NHRC asks govt to evacuate Nepalis from Wuhan

Kathmandu: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged the government to repatriate those Nepalis living in Hubei province of China amidst coronavirus that is plaguing some Chinese cities.

A meeting of the NHRC on Sunday asked the government to take into account the Nepali people in Wuhan city at risk of the infection and take prompt measures to take them safely back to Nepal.

The meeting also decided to summon secretaries of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Education, and Health to take stock of health condition of Nepalis in the city and take measures to repatriate them, said NHRC Spokesperson Bed Prasad Bhattarai.

Nepalis including Nepali students living in various cities of China where the virus has taken its toll are at risk of contracting the virus and as a result, they are in fear finding it difficult to go out, and food stocks for them are fast depleting, it has been reported.

The NHRC made this direction to the government acting on a memorandum submitted by parents of Nepalis in the city calling for saving their life and repatriating them early as they are at risk of the virus. Approximately 185 Nepali students are reported to be living in the city.

Meanwhile, leaders of various political parties in Bhaktapur district have expressed their concerns about the government’s proposal to put those Nepalis in Bhaktapur after their repatriation from coronavirus prone cities of China.

They also demanded that the government withdraws its proposal in this regard. They made these statements at an event here.

Chairperson of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party Narayan Man Bijukchhe sounded danger to keep those Nepalis to be taken back to Nepal from coronavirus hit cities of China in the Kathmandu Valley.

The government’s proposal to keep them in four places of the Kathmandu Valley was short-sighted and suggested that it would be safe to keep them in China instead of repatriating them to Nepal.

The government is not well prepared and does not have enough resources to deal with the virus once it spreads from the returning Nepalis (if found infected), he reasoned. —