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US ambassador calls on ‘DV victims’ to call off strike
US ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty (File Photo)
US ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty has called upon the "Diversity Visa victims” to call off the hunger strike they have been staging for some days in front of the embassy.
In a statement on Thursday Moriarty said, "As we explained to this group of protesters in face-to-face meetings with my deputy on February 5 and March 13, no visa is worth damaging your health."
The embassy claimed that the protesters had also begun to use "threats and intimidation" to try to deny visas to legitimate Nepali applicants.
"Representatives of the group threatened violence and attempted to extort money from two Nepali doctors who provide medical clearance services to qualified Nepali applicants seeking US immigrant visas," the statement reads.
According to the statement, the two doctors who sign medical clearance forms for the embassy for US visa have been ‘threatened’ by the protesters. “On March 7, seven young males claiming to be part of the ‘DV Lottery Protesters’ Group' visited the clinic of a Nepali physician and demanded that he stop his service to the embassy and one of them told the doctor that, "the consequences [of this refusal] would be very bad."
The embassy condemned these actions and called on the protesters to halt their hunger strike immediately. "If such threats interfered or halted physical examinations for immigrant visa applicants, the embassy would be unable to process any immigrant visa applications. Thousands of other Nepalis would be robbed of an opportunity to emigrate to the U.S. as a result," the statement further says.” nepalnews.com ia Apr 12 07
- http://www.nepalnews.com.np/archive/2007/apr/apr12/news13.php
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