FM officials bid to broker peace fails

KATHMANDU, June 19: Nepali students at the University of Science and Technology in Chittagong (USTC), Bangladesh are still living in terror as the foreign ministry official´s bid for a conciliatory meeting between the victims and attackers failed after the scared victims did not turn up Saturday.



Joint Secretary Hari Kumar Shrestha, who heads the SAARC Division at the foreign ministry, was sent to Bangladesh by the ministry to settle the matter. Shrestha had met the victims and friends of the assailants and tried to hold the meeting Sunday morning. [break]



“But the meeting didn´t take place as the victims refused to turn up due to fear,” Consular and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Nepali Embassy in Bangladesh Krishna Chandra Aryal, who had accompanied Shrestha to Chittagong said.



The victims said they did not go to the meeting fearing that the officials were trying to dismiss the case in the name of conciliation. But Aryal claimed the officers did not try to dismiss the case. “Bangla police have arrested three assailants and are carrying out investigations into the incident. We don´t want to, and we can´t even if we want to influence the investigations in any way. We just wanted to broker peace between the victims and the friends of assailants,” Aryal explained.



An armed group of students including Rajendra Dhungana, Shambhu Sen Tumbafo, Ratna Shahi, Dinesh Raj Dahit, Raju Sherchan, Susabin Rai, Durga Gurung and Ghanashyam Rai had attacked the university hostel in the night on June 10 and injured 15 Nepali students. Bangla Police have arrested Dhungana, Shahi and Tumbafo while the rest of the accused are still absconding.



Aryal said joint-secretary Shrestha also met the university authorities and demanded security for Nepali students and suitable environment for study inside the college. “The university has also started its own probe while the police have also been investigating into the incident,” Aryal added. Shrestha will return to Nepal on Sunday and brief the ministry about the incident.



The guardians of injured students and others studying at the USTC have met Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai and asked the Foreign Ministry to recall the guilty students saying their children would not be safe as long as the assailants were in Bangladesh. On the other hand, the guardians of the accused have asked the government to consider the future of their children and not recall them.

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