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VOL. 27, NO. 26, March 07, 2008 (Falgun 24 2064 B.S.)
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Guns And Roses Bolstered by agreements with the unarmed Terai groups, the government gears up for a security offensive against the armed outfits
By SUSHIL SHARMA
The government is contemplating a special security offensive to crush the Terai rebels ahead of the April polls.
The move follows recent agreements with the non-armed Terai parties to end the agitation there.
In a BBC interview, home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said that if the armed outfits renounced violence, joined peace talks and entered the peaceful political process that is most welcome.
If not, he warned, the security agencies would come down heavily upon them.
“A special plan of operation is underway (to deal with the armed groups). It will be launched soon,” thundered the soft-spoken minister.
Sitaula did not reveal the details. But he made one thing clear: there will be no-nonsense approach towards the Terai rebel groups. He said, “elections will go ahead, no matter what.”
Bolstered by the recent agreements with the agitating unarmed Terai parties, the home minister appears to have set his eyes on crushing the armed rebellion there.
A number of armed groups have emerged in Terai over the past two years. Two groups, led by Jaya Krishna Goit and Nagendra Paswan ‘Jwala’, are believed to be the biggest and the most influential.
They have dubbed the government’s recent agreements with the unarmed Terai parties a betrayal and threatened to disrupt the April elections.
There is no independent assessment of their strength. So, it is not clear if they have the capability needed to achieve their ‘disruptive’ goal.
Going by the mood of the home minister, the government does not seem to have taken the armed outfits as a serious threat.
Sitaula was asked if his new-found confidence had anything to do with the recent assertion of his own boss.
The reference was to what prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala said in his hometown Biratnagar four months ago. That the Terai problem can be resolved “within a minute with the cooperation of the neighbouring India”.
Sitaula brushed the issue aside. “It smacks of a motive”, said the dismissive minister. “We can resolve our problems ourselves.”
It was a clear assault on none other than the occupant of the Baluwatar residence of the country's executive chief. And a puzzle too!
Said a commentator, "answers to present challenges including that of Terai lie in untangling that crucial puzzle."
