National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Dangerous Course

Government goes ahead with its plan to mobilize civil militia even as it draws flak from international and domestic rights bodies

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Apparently unfazed by the growing national and international criticism against such move, the government, on November 18, has formed a central coordinating committee to mobilize the ‘civil peace and development groups’ or civil militia to counter the Maoists at village level. The committee is authorized to form and mobilize district level teams to move the plan ahead.

The decision to form the committee was made even as the announcement by the government to mobilize civil militia to counter the growing Maoist insurgency has come under fire from Amnesty International (AI), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and other domestic rights bodies who claim that the idea could severely deteriorate the already appalling human rights situation in this Himalayan Kingdom.

As such, the government has already started forming what it calls the Village Defense Force (VDF) at some villages like Sudama of Sarlahi and Larumba of Ilam district in eastern region.

At a press briefing held last week in eastern town of Itahari. General Pradeep Pratap Bam Malla, who heads the Eastern Pritana (division) of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), the voluntary Village Defense Forces (VDFs) will be armed by the military and will function under the unified command. The process of forming the VDF has already begun in some parts of the eastern region, he said.

A delegation of the Nepal Bar Association who had gone to the region has reported that the VDF at the Sudama VDC of Sarlahi district are already armed. The locals of the Sudama VDC had successfully retaliated against the Maoists a few months ago.

When, on November 4, Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa said that he will now open up ‘next chapter’ to deal with the Maoists – following the collapse of peace talks with the Maoists on August 27, he said that the government would launch ‘civil-military national campaign’ to disarm the Maoists.

The decision (of November 4) was made two weeks after there was a major incident in eastern district of Sarlahi when, on September 20, villagers of Sudama Village Development Committee of the district repelled a group of armed Maoists who were trying to abduct a village man. They killed two Maoists who were forced to flee after they were encircled by the enraged villagers. Similar incident of villagers repelling the Maoists occurred in Taulihawa of another eastern district of Rupandehi recently.

However, the government’s decision has been severely deplored by national and international rights bodies. In a letter written to Prime Minister Thapa, on November 11, the London-based AI stated, “Plans to set up 'Rural Volunteer Security Groups and Peace Committees' can place the civilian population in grave danger by seriously compromising their neutrality. Without appropriate supervision, training and clearly defined mechanisms for accountability, there is a clear risk that the creation of these groups could lead to an increase in human rights violations carried out with impunity. Those refusing to join are likely to be seen as tacitly supporting the armed opposition."

Likewise, the ICJ, too, has urged the government to abandon the idea of civilian militia saying that could aggravate the already dire rights situation in Nepal. “Civilian militia have had catastrophic human rights consequences wherever they have been employed. Nepal should not repeat the mistakes experienced in Guatemala and Algeria,” Ian Seiderman, ICJ’s legal adviser said.

PM Thapa, however, maintains that the idea will work well. “Look at the incidents in Sarlahi and Taulihawa where local people themselves responded to the Maoist attacks. The people had fought the rebels on their own. So, this new idea aims to encourage them to fight the rebels themselves,” he told the media responding to AI letter. He said that the Maoist activities could be curtailed after they fail to get public support and assistance.

Kamal Thapa, government spokesperson and Information minister, also defended the decision saying it would help the security forces to restore peace and security quickly so that elections could be held.

In a recent press meet, spokesperson of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) colonel Deepak Gurung had said that village defense forces would be helpful as the security personnel were already stretched, adding that this move aims at gaining the cooperation of the rural population in fighting the rebels. “The Maoists are not super human beings. They are only trying to create fear and terror among people. If local people get organized, they can be easily defeated,” he said.

Rights activists in the country, too, have deplored the idea of employing and arming civil militia. “Quite clearly, such village defense groups will trigger further rights atrocities. As such groups lack organization, discipline and resources, they most often lead to all out civil war as was witnessed in countries like Guatemala,” said Dr. Bipin Adhikari, a human rights lawyer at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Agrees Krishna Pahadi, chairman of the Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES). “When we find even state machineries committing human rights abuses, there is a strong chance that such civil militia consisting of raw manpower could further aggravate it.” He went a step ahead terming that since the current government is not an elected one, it has no authority of announcing such decisions.