Miscellaneous
No threat in Australia for Dahal: Envoy
Amid reports that CPN (Maoist Centre) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal called off his scheduled Australia visit at the last moment for the “fear of being arrested on charge of conflict-era rights violations”, Australian Ambassador to Nepal Glenn White has said there was no such issue and that he was regularly in touch with his government, the police administration and the attorney general.Amid reports that CPN (Maoist Centre) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal called off his scheduled Australia visit at the last moment for the “fear of being arrested on charge of conflict-era rights violations”, Australian Ambassador to Nepal Glenn White has said there was no such issue and that he was regularly in touch with his government, the police administration and the attorney general.
During a meeting with White, Dahal on Tuesday had cited domestic politics as the reason for cancelling his visit to Australia. Dahal was scheduled to inaugurate a convention of People’s Progressive Forum, Australia, the party’s foreign wing, in Sydney, the capital of New South Wales.
An Australian national of Nepali origin had filed a complaint against him just ahead of his visit. The government chief legal adviser, however, had confirmed that Dahal’s visit was cancelled due to fear of his possible arrest under the universal jurisdiction.
Claiming that Dahal is the main perpetrator of the decade-long Maoist insurgency that led to the death of 16,000 people, 1,400 disappearances, 20,000 cases of torture and over 80,000 internal displacements, the petitioner had urged the Australian government to reconsider his entry to the country.
The Embassy of Australia in Nepal, however, had already issued visa to Dahal.
According to the Maoist Centre secretariat, during Tuesday’s meeting, Dahal and White dwelt on latest political developments and post-quake reconstruction. Dahal is also learnt to have sought international support to complete the remaining components of the peace process. During the meeting, Dahal also highlighted the need of a national unity government to address the demands of the Madhesi, Tharu and indigenous communities and to expedite the post-earthquake reconstruction works.