Major to be taken in army 'custody' upon his arrival

KATHMANDU, Dec 12: Major Niranjan Basnet, who is on of the prime accused in the disappearance, torture of Maina Sunar, 15, in 2004*, will be taken into Nepal Army’s “custody” as soon as he arrives at the airport on Saturday.

Expelled major´s flight delayed as UN decides to ´escort´ him

“He will be taken into army’s custody the day he arrives,” a highly-placed Nepal Army officer told Republica. Major Basnet, according to national and international human rights activists in the capital, is arriving Saturday afternoon from Chad. He was serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in the African country. [break]

When asked whether the Military Police would arrest Basnet, the army officer said that the major would be in the army’s custody under its security. He added that the major won’t be heading home from the airport. The Nepal Army´s decision comes after intense pressure forced Basnet out of the UN mission. The Amnesty International, among others, has already written to the government to arrest Basnet once he arrives in Nepal.

The army officer further said that the major had already been “acquitted” by a military court (in 2005). When asked as to why he was being taken into custody, the officer said that there was a lot of pressure on the Nepal Army. “But the government has not formally written to us on Major Basnet.”

Superintendent of Police in Hanumandhoka, Kathmandu said that he has no knowledge of Kavre police asking its Kathmandu counterpart to arrest Basnet. The Kavre District Court, rejecting a military court order on the Maina Sunar case, had ordered the arrest of Basnet, and three other accused in January last year. The order remains unimplemented. In September this year, the court had ordered the army to suspend him.

“Since he is a serving officer, it is the Military Police which will have to taken him into custody,” the police officer said.

It was Republica which pointed out last month that Major Basnet has been serving in Chad, much to the embarrassment of the United Nations (specifically its human rights commission) in general and its peacekeeping department in particular.

Maina was abducted from her home in Kavre district in February 2003 by soldiers from the Paanchkhal Barracks where Nepal Army´s UN peacekeepers are trained. After a lot of national and international pressure, the then Royal Nepalese Army was forced to admit the crime within its barracks and it revealed the name of the accused.

The army headquarters named Lt Col Bobby Khatri, Captain Amit Pun, Sunil Adhkari and Basnet (then captain) as involved in Maina´s torture and murder. The army had claimed that Pun and Adhikari were “detained for six months” (which could not be independently verified), and their promotion frozen; Khatri was ‘demoted’ and Basnet “acquitted” by a military court.

While Khatri and Basnet continued to serve after the crime (Khatri retired as colonel recently), Pun and Adhikari quit the service and have left the country.

*(Corrected)