Ian Martin suggest Military Cases in Civilian Courts

Kathmandu, Feb 17- Ian Martin, the chief of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal,at a programme organised by the Nepal Bar Association here on Friday demanded that the military court cases be tried in "civilian courts."

Urging both the warring factions to conflict to respect international humanitarian law, he said Nepal's human rights situation is of great concern to the international community.

"We haven't received any details concerning the Royal Nepal Army's court martial and court of inquiry procedures. Such cases should be dealt by civilian courts instead of RNA courts," he said. There are serious blots on Nepal's human rights pattern, said Martin expressing concern over arbitrary detentions. "I recently met the Home Minister but I was not given any assurances when all the detainees would be released," he said

He said that the government does not have any policies to control vigilante groups that have been formed to defend Maoist atrocities. "We raised our concern about the vigilante groups to the government but we were told that it does not have any policies on the matter and that it has nothing do with them," said Martin.

Stating that the results of the upcoming UN convention in Geneva cannot be foretold, he said, "We don't know what action will be taken" concerning Nepal. The government can present its comments on the OHCHR's report to the UN Commission of human rights.

OHCHR-Nepal, according to him, is in contact with the Maoists and they have a "dual dialogue" with the Maoists as well as the government representatives. Although "great efforts" by both sides to respect human rights are evident, human rights violations including threats to journalists, curbing of right to assemble amongst others are a recurring trend.