KATHMANDU, DEC 28 - Three Maoist leaders have moved the Supreme Court against the government decision to promote Lt. Gen. Toran Jung Bahadur Singh, arguing that it violated the rule of law and ignored human rights concerns.

In a public interest litigation filed on Sunday, the Maoist leaders, including UCPN (Maoist) Central Committee Member Krishna K.C. have demanded, among others, an interim order to annul the government decision promoting Singh arguing that the decision went against the letter and spirit of the Interim Constitution, the Civil Rights Act 1995 and the accepted principles of human rights.

In its May 2006 report, OHCHR Nepal had implicated Singh in the disappearance of 49 detainees from the Nepal Army’s Bhairavnath Battalion between 2003 and 2004 and recommended his immediate suspension pending investigation.

Despite warnings from human rights defenders, a Cabinet meeting on Thursday promoted Singh as Chief of General Staff, the second-in-command in the Army.

Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Gen. Singh, among others, have been named defendants in the litigation. The petitioners claim they were also detained in the battalion and were partial witnesses to the enforced disappearance of 49 detainees. Meanwhile, Chief of the Army Staff Chhatraman Singh Gurung on Sunday conferred the insignia to recently promoted Lt. Gen. Singh at a special function organised at the Army headquarters in Bhadrakali.

Posted on: 2009-12-28 09:26

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