Dunai wears deserted look

By J Pandey

DUNAI (Dolpa), Sept 26 - This ransacked district headquarters has not been able to shake off the terror of Sunday night's guerrilla attack in which at least 14 policemen were killed and main administration buildings were devastated.

Government offices have remained closed and the paths are deserted. Except for few shops have also remained closed.  Government employees have started to move out of the district.

There is sense of fear and insecurity everywhere which today's visit of Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi and Inspector General of Police Achyut Krishna Kharel couldn't dispel.

Some of the local women who dared to come out demanded guarantee of security with the Home Minister and also suggested that the government should  reach a compromise with the Maoists to save the people.

Making a sarcastic remark to the Home Minister the women said they do not need "speeches and radio news about security of people's life and property."

Jaya Bahadur Rokaya, a local leader of Rastriya Prajantra Party said,"The ruling and the opposition parties should come forward to maintain peace and security in the district. How can we live here without the guarantee of security? " he asked.

The Home Minister inspected the ruins of the office buildings devastated by yesterday's socket bomb attacks by estimated one thousand Maoist guerrillas.The district administration office, the district police office and the jail has been destroyed by the attacks carried out for more than 6 hours.

An all party meeting was also held on the premises of the District Development Committee today where Home Minister Joshi reiterated that the government is ready to use all means against the Maoist insurgents.

"If the terrorists had taken control over Dolpa district and claimed the territory as theirs, that would have given a bad name to the country. The police have saved the country from that disgrace," the Home Minister said.

The Home Minister also said that the police posts cannot be built immediately but the government has already released Rs 2,000,000 to renovate the damaged police buildings.

The Home Minister also said the government is thinking of making a ministerial level inquiry into the incident. But the government has already constituted  a three member probe committee under Additional Inspector General of  Police Pradeep Shumsher JBR.

IGP Kharel gave secret instructions to the police force present in the district. He said the strategic location of Dunai needs police posts at the hills surrounding the headquarters.

PM hints at Army mobilization

By Sanjeev Ghimire & Beena Kharel

KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said Tuesday that the Royal Nepalese Army could be used to counter the Maoist rebellion.

Koirala's remarks came even as calls have been growing for his immediate resignation in the aftermath of the devastating raid Sunday night by Maoist guerrillas on Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa.

Replying to a query by The Kathmandu Post on whether it was now time to mobilize the army against the rebels, the Prime Minister said, "in such an atmosphere of terror, the Army can be mobilized."

Asked if there was a possibility of such a mobilization in the near future, Koirala said, "yes it is possible." He was talking to TKP after a function at Jain Niketan in the capital.

The prime minister's remarks are the clearest indication yet of the government's intention to send the Army to fight the rebels who have been waging a vicious "people's war" for nearly five years, mostly in the rural western hill districts of Nepal.

The Army has so far remained aloof of the battle, but that could end since the Cabinet yesterday decided to use all security apparatus at its disposal to maintain law and order.

The insurgents raided various government and police installations in Dolpa district headquarters Dunai at about midnight Sunday killing 14 policemen and injuring over 40 more while devastating the buildings of the District Administration Office, the District police headquarters and the district jail. Nineteen inmates were set free while 11 jail guards also were abducted by the rebels.

The carnage has attracted widespread indignation against the rebels, as well as calls for Koirala's resignation. The ruling Nepali Congress, issuing a press statement here today, condemned insurgents for yesterday's incident and urged the government to take a very stern action to quell the insurgency.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) Bamdev Gautam strongly called for the resignation of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on moral grounds for failing to quell the Maoist rebellion.

"Koirala must follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and resign from the premiership," said Gautam after a party programme today. He also called for the resignation of Inspector General of Police Achyut Krishna Kharel.

Referring to the spree of violence in Dolpa, Gautam said,

" On one hand, this is a crystal clear example of how successful the Maoists are in their campaign. On the other, the incident is a blatant manifestation of the government's impotence in maintaining law and order in the country."

Police playing cat n' mouse with Ale in NHRC house

By Binaj Gurubacharya

KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - Nara Bahadur Ale has spent the past three years in jail serving seven different jail terms. The minute he would be released from the six-month jail terms, he would be arrested right then and sent back to prison.

On Monday, the Lalitpur District Court released him after serving the six months handed down by the Chief District Officer under the Public Security Act. No sooner had he prepared to leave the court premises, lawyers noticed plain-clothes police officials ready to nab him outside the court premises.

Lawyers today escorted Ale to the office of the recently formed National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) where he is presently being kept. However, NHRC officials said that there was an unmarked police vehicle parked right outside their office at Pulchowk ready to nab Ale the minute he leaves.

This incident has raised the question of not only the safety of Ale but of dozens of others like him who NHRC officials say are wrongly arrested by the police and sometimes kept in jail longer than their date of release.

But the main question raised here is if the police is violating the rights of an individual right outside the premises of the NHRC office then how much this much-hyped agency will be able to protect the rights of the citizen in all the 75 districts of the country.

"We are taking this case situation very seriously. We had called the Home Secretary, CDO and the Police who have all denied there was any plans to arrest Ale yet we feel he will be nabbed the minute he leaves," NHRC member Sushil Pyakurel said.

Pyakurel said that on the one hand the administration and the police were verbally assuring them of full cooperation but in reality their actions were on the contrary. In short, the government is lying to the commission.

"The government has verbally assured full cooperation but they need to show us through their action and behaviour ... however, they have not extended us cooperation as human rights are still being violated," Pyakurel said.

Now NHRC officials are not sure what they can do with Ale. They have no option or arrangement to house or protect Ale and people like him in their premises. The most they can do is call up the state machinery. However, since they have already denied such motives there is nothing NHRC can do.

"This is not the first time that a person has been arrested without cause or held beyond the release date. There are many such cases," said another member Kapil Shrestha.

It is not just denying cooperation but refusing to help in their task given by the government itself.

Couple of days back the NHRC Chairman Nayan Bahadur Khatri complained to the prime minister that the Commission has been accused by some government agencies of exceeding its rights and disturbing the functioning of the government.

"We take such statement as indicative of lack of understanding of human rights among administrative organs," Khatri had said. "We shall not be discouraged by such comments and are committed to perform our duty in accordance with the NHRC Act."

Ticket crunch before Dashain

By a Post Reporter

KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - Indra Karki of Babiya Kharka, Ramechhap was hanging around the RNAC ticket counter for the third day Tuesday in the hope of getting  a flight ticket to visit his family during Dashain festival. His chances of flying to his home were slim because the tickets were booked  well in advance as usual.

"All the tickets are already booked. Let's see something unusual might happen meantime," he said optimistically.

He could not see his wife last year because of the same reason. This year he does not want his family to miss him on the auspicious occasion.

Like Karki, for thousands of people working in the capital, getting tickets to visit their homes during Dashain remains as difficult as earlier days even after almost a dozen private airlines have started their operation.

The situation hasn't changed for the better because the private airlines operate only in profitable sectors like Pokhara and Biratnagar. RNAC has to look after sectors like Ramechhap  and Rumjatar.

Dashain, the Hindu festival in which Goddess Durga is worshipped for two weeks, is the most prominent festival among Nepalis. People return to their villages at any cost during this festival.

"All seats for remote destinations have already been booked till Dashain," a booking staff at RNAC Domestic Booking Counter said.

Acting deputy director of RNAC Marketing Division G Khadka said RNAC manages to operate 20 percent extra flights a week before Dashain but that is not sufficient.

He said, " We can't meet people's demand in this season even if we double the flight capacity. We know the passengers' problems but we can't help it." RNAC operates around 20 flights per day with its five Twin Otters nationwide.

An RNAC staff, asking for anonymity, blames the national flag carrier itself for not improving the situation even after so many years of the recurrent problem.

Private airlines are somehow facilitating the passengers. Yeti Airlines has flights for Lukla, Rumjatar, Lamidanda, Meghauly, Phaplu and Simra, including a two-way flight to Lukla for Nepalis. Sital Rajbhandari, a booking assistant, said most of the passengers happen to be Nepalis during Dashain festival season.

However, the passengers take the private airlines' claims with a pinch of salt."Private airlines reserve seats for foreigners and Nepali passengers are't their priority," says a passenger.

Prajwal Bajracharya of Mt Kailash Tours and Travels said the airlines might do so because foreigners pay in dollars.

Likewise, unavailability of bus tickets is also hitting the passengers. Though the seats are not fully booked, the tickets were beyond common passengers' reach in many locations. "The ticket sellers reserve several tickets for themselves so that they would sell in black market," an agitated passenger charged.