Maoists riding a tiger: Can’t call off stir, can’t go on

AKHILESH UPADHYAY 
KATHMANDU, MAY 06 -
On the fifth day of their indefinite strike on Thursday, Maoists faced retaliation across the country, with at least three violent incidents reported in the Capital. Curfew was clamped in Parbat (West), Jumla (Mid West) and Dhankuta (East). Timely intervention by the police stopped the confrontation between Maoists and pro-Hindu activists in Birgunj (Central Tarai) from getting out of hand. Still, sources say, the danger is far from over and that the Central and Eastern Tarai could see major flare-ups in the near future.

Opinion is divided over whether these incidents have been engineered or are spontaneous. It could be both.

Organised forces seem to have tapped on the growing public anger over a strike that has severely crippled life and shows no early sign of ending. An informed source had told this correspondent as far back in February that “strong ground preparations” were on to counter the Maoists across the country and that the anti-Maoist surge would be especially evident in the Tarai where “they will be completely annihilated.”

The major bone of contention has been the modalities (and the number) for the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants. Agreement on the issue and commitment to a date, say NC and UML leaders, will go a long way in convincing them that the Maoist party is committed to transforming itself to a civilian party. Non-Maoist parties also want an agreement on a framework and quick action on returning seized property; this is especially urgent for the NC. “Those two issues and dismantling the barracks of YCL would go a long way in assuring us that the Maoists are serious about keeping their pledge to past accords,” says Pradeep Gyawali, a UML central committee leader ……….

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Maoist agitators face public fury

KATHMANDU, MAY 06 -
Fed up to the gills of the general strike imposed by the UCPN (Maoist), enraged locals at various places in the Capital took to the streets and retaliated against the agitating Maoists on Thursday. In the ensuing clashes, 12 persons including a child were injured while two motorcycles were torched.

 Tension ran high in Budhanilakantha, Jorpati, Boudhha, Kapan and Basundhara on the fifth day of the strike after the banda enforcers and enraged locals clashed. Police said over a dozen people were injured in course of anti-banda demonstrations.

Claiming that the Maoists forcibly imposed the banda, locals in Budhanilakantha swarmed out on the streets and defied the banda by opening market places. However, the situation turned nasty when a huge number of Maoist cadres reached there and threatened anyone who defied the strike.

Pulling down shutters, the banda enforcers pelted anti-strike locals with stones in which a nine-year-old child, Roshan Magar, sustained serious injury on his head, said Sub-inspector Bharat Regmi who was present during the clash. Magar was rushed to TU Teaching Hospital……….

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Nepal: A Political Crisis and Indo-Chinese Tensions

Summary

Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda resigned on May 4 in protest of the president’s decision to block the Maoist leadership from sacking Nepal’s army chief. While the political disarray in Nepal threatens to break the government apart, it also has stirred a long-standing rivalry between India and China over the Himalayan country.

Analysis

Nepal’s Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda resigned May 4 in protest of the Nepalese president’s decision to block the elected Maoist government from firing the country’s army chief. The Nepalese government is now in danger of collapsing as India scrambles to form a coherent policy toward Kathmandu to counter China’s growing influence in the Himalayan country. The Maoist leadership, meanwhile, will draw on Indo-Chinese competition over Kathmandu in an attempt secure its political demands. Read more