Money On Maoists

IN a major forward step in the continuing battle against the Maoist terrorists, the government has come out with a scheme to elicit help from all in capturing them. The government on Tuesday announced various rewards for catching top Maoists leaders. It is a universal practice that the government, in a bid to catch elusive terrorists, offers incentives for getting hold of them, dead or alive. The rationale behind it is that merely calling for cooperation from the general public to contribute to the war against terrorism is not always sufficient. When the situation calls for it, the people should also be told that rewards await them if they actively cooperate with the security forces in neutralising the terrorists.

Apparently, in a bid to give an extra push to the ongoing efforts of the security forces against terrorism, the Home Ministry put a price tag of five million rupees on the three top Maoist leaders, dead or alive. Depending on their position in the terrorist outfit, other leaders, dead or alive, fetched an amount between one and 3.5 million rupees. Even informers could be rewarded. They will receive half that amount for information leading to the arrest of these terrorists.

This is a strategically wise move on the part of the government. For it became apparent that as long as the top Maoist leaders were able to direct their agents to wreck havoc on Nepal from the comfort of their safe places wherever that may be, the battle against terrorism becomes that extra hard. Thus, it is logical that an officer of monetary incentives to go after these deadly leaders could provide a strong motivation for some people to be extra alert about suspicious characters living in the neighbourhood. It also has a chance of exciting the imagination of some in the various ranks of the Maoist leadership itself. Along with the price on heads of terrorist leaders, the Tuesday announcement offered rewards for providing information about or handing over different weapons, some of which were looted by Maoists from the security forces in the past. This surely is one way to curtail Maoists’ firepower. Be it with regard to getting hold of the Maoist leaders or seizing their weapons, the government has done well to guarantee security, job and secrecy for those extending cooperation. This is an important assurance. It is to be hoped that the scheme will work as a major factor in hunting down the terrorists.

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