Kathmandu, May 21: Nepal's former prisoners of conscience have demanded the government make public the whereabouts of "disappeared" people from the barracks of the military's infamous Bhairavnath battalion, accused of torturing and killing innocents under the direction of the then Army General Pyar Jung Thapa.
In a meeting attended by top Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai and minister Matrika Yadav, at least 40 former prisoners of conscience appealed to the government to make public the whereabouts of those who "disappeared" from the custody of Bhairavnath battalion.
"Friends, who were in Bhairavnath, have been killed under the direction of the then Army General Pyar Jung Thapa," said Krishna KC, one of the former prisoners of conscience while appealing to human rights activists and media to put pressure on the government to disclose the whereabouts of those who "disappeared" from Bhairavnath.
He asked why the interim government has not been able to make public the whereabouts of hundreds of prisoners. "Who should answer this question King Gyanendra or Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala?" Krishna read out the names of 47 people, who had disappeared from Bhairavnath.
"They have disappeared, and the war criminals have not been punished. Why is the government quiet?" asked Bina Magar, another prisoner recalling her days in Bhairavnath.
The office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had submitted its report on the Bhairavnath saga to the government earlier.
Maoist leaders Bhattarai and Yadav regretted that the status of the prisoners has not yet been made public. "We are sad and can't do anything for friends, but the revolution has not ended, we are ready to be killed but would not bow down," Bhattarai was quoted as saying by Himalayan Times Online.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=372477&sid=SAS
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