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| Kathmandu, Tuesday April 16, 2002 Baishakh 03, 2059. |
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Beyond guns
The outlawed Maoist rebels carried one of the
deadliest attacks on the armed police force in the name of People’s War the other
day. The death toll is thought likely to cross two hundred, turning the political
situation of this country from bad to worse. But this is not the first incident in which
the Maoists have carried out such deadly attacks on the armed police force. Over the past
one year or so, the scattered police outposts have fallen one after another like dominoes
to the relentless Maoist attacks. Help from the centre to prevent such attacks has been
usually too little and too late. The latest to reel under the Maoist attacks include
Satbarya and Lamahi of Dang district. The Maoists simultaneously attacked the police and
armed police forces in these areas a week after they vandalized the repeater tower of
Nepal Telecommunications and electricity transmission lines. In fact, the Maoists started
showing off in a big way when they devastated Dunai in Dolpa district last year. Since
then, there have been a number of Maoist attacks in various places, including Achham,
Sanfebagar, Solu and Bhakundebesi, where together more than one thousand security forces
lost their lives. Earlier, an army barrack was attacked in Dang a day after the Maoists
withdrew themselves from peace talks with the government. This was the turning point in
the ongoing fighting between the rebels and the government. The government declared a
state of emergency to quell the Maoist insurgency that has claimed, since last November,
more than five hundred human lives, besides destroying and looting property worth billions
of rupees.
This appears to be a new beginning in the
fight between the Maoists and the ruling establishment. Now, the so-called People’s
War is unlikely to end any time soon even if the government comes up with reconciliatory
measures. The Maoists have begun using innocent people as human shields to protect
themselves whenever they carry attacks on army personnel or armed police force. Several
women have visited Satbarya after the Maoist attack in search of their husbands since they
failed to return to their homes. However, most of the bodies, whom the Maoists had used as
human shields during the Satbarya attack, were mutilated and burnt before they were buried
them. Such is the extent of the recent Maoist atrocities. Every villager is forced to join
the Maoists as human shields during an attack on army or police personnel. Besides, there
have been allegations that the Maoists have recruited children to fight against the
establishment. One should have certainly anticipated such attacks on the eve of the New
Year. Preventive measures should have been used to avert possible threats from the Maoists
after analysing the situation. The recent episode in Dang bespeaks poor intelligence
service. Unfortunately, the government failed to stop the premeditated attack, although
some warnings were coming in. The Maoists must also acknowledge that their use of innocent
villagers as human shields during attacks is nothing but criminal that must be condemned
by all human society. The government must also admit its failure in quelling the ruthless
Maoist insurgency merely by using guns. Other options need to be explored so as to stop
the bloodletting in the once peaceful country. |
