Rebel hits kill 35 policemen, Two dozen more abducted

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KATHMANDU, April 2 - At least 35 policemen were killed and a similar number wounded over night when Maoist rebels struck two police outposts Rukum and Dolakha districts. Rebels also took the battle into the Capital, setting off bomb explosions at the homes of former Nepali Congress lawmaker Lekh Nath Neupane in Bhaktapur and former Inspector General of Police Achut Krishna Kharel in Kathmandu.

Reports by our correspondents in Rukumkot say that rebel assault at the Rukumkot police striking force base left 30 policemen dead, including a police inspector, and over 14 wounded. Some two dozen policemen have also been abducted from the attacked police striking base in Shova Village District Committee. The striking base and the area police office have been completely destroyed by the attack.

This attack in Rukum is the biggest since the Maoist assault in Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa, in September last year, which had left 15 policemen dead. The latest attack comes a few days ahead of the Maoist-called Nepal bandh, slated for Friday.

According to the information provided by the District Administration Office in Rukum, the dead includes Inspector Jivan Kumar Khadka, Sub Inspectors Punya Prashad Yadav and Purna Prashad Maharjan, Assistant Sub Inspectors Dil Bahadur Singh and Nayan Bahadur Rai, constables Hari Bahadur Bhudathoki, Rana Bahadur Sunar, Nir Bahadur Bista, Suryananda Chaudhari, Aam Raj Thakur, Navaraj Thakur, Bhim B Thapa Magar, Arjun Kharel, Rhudra Bahadur Katuwal, Ambar B Thapa Magar, Krishna Bahadur Shrestha, Rajendra Poudel, Dip Bahadur Budhathoki, Ram Lakhan Chaudhari, Janak Lal Tamta, Narendra B Rawat, Hem Raj Pande, Krishna Raj Shahi, Deelip K GC, Shundar Oli, Man Bahadur Adhikari, Rai B Singh, Gokarna Giri, Tika Narayn Shrestha.

Among the ones flown to Kathmandu for treatment include head constable Ganga B Lohani, constables Bikram Thapa, Purna Rana, Pashupati Bamjan, Madan Singh Aeer, Keshab Adhikari, Tej B Karki, Mohan B Karki, Ram B Shahi, Jeet B Moktan and Tika B Dangi.

In similar incident five policemen and three Maoist rebels have been killed in Mainapokhari village in Dolkha district 154 km east of Kathmandu. Around 20 policemen have been wounded in the assault.

Thirty-one injured policemen from Rukum and Dolkha were airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment Monday morning. Among the injured 25 (14 from Dolkha and 11 from Rukum) are being treated at the Birendra Police Hospital in Maharajgunj.

According to a staff of the Police Hospital five critically injured policemen were sent to the Army Hospital in Chhauni and two to the Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj this morning.

Meanwhile, rebels also attacked the homes of former MP Neupane in Bhaktapur and ex-IGP Kharel in Kathmandu. The two time bomb blasts were set off simultaneously at around 5 this morning, Police said. No one was injured in the blasts, but the explosion shattered windows and destroyed the gate of Kharel’s house.

In the Mainapokhari attack in Dolakha, our correspondent Ishwari Neupane reported that rebels started attacking the local police post at around 3 o’clock in the morning. The rebels surrounded the police post, 34 kilometers from the district headquarters Charikot, from three sides and started firing and throwing socket and pipe bombs. The assault lasted for two and half-hours till 5:30 am.

"First they fired one shot and then broke down my door and came in," said Devi Bahadur Basnet whose house adjoins the Police Post. "Then they started firing at the police post from inside the house," he added.

According to the information provided by the police officials rescuing the injured, the dead include Head Constable Bhola Khadka from Sindhupalchowk, and Constables Shiva Prashad Bastola from Kaski, Nanda Raj Bhatta from Baitadi, Dol Bahadur Rana from Arghakhachi and Radheshyam Basnet from Bhaktapur.

Among the injured who have been flown to the Capital for treatment are Sub Inspectors Rabinra Baskota and Dev Bahadur Wasti, Assistant Sub Inspector Chitra Bahadur Thapa, head constable Kamal Kishor Yadav, constables Dhak Bhadur Bika, Dhan Bahadur Basnet, Khem Bahadur Thapa, Mahendra Thapa, Rolak Bahadur Rana, Krishna Prashad Pant, Som Bahadur Lama, Rishi Gurung, Dilip Gurung and Ravi Shankar Mishra. The other injured are Head Constable Gopal Aacharya, Constables Santosh Shah, Khem Thapa, Megh Bahadur Thapa, Ranjit Das and Yam Thapa.

The three dead Maoists have not yet been identified.

According to Bijay Kumar Bhatta Deputy Superintendent of Police, there was a bomb blast at an orphanage 30-km West of Charikot immediately as the reinforcement team left for Mainapokhari.

"In the eastern side of the headquarters the road had been blocked by felling big trees," Bhatta said. "It took five hours to clear the road," he added.

The Mainapokhari post had altogether 39 policemen including the ones from the striking force.

Meanwhile, the Maoist organised a torch rally at around 5:30 pm Monday evening at the Capital’s Golkopakha, Thamel. About two dozens youths ran about 50 meters shouting pro-Maoist slogans and scatering leaflets. The fear in people’s mind could be clearly seen as the streets became deserted immediately after the incident.

Striking force struck hardest by rebels 

By Bishwamani Pokharel

RUKUMKOT, April 2 - Why the Maoist rebels chose the night of April Fool’s Day to slaughter 30 of their comrades is unfathomable to many of the surviving policemen in this remote outpost in Rukum district.

All they know is that, hell itself broke lose on Sunday night when more than 500 rebels armed with rifles, bombs and grenades launched a daring raid on the police striking force post in what has now become the bloodiest battle yet in the six- year old insurgency that has racked rural Nepal.

"We had no inkling that they would attack that night," says lucky survivor, sergeant Biswonath Dahal. "We found out only after the village nearby erupted in a masal julus and the rebels began firing towards us indiscriminately."

When senior government and police officials arrived at the police post where 76 policemen had once been stationed, the final death count here stood at 30 policemen dead, including the inspector who led the strike force unit, two sub-inspectors and two assistant sub-inspectors. Another 17 were wounded and 23 abducted by the rebels.

It is ironic that the police had shifted the post to a hilltop from the village below just six months earlier for strategic reasons. The hilltop station provided strategic advantage in case of a Maoist attack. But in the face of heavy numbers, even a high location is apparently of little use.

"We did not even think that they would attack such a secure location," villager Purna Jung Shahi said. Asked if the villagers had any prior information of the attack, Shahi said that all the rebels who attacked were probably outsiders who had come just for the assault. "No one in our village had any prior information."

The scene at the battle site was one of total destruction. The police huts, offices, the boundary walls and fences erected to foil just such an attack were all destroyed to the ground. There were bodies of dead policemen lying bloodied on the ground, unexploded bombs and spent bullet casing strewn about.

Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, who also heads the Home Ministry that controls the Police, was stunned by the sight. Accompanied by Home Secretary Sri Kant Regmi, Inspector General of Police Pradip Shumsher Rana and Inspector General of the Armed Police Force Krishna Mohan Shrestha, Poudel flew in a helicopter to the battle sight to view the carnage himself.

Later, addressing the crowd of curious villagers, Poudel declared that despite the losses, the police would continue to provide security to the villagers in the area. "This post will be continued...The people and the police will have to work together to ensure peace and security." The DPM also blasted the rebels for the senseless carnage.

According to accounts provided by the wounded policemen, the rebels launched the first attack at about 11 p.m. Sunday night. First, the small village across the nearby river erupted in a torch-lit demonstration accompanied by shouts of the Maoist battle cry. Police said, all this was done to divert the attention of the policemen.

Then came the first attack on the police station, which sits on a hilltop and is defended first by a fence, a thick mud and stone wall and finally a trench inside the wall that separates the offices and quarters. There were eight police observation posts on the walls overlooking the hill top. But all those defenses were breached when the rebels launched the attack, first with socket bombs and then indiscriminate firing.

The policemen stood their ground valiantly, but were outnumbered and outgunned. The rebels broke through the fence, breached the number one and eight observation post, and entered the police compound in waves. They then went to the trenches where most of the policemen had taken up position and began firing. Most the dead policemen died in the trenches. Eyewitness accounts said that some of the policemen were shot at close quarters, execution-style.

"They were so close to us, almost neck-to-neck," said sergeant Dahal. "They breached our defenses and entered the police station in waves. There was nothing much we could do after that."

With ammunition running low, Dahal and four other policemen abandoned the post in the heat of the battle, and returned in the morning when everything had quieted down.

Information provided by other policemen revealed that the remaining policemen surrendered to the rebels. A wounded policeman said that the rebels then separated the wounded ones from the rest and allowed the former group to stay. The able-bodied ones were abducted. The rebels also looted the police post, taking away 64 rifles (three-not-threes), two .22 magnums, one shotgun and two pistols. They also carried off all the food provisions inside the police station.

ANNFSU calls for chakka jam and nationwide strike

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KATHMANDU, April 2- The All Nepal Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU), student wing of CPN-ML, has called for a nation-wide 72 hours chakka jam starting April 4 and a nation-wide strike on April 6. The call is part of the series of protest programs they have been holding for the past two and half months.

The announcement was made at a press conference, after a torch light rally, at the union’s central office today.

The ANNFSU-led protest campaign started two and half months ago after the government ignored their demand for 50 per cent concession to students on all public transport vehicles. The activists of the union have accused the government of being indifferent towards their demands.

Refusing to comply with the demand of the students, Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs has already decided not to entertain the demand for 50 per cent concession on public transport vehicles.

Speaking to the press, president of the ANNFSU Rabindra Adhikari threatened that violence could flare up if their demands were not met. "Since the government is apathetic towards our demands, we are being compelled to opt for adopting violent methods," said Adhikari.

When asked if other students’ union would join hands with them, Adhikari said that they have asked for support but the response has been lukewarm and poor. So far, they have been the lone campaigners and support from other students’ union is yet to be received, added Adhikari.

UML for PM’s resignation over Rukum massacre

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KATHMANDU, April 2 - Leader of the main opposition party and general secretary of Nepal Communist Party (UML) today sought the Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation over the death of 30 policemen in the Maoist-hit district of Rukum.

"The government should take total responsibility of the Rukum incident and the Prime Minister must tender his resignation," he said.

He also claimed that the present government has failed to fulfil the three commitments — to solve the problem of corruption, Maoists and law and order — it made when the present government was formed.

Addressing a programme organised to honour the martyrs of the 1990 peoples’ movement at Kirtipur, Nepal vehemently stated the Prime Minister of being involved in corruption over the Lauda air deal, and challenged to an open and live interaction with the opposition leaders to prove himself innocent.

He said, "We never impeded the PM to give clarification in the House. But we want him to be ready for democratic and two-way interaction. And, it must be aired live too. Let the people listen to us and judge who is right."

He added that the opposition would not accept any "one-sided statement the PM would read out from the corner of his Baluwatar residence" that which would be repeatedly telecast for several days.

"This will not help save him. He had been known publicly as the most corrupt, baseless and irresponsible Prime Minister in the 11 years long democratic history of Nepal"

CPN-UML standing committee member KP Oli added that the Prime Minister had crossed all the limits of corruption and irresponsibleness to the country and the people. "PM’s resignation is the only solution that remained in this present state of uncertainty," he said.

General-secretary of United People’s Front Lila Mani Pokhrel said that time has come that the people of the country must be ready once again to sacrifice their live against the present ruling party which is only promoting corruption.

Intentional forest fires reduce swathes of forest to ashes

By Surendra Phuyal

KATHMANDU, April 2 - The spring season, generally characterized by rising temperature, freak storms and winds, not only adds greenery to the environment by giving new leaves to leaf-less trees.

Ironically, it is also the season when you get to hear sad news that describe how swathes of forests were reduced to ashes by forest fires, fanned by westerly winds and so forth. As such the country’s forest cover is fast depleting, thanks largely to unabated logging and incidents of deforestation given rise by growing population pressure.

Even when this news report was being prepared Monday evening, several forests in the hills and plains had caught fire, and efforts were reportedly underway to put out the fires. Just last month, a fire in the mountainous Sagarmatha National Park caused substantial damage to the park’s alpine meadows and shrubs.

Most of the forest fires occurring in Nepal are set off intentionally by local people, and the share of accidental causes in triggering such incidents is minimal, says a recent report. Yet little has been done to control such man-made disasters.

"Sixty-four per cent of forest fires are set off intentionally, while the share of accidental causes of such fires is only 32 per cent," says a recent report, State of Environment Nepal 2001. "Forest fires are mainly caused by the ignorant and illiterate people and the personal interests of illegal woodcutters, poachers, encroachers, charcoal traders and so on."

And, it says, 45 per cent of forest fires with known causes are due to burning of pastor areas to make way for regeneration of new grass for cattle and the ignorance of cigarette smokers.

For instance, in 1998, 20 reported incidents of forest fires in 15,140 hectares of forest area led to an estimated financial loss of US $ 127,500 (Rs 9.51 million), according to the report. The events also lead to the loss of lives and properties and several endangered species of flora and fauna.

While stating that forest fire is also a management tool, forest experts and officials point out that instilling awareness among local people and intensifying fire line management works as a key to minimizing the impacts of forest fires.

"Forest fire is also a management tool which helps in management and regeneration of forests," says Rabi Bahadur Bista, a former National Park warden and Secretary at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation. "But such fires in large areas cause substantial damage. And to stop this we have taken several measures."

According to the report, forest fire remedial measures have been taken in a total of 103.53-km forest area. Officials say fire line management works have been done in some of the Tarai forests mainly in the district of Sarlahi, where operation forest management plans have been implemented.

However, forest activists and critics say that the anti-forest fire measures taken by the government are inadequate, and could some day cost Nepal her precious forest resources, inviting natural disasters of unprecedented proportion.

Nepal’s forest cover decreased from 38 per cent of the land area in 1978 to 29 per cent in 1994, according to the latest forest inventory of Nepal. Another 10.6 per cent of the land area is under shrub cover. Whereas about 45 per cent of the land area had been covered with forest until 1966. The annual deforestation rate has been estimated at 1.7 per cent.