June 10, 2007
Nepal Maoists Withdraw Shutdown
After Talks with PM
Kathmandu
After they went on the warpath in south Nepal's Kapilavastu
district, calling an indefinite closure and attacking nearly a dozen
vehicles, a Maoist group Sunday withdrew its protest following talks
between their top leaders and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
The controversial youth wing of the Maoists had enforced the
indefinite shutdown in Kapilavastu, revered by Buddhists as part of
the ancient kingdom where the Buddha was born and spent 29 years
before leaving home in search of enlightenment, to pressure the
Nepal Army into pulling out of the area.
Early on Sunday, the Young Communist League torched five buses and
attacked seven more vehicles for trying to move out of the paralysed
district under the cover of darkness.
The league had called the protest to force the Nepalese Army, once
their bete noire, into pulling out from its base at Birpur village
in the district, where about 40 soldiers are stationed.
The government moved quickly to defuse the situation.
Koirala held a two-hour meeting with Maoist supremo Prachanda and
his deputy Baburam Bhattarai to discuss the activities of Maoist
cadres and other contentious issues.
While details about the meeting were not divulged immediately, the
Maoist chief of Rupandehi district in the plains issued a statement
saying the Kapilavastu closure was being withdrawn.
Two years ago, almost immediately after King Gyanendra seized power
with the help of the army and declared war on the Maoists, the
royalist government began arming vigilante groups in Kapilavastu and
other districts to take on the guerrillas.
The Maoists allege that between Feb 17-23 that year, around 500
people, including army men and state-backed criminals, killed 22
people on the suspicion they were Maoists and set nearly 700 houses
on fire.
They also allege that the army post in Kapilavastu is intended to
primarily protect a villager who headed the vigilante group.
Refuting the accusation that it was providing protection to an
individual, the Nepal Army said it would not leave the area.
"The Birpur army base was established during the past conflict, when
it was deemed necessary to set up security bases in certain areas to
provide security to the public," it had earlier said in a statement
issued in Kathmandu.
"The bases are for the security of the people and not any individual
or group. In the present situation, none of these camps can be
removed."
The ruling coalition also succeeded in averting a two-day Nepal
shutdown, which was to have been enforced from Sunday, by an
umbrella of over 40 ethnic communities, who are demanding greater
political and cultural rights.
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