Rights abuses soared during King's rule: Amnesty

Kathmandu, May 23: London-based Amnesty International has said the incidents of human rights violation in Nepal increased sharply following the royal takeover last year.

''Both the security forces and the Maoists indulged in gross human rights violations such as killings, illegal detentions, abductions, disappearances, amongst other abuses,'' the international human rights organisation said in its report.

''The human rights situation deteriorated sharply after King Gyanendra seized direct power and declared a state of emergency'', it said in its global report, released across the world including Nepal, today.

Civil liberties were undermined, with thousands of politically motivated arrests, strict media censorship and harassment of human rights defenders," said 'Amnesty International Report 2006 the state of the world's human rights'.

The security forces operating with impunity and disregard for the rule of law engaged in unlawful arrests, torture, extra-judicial killings of civilians and suspected Maoist cadres, while the Maoists abducted civilians and committed unlawful killings, among other crimes, the report added.

Judges and lawyers faced harassment and intimidation at the hands of the security forces and people freed by the courts were re-arrested, it said.

The report also mentions the arrests of thousands of political activists, human rights defenders, students, trade unionists and journalists. Children were made the victims of the rights violations by both the warring sides, it said.

The activities of the ''village defence forces'', the civilian militias reportedly backed by the State, further heightened the number of casualties and rights violations.

National and international human rights organisations accused the royal government of the gross violation of human rights.

UNI