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Kathmandu,Tuesday March 07, 2000 Fagun 24, 2056.
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Deal firmly with insurgency
The removal of a police force from a remote village
in Achham district to another location after an incident of loot and abduction of two
policemen by Maoists underscores the deteriorating security situation in the far western
region. A situation that calls for sudden evacuation of a long established security post
is definitely a proof that the government’s security arrangement is not holding. The
question is, what will locals do about their security with security personnel themselves
withdrawing?
Apparently, armed Maoist rebels looted 10 million
rupees worth of assets from a local Nepal Bank office and took two policemen hostage. This
incident as well as many other incidents involving Maoists are unfortunate because the
events indicate that they are not at all serious about resolving the problem of insurgency
through dialogue. For, at a time when there is much optimism in political circles that
talks between the government and Maoists will take place, these events have virtually
thrown cold water over any future talks by further complicating the matter.
The reason given for shifting the police post from
Binayak VDC of Achham is the resulting destruction of the house where the post was located
in a three-hour-long Maoist attack. Apparently, the Maoists used bombshells and
sophisticated weapons whereas the police forces ran out of bullets. Whatever the reason,
the moot point is — when security forces fail to protect even their own base, how can
they be expected to protect people in the village? Granted, the house has collapsed. But
isn’t it ridiculous that the police should abandon the village on the pretext that
there was no alternative location? Can we believe that they could not even find a house in
the entire village?
At the moment, Maoist rebels are very active in
finding strategic bases for their own operations. As such, withdrawal of police post from
a key location can only give them a free hand to use that place. This might make any
future re-posting of a police station difficult there. Going by the prevailing situation,
it has become urgent for the government to equip the police in a better manner and this
could include arming them with sophisticated weapons as well as providing them
paramilitary training. The problem also springs from the fact that limited police
personnel are deployed in troubled areas. That is why they are finding it increasingly
difficult to face the attacks of rebels who outnumber them. The only way out would be to
consolidate the police force, not only in terms of size and resources but also through
training.
The government must not forget that a long-lasting
resolution to the Maoist crisis is possible only through a bulk of convincing
action-oriented development packages to the affected districts. These areas are the most
undeveloped in the country and poverty, deprivation and social and economic injustice have
turned them into fertile grounds for Maoist activity. These problems can only be countered
if the government gives priority to developing these districts. And last, but not the
least, despite the escalation of Maoist related violence, the best way to resolve the
problem still lies in dialogue. The government must now be firm while dealing with the
insurgency, but at the same time it must keep the door open for talks.
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