NATIONAL 5 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Hunting Down the Rebels

In the first week, government forces push the insurgents into their hideouts, but the battle may be far from over

By BHAGIRATH YOGI

In a statement on Monday, the Defense Ministry -- the sole source of information -- said the Royal Nepalese Army have been repulsing, one after the other, all attacks on security personnel and administrative units following the intensified military campaign against the Maoist 'terrorists.' The ministry said security personnel on Sunday effectively rendered unsuccessful the Maoists' attacks at the headquarters of Sindhupalchok and Sindhuli districts and a police post at Bhimphedi in Makwanpur district.

A remote village : Waiting for normalcy to return

As the army intensifies its operation, dozens of rebels have been killed in different parts of the country. Security personnel have succeeded in recovering huge cache of arms, ammunitions, government jeeps, communication equipment and even cash looted by the Maoists during their raid on the army barracks in mid-western district of Dang last month. "The morale of the army and police is quite high and the operation might come to an end in the next six months," said Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka.

The Home Ministry said over 650 Maoist activists and supporters in eight different districts have surrendered before the local administration. Some of them have joined the main opposition, UML, in an apparent bid to protect themselves from the security forces. As the security personnel have launched an all-out battle to defeat the Maoists, the Communications Ministry has issued directives to the press and accelerated its ëinfo war' through the state-owned media.

Interestingly, throughout the first week of emergency, the rebels have neither been able to resist the army effectively nor launch a propaganda war. With newspapers sympathetic to them closed unofficially and pro-Maoist journalists arrested, the underground party may have few ways of giving their side of the story. Maoist chairman, Prachanda, in an interview to the on-line edition of the Sunday Times of India, however, put a brave face and said the battle would go on. "As the government intensified preparations for a military offensive by procuring arms and ultra-modern military helicopters, we had no (other) alternative," said Prachanda.

Few would take the Maoist leader's statement at face value. Having walked out of the peace talks unilaterally and mounting assaults at key government offices, police and army barracks in the dead of the night, the underground outfit proved that it was never serious about finding a negotiated settlement to the six-year-old insurgency that has already claimed more than 2,000 lives.

"I have been betrayed," said Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. He has vowed to bring the rebels to book. Much to the satisfaction of the Deuba government, major international powers, including the US, Russia, European Union, Japan, and immediate neighbors India and China have condemned the Maoist attacks on government forces and supported the government's decision to impose a state of emergency to fight the rebels.

In separate telephone conversations with King Gyanendra and Prime Minister Deuba last week, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee supported the Nepal government's move. India has offered Nepal "whatever assistance is required" in its fight against Maoists, the Indian Foreign Ministry said. A foreign ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi that the Indian government has also assured Nepal to "take every step" to seal the Indo-Nepal border so that the Maoists cannot flee to India across the common, open border.

For its part, the Chinese government believed that the Nepalese government would properly handle its domestic issues. A statement issued by the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu said His Majesty the King and the Nepalese government have already adopted effective and contingency measures, and the situation

is under control. China also expressed hope and belief that Nepal can maintain peace, stability and development.

"A state of emergency is a constitutional right of any country for self-protection," said Ganesh Raj Sharma, an eminent constitutional lawyer. "(Due to its geographic position), no conflict in Nepal can remain limited

within its boundaries. So the international community is concerned to see to it that no other spot like Afghanistan emerges in South Asia. That's why they are worried too. If those who declared the emergency did not exhibit a sense of utmost accountability, the country might fall into a grave crisis."

As the security forces launch both ground and aerial attacks against the armed Maoist guerrillas as part their 'cordon and search' operation cutting their line of communications and bombarding their training camps in Rolpa, Ramechhap and Gorkha districts, among others, the Maoist rebels are forced to retreat. The Maoist guerrillas have tried to blow away repeater stations of Nepal Telecommunications Corporation and are also engaged in spreading sporadic violence in the capital. Suspected Maoist terrorists exploded bombs at the manufacturing plant of Bottlers Nepal Pvt. Ltd. at Balaju and exploded a bomb at the private carpet showroom at Jawalakhel killing an innocent person and injuring three others, including a child and woman.

It will take some time to assess the adverse impact of the emergency on country's economy, say officials. Similarly, they also concede that there may be need for diverting resources from development programs to meet the security needs. As the security agencies need more hardware and logistics, the government has approached different countries for assistance. All this shows that the battle is not going to end immediately. Despite global opinion against terrorism and low level of weapons and manpower compared to government forces, it seems that the rebels want to engage the army for long by drawing them deep in their strongholds. For the common people, early return to normalcy has been top on the agenda while swapping their freedom temporarily to fight against the menace of terrorism.