This report describes the results of a recent fact-finding visit by Amnesty International to Nepal to investigate reports of human rights violations by police and abuses by armed opposition groups in the context of a “people’s war” declared by the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) (Maoist) in February 1996. Over the last year at least 50 people have been killed in what police claim were “encounters” or armed confrontations with the CPN (Maoist). However there is evidence that suggests the police have repeatedly resorted to the use of lethal force in situations where force was clearly unjustified, and as an alternative to arrest. Police have also been responsible for torture and arbitrary arrest and detention. Victims have included those suspected of being members of the CPN (Maoist) or its political wing, the United People’s Front (Bhattarai), (SJM). Armed activists of the CPN (Maoist) have also been responsible for deliberate killings of civilians.
