Nepal update: The Maoist menace-Part II
(May be read along with the previous paper on the subject: The
Maoist menace continues)
In the last three months, incidents relating to Maoists have in
fact increased, despite the formation of a High Powered Committee, referred to in the last
update. There were suggestions from the ruling party that perhaps the operations against
the Maoists should be handed over to the army. In a swift response, the Chief of Nepal
Police declared in an interview to Kathmandu Post November 18, that the insurgency had not
gone out of hand and with an additional strength of over 7000 personnel, the Police was
capable of maintaining law and order.
The Home Minister, Purna Bahadur Khadka, visited Rolpa district
and had separate meetings with the local political leaders of all parties and reviewed the
law and order situation.
He announced on his return, the plans of the government to tackle
the insurgency in a comprehensive way. The first step is to launch a political campaign
aimed at moving ahead together by uniting all the political parties inside and outside the
parliament. The second step is to take the development package to the doorsteps of the
people and the third is to work out a structured mechanism to oversee the steps taken.
Separately an administrative security plan is to be worked out, to safeguard the
people’s right to live.
Sensing that the Maoist insurgency may go out of hand thereby
affecting the security of the country, G.P.Koirala has taken the initiative to solve the
insurgency problem. The three steps outlined by the Home minister was itself a broad
scheme outlined by G.P.Koirala in the second week of October.
He said "The need to come up with an appropriate mechanism
to move forward to end Maoist violence has now become imperative. Nepal, a small country,
cannot sustain itself for long if it allows such violence to continue without any
check." The main opposition leader Madhav Nepal of UML, has also given indications of
full support in case the government comes with a concrete plan to solve the problem.
It should now be possible to tackle the issue both politically
and economically in a comprehensive way rather than dealing with it as a purely law and
order one.
A list of major incidents for the months from November 1999 to
January 2000 is given as an appendix. The mid west region continues to be the "hot
bed".
Appendix:
November 1999
Date: Incident
1: Police arrested one of the three Maoist insurgents
carrying some explosives, including a hand bomb and gelatine at Rodikot VDC in Humla.
40 armed Maoists looted Rs. 40,000 and land ownership
certificates from Agricultural Development Bank at the Lwanglel VDC of Kaski.
One Maoist insurgent was killed in an encounter with the
police at Tharmare VDC in Salyan.
2: 500 Maoist insurgents attacked Shahartara Police post
in Dolpa, killing three policemen. They also took away 9 rifles, one pistol, and one
walkie-talkie.
10: Thakur Prasad Neupane, a NC worker serving as Chairman
of the Bichaur VDC was killed in Lamjung. Killers suspected to be Maoist insurgents.
Two Maoist insurgents were shot and killed by the police
in the area bordering Salyan, Rukum and Jajarkot.
16: Police recovered 65 socket bombs, 30 locally made
crude bombs, 12 home made bombs, and three kilograms of ammunition, near Liwang district
HQ. of Rolpa. Police suspect it to be a Maoist shelter.
18: Two Maoists were killed in an encounter with police at
Mahat VDC in Rukum .
19: Maoist insurgents looted Rs.3700 in cash and
documents worth Rs. 240,000, and one rifle from the Nibuwakharka and Jagatradevi
VDCs of Syangja.
23: Atleast a dozen Maoist insurgents were reported to
have been killed in four separate encounters with police in Rukum, Kalikot and Bardiya.
They include five at Ranbhaikot,one at Khagal, two in Parkraya of Rukum, and two each at
Russa of Kalikot, and Surya Patuwa of Bardiya.
24: Three Maoist insurgents were killed in Salyan
DECEMBER 1999
Date: Incident
1: One policeman and two Maoist insurgents were killed
when a group of armed Maoist insurgents clashed with the police in Mehul, Dolakha, in
their bid to attack a branch office of the Rashtriya Banijya Bank located there.
3: A Maoist insurgent was killed in an encounter with the
police in a jungle at Uwa VDC in Rolpa .
5: A group of Maoist looted Rs. 20000/- from a Micro
-Hydro Electricity Project office at Jate VDC in Morang.
6-7: Two Maoist insurgents were killed at the Kholagaun
VDC in Rolpa, one at the Ryangli VDC in Gorkha and four killed at Pajaru VDC in Jajarkot.
10 : Four Maoist insurgents were killed at Pajaru VDC in
Jajarkot.
12: 25 Maoist insurgents attacked the office of Small
Farmers Cooperative Ltd. at Sijuwa VDC in Morang, damaged property, burnt documents and
took away land ownership certificates.
13: One Maoist insurgent was killed and one policeman
injured when 25 Maoist attacked the police team at Phagam in Rolpa.
14: Police raided Maoist guerrilla camps at Tribang VDC of
Rolpa, and in the clash that followed, eight Maoist insurgents were killed.
15: One Maoist was killed at Taksera VDC in Rukum.
18: Two Maoists were killed in an encounter with the
police at the Kotmaoul VDC of Salyan.
Police recovered 22 home made bombs in Kotgaun village of
Rolpa , two bombs at Simli of Rukum.
19: Four Maoist insurgents were killed at Taksera VDC of
Rukum
20: DSP Thule Rai released by Maoists.
Four Maoists were killed at the Pachhabang VDC of Rolpa.
21: Two policemen were killed in an ambush by Maoist
insurgents at the Tandrang VDC in Gorkha.
22: Two Maoist insurgents were killed at the Naya Gaun VDC
of Bardiya.
23: Maoist insurgents set fire to Small Farmers
Cooperative Society Ltd. at Kalleri in Dhading looting Rs. 148000.
31: NC activist Khem Raj Pokharal was brutally killed by
15 Maoist insurgents.
JANUARY 2000
Date: Incident
1: Two Maoists were killed in an encounter with the police
at the Jugad VDC of Rolpa district.
3: Two Maoists were killed in an encounter with police at
the Jugad VDC of Rolpa.
In the Mexing VDC, documents worth Rs. 600,000 looted by
Maoist insurgents.
A group of 120 insurgents looted Rs.2.5 million in cash,
gold and silver worth Rs.3.5 million, four rifles and 38 bullets at Khanigaun VDC from
Rashtriya Banijya Bank in Parbat district.
Nine policemen were killed at Raraly VDC in Jumla
district, when a large band of Maoists attacked police striking force.
4: Insurgents threw petrol bomb at the police post in
Taramarang and a socket bomb in Barhabise.
Insurgents looted documents worth Rs. 600,000 from VDC
Chairman's residence at Mexing VDC of Morang district.
Maoist woman was killed in a clash with police in Gorkha
district.
Four Maoists were killed in two different incidents in
Rolpa. Three in Pang VDC and one in Juga VDC.
Twelve workers of the NCP (Maoist) surrendered before the
Chief District Officer of Bardiya.
11: Maoist insurgents attacked a police station at the
Samri VDC in Nuwakot, one Maoist and three policemen were killed.
12: A Maoist rebel was killed in an encounter with police
in a jungle in Kalikot.
13: In Rolpa one of the three persons who had been
abducted by Maoists was found dead.
14: Two Maoist insurgents were killed at Dharamsala in
Rukum and one killed at Maipang.
Three policemen and bystanders were injured in a bomb
attack by Maoists at Liwang in Rolpa.
A bomb went off in the heart of Birgunj town seriously
injuring a person.
Nine persons including two Maoist rebels were killed and
hundreds got injured when police opened fire to stop a cultural program organised by
Maoists in a school at the Thaku VDC in Achcham.
22: Six police officers were killed in an ambush by
suspected members of an insurgent Maoist Group at Jajarkot.
Dr. S.Chandrasekharan
27.01.2000
