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Kathmandu Friday November 03, 2000 Kartik 18, 2057.
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Rebel whereabouts likely
to be made public
By Suman Pradhan
KATHMANDU, Nov 2 As the deadline set by the
rebel Maoists loom near, the government has made up its mind to make public the
whereabouts of captured rebel guerrillas, including one of their top field commanders
Dinesh Sharma.
The Home Ministry has been working
feverishly to prepare a list of all captured Maoist rebels and where they are lodged among
the dozens of jails throughout the kingdom. The exercise has been continuing for some days
inside the Ministry, and now the government is prepared to release the list, a top
official familiar with the developments told The Kathmandu Post on Thursday.
"The government is in the mood to make
public the list of captured rebels and where they are lodged," the official said.
"There is a high possibility that it could be released by the deadline set by the
Maoist leadership."
Maoist leader "Comrade
Prachanda," in a statement released Wednesday, issued an ultimatum to the government
to make public the whereabouts of Dinesh Sharma and other captured rebels by 3 p.m.
Friday. Or else, Prachanda warned, the rebel group would construe the government's
non-compliance as a rejection of peace overtures.
While the Girija Prasad Koirala government
is almost agreeing to the Maoists' demand regarding its captured colleagues, it has yet to
make up its mind whether or not to upgrade the recent "unofficial" talks between
Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel and Maoist central committee member Rabindra
Shrestha to the "official" status.
"We would want to continue the
unofficial rounds a little more before deciding on making it official," the official
said.
The reason for such ambivalence is that,
once given the official stamp, the talks between the DPM and rebels could turn out to be a
catalyst in the rebels' attempt to raise funds, buy arms, and most important of all, in
their fresh recruitment drive.
"The Maoists could point to the
official contact and tell potential recruits, 'see we are talking officially with the
government. We are no different from the government. There is no harm in joining
us'," the official explained. "That could be a major boost to the Maoist
morale."
Meanwhile, there are reports that top
Maoist leaders have managed to establish contact with no less a person as Prime Minister
Koirala himself. The report, as yet, is unverified, but it has been known that in recent
days, the rebel group has been trying to develop several channels of communication with
the nation's political leadership.
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