Petition filed against PM Dahal for insurgency-era crimes

KATHMANDU: A writ petition has been registered at the Supreme Court against Prime Minister and Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Advocate Gyanendra Raj Aran and 14 others filed the petition, demanding the apex court order to arrest and hand needful punishment to Dahal for insurgency-era crimes.

A division bench of Justices Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Hari Prasad Phuyal decided to register petitions against Dahal on Thursday after the apex court had initially returned the petition.

Addressing a program in Kathmandu two years ago, Prime Minister Dahal made a controversial statement regarding the responsibility for the deaths during the Maoist insurgency. He had stated that he would only take responsibility for the deaths of 5,000 out of the 17,000 killed.

The petitioners have made Prime Minister Dahal, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Nepal Police headquarters defendants in the case.