are now raising serious doubts about the progress of the ongoing peace process in Nepal.

Prof. Krishna Khanal, a noted political analyst, said recent clashes between the youth outfits will definitely hamper the coalition government and the peace process. “It will have an adverse effect during the transitional period,” said Khanal. “With all these forces exercising quasi-judicial power, Nepal’s politics is definitely going back to a primitive stage.”

If this trend continues people will have to live in constant fear, Khanal said. “It is an encroachment of the citizen’s right to freedom.”

On Sep. 6, YF members locked up the district forest officer of Banke district in his office as punishment for releasing from custody a person said to be involved in illegal timber trade. Both the YF and YCL have been involved in meting out kangaroo justice to government officers, allegedly involved in corruption.

Purusottam Dahal, president of Human Rights and Peace Society, termed this as a sheer abuse of human rights. “These youth outfits are legitimising violent activities by terrorising people and taking the law into their hands,’’ said Dahal. ‘’Civil society and human right activists need to raise their voices against such activities and press for intervention.”

Gokarna Bista, a CPN-UML coordinator for its youth wing, claimed that the idea was to make young people more responsible and accountable in social transformation and checking social injustice.

Similarly, Chandra Bahadur Thapa, also known as Sagar, who is in charge of the YCL in the Kathmandu Valley, claimed that its members were being involved in development work such as building infrastructure and agricultural development.

Both Bista and Thapa denied that the youth groups under their charge were involved in quasi-judicial activities or were violating human rights.

However, in the past one month, clashes between the YCL and YF, over the right to collect funds, have led to the imposition of curfew for five days in Ramechhap district in central Nepal and Dhankuta district in east Nepal.

Meanwhile, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed grave concern at the formation of new youth groups fashioned after the YCL of the ruling CPN-M.

The NHRC issued a press statement on Sep. 15 saying that the newly formed groups like YF, Tarun Dasta and Madhesh Brigade, the youth wing of the of the Madhesi (plainsmen) Janadhikar Forum, have been found involved in seizure of private properties, kidnapping, forceful collection of donations, obstruction of highways and clsore of government offices.

“Even if such groups were constituted with a good intention the activities of such groups are hindering peace and security and undermining the rights of ordinary citizens,’’ NHRC stated.

The commission also urged political parties to refrain from promoting actions which, directly or indirectly, weaken law and order and undermine human rights.

With the YCL’s existing paramilitary structure yet to be disbanded, despite pledges by party leaders, and with groups like YF following suit, the maintenance of law and order in Nepal remains a big challenge.

Dahal had vowed to disband the paramilitary structure of YCL within 15 days of the government formation. Even the former general secretary of CPN-UML, Madhav Kumar Nepal, rapped the YF’s activities. But these two groups continue to flout the country’s law.

“If these forces can involve in paramilitary activities then the government’s legitimacy does not hold strong,” Khanal commented. “This shows that the political parties do not have basic idea of rule of law.”