New Delhi, April 18: Three leading human rights groups ' the International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International ' have urged the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on King Gyanendra and senior Nepali officials.

The groups also urged the council to put the human rights crisis in Nepal on its agenda.

At a meeting in Geneva convened by the Swiss government to review Nepal’s human rights record, the heads of all three groups said Gyanendra and his officials should be refused entry to any other country and their personal assets frozen.

They said the sanctions should target those directly responsible for implementing abusive policies. Other than Gyanendra, the human rights groups named vice- chairman of the council of ministers Tulsi Giri, home minister Kamal Thapa, justice minister Niranjan Thapa and information minister Srish Shamsher Rana as guilty of human rights violations.

The sanctions should also cover chief of army staff General Pyar Jung Thapa, inspector general of police Shyam Bhakta Thapa and the inspector general of the armed police force Shahabir Thapa, the rights groups said in a press release. They said the international community must apply pressure through sanctions that will have a direct impact on Gyanendra and his officials.