Kantipur Report KATHMANDU, May 24
Special Representative of the Secretary General Ian Martin has tried to disown weakness on the part of his office in Nepal in monitoring Maoists combatants in Shaktikhor cantonment in regard to the death of businessman Ram Hari Shrestha.
"There have been some suggestions that in some way it points to a weakness in UNMIN's monitoring role at the cantonments, but that really is without foundation," said Martin, who is head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), at a press meet in New York on Thursday.
Replying to journalists, Martin further said on the killing of Shrestha by the combatants monitored by UNMIN, "We have a 24-hour surveillance of the weapons storage areas in the cantonments, but we are neither mandated nor resourced to supervise the personnel of the cantonments - around 20,000 of them in 28 sites - in addition to the Nepal Army installations." Martin's remarks have come at a time when questions are being raised over the role of UNMIN in monitoring the combatants in Shaktikhor cantonment where Shrestha was beaten up severely resulting into his death in a hospital in Chitwan.
Despite Martin's remarks, the UNMIN mandate clearly states that UNMIN is responsible for management of arms and armed personnel in cantonments.
Posted on: 2008-05-23 18:46:46 (Server Time)
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