“Instead of making haphazard statements, the government should move forward to rescue the hostage and bring out the facts through investigation,” he told myrepublica.com on Thursday. [break]
Pokharel termed Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal´s recent statement voicing suspicion over Maoist involvement in the doctor´s abduction as immoral and invalid.
“Nobody can say yet where the doctor but our party has been accused,” he said.
Meanwhile, CPN-UML urged the government to bring out the facts of the case. Handing over a memorandum to Prime Minister Nepal on Thursday, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, who heads the health department of the party, said that people were not satisfied with the government as the latter failed to say anything about the case.
Shrestha´s delegation also urged the government to ensure security to the health workers.
Likewise, Nepal Students Union (NSU) staged a protest demonstration at Ratnapark on Thursday demanding disclosure of the status of Dr Shrestha. The doctor was kidnapped on May 18.
Maoists isolated in the movement
UCPN (Maoist) has been isolated in the movement that was jointly started five days ago in Chitwan to create pressure for safe release of Dr Shrestha.
Eight political parties and Save Dr Bhaktaman Movement had declared joint programs. But Nepali Congress immediately backed off from the joint campaign saying the Maoists had pointlessly turned violent after the Maoist party was implicated in the kidnapping. Adding to frustrations, UML leaders too have been showing up in the least.
“When they torched the press vehicle and even tried to burn the people traveling in the vehicle, we no longer saw reason to collaborate with them,” said said Ram Krishna Ghimire, the president of Nepali Congress Chitwan District Committee.
While a sit-in protest was being staged in front of the District Administration Office, Chitwan on Thursday, most of those participating in the protests were Maoists.
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