NEPAL: NEPAL'S ARMY VOWS TO STRIKE DECISIVELY TO FORCE MAOIST REBELS TO THE PEACE TABLE

Record ID: 342206

  • Title: NEPAL: NEPAL'S ARMY VOWS TO STRIKE DECISIVELY TO FORCE MAOIST REBELS TO THE PEACE TABLE
  • Date: 4th February 2005
  • Summary: (BN12) KATHMANDU, NEPAL (FEBRUARY4, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WS/MV: DURBAR SQUARE, THE HISTORIC CENTRE OF OLD KATHMANDU (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. SOLDIERS ON DUTY IN DURBAR SQUARE (2 SHOTS) 0.14 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRIGADIER GENERAL DIPAK GURUNG, SAYING: **POOR AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING** "Now because of the declaration of emergency now there are certain freedoms have been curtailed. I'm not saying totally stopped but certain freedoms have been curtailed. So with that now we don't have to handle students' agitations, or political parties' agitation. We can solely direct our resources and energy to dealing with the Maoists. So now we can go after the Maoists in a single-minded manner without having to worry what's going to happen in the streets." 0.43 4. (MUTE) SOLDIERS OUTSIDE OLD ROYAL PALACE IN DURBAR SQUARE 0.45 5. PADMA RATNA TULASGAR, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER AND MEDIATOR BETWEEN MAOIST REBELS AND GOVERNMENT 0.47 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PADMA RATNA TULASGAR, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER AND MEDIATOR BETWEEN MAOISTS REBELS AND GOVERNMENT, SAYING: "In the royal statement also the Maoists were not addressed positively. They were addressed as a terrorists, criminals etc. not addressed as a political force. Or there was no mention of any peaceful process, or dialogue." 1.07 (BN13)PANDAUN, NEPAL (FILE - NOVEMBER 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 7. AERIAL OF FORESTED AREA 1.09 8. VARIOUS OF NEPALESE SOLDIERS EXITING HELICOPTER AND WALKING TOWARDS FOREST (6 SHOTS) 1.27 9. AMMUNITION AND WIRE ON THE GROUND (4 SHOTS) 1.32 10. DEAD BODY OF ALLEGED MAOIST ON THE GROUND 1.37 11. VARIOUS OF BODIES (2 SHOTS) 1.49 12. VARIOUS OF NEPALESE TROOPS AND BODIES IN FOREST (14 SHOTS) 2.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KATHMANDU,NEPAL/ FILE
  • Country: Nepal
  • Reuters ID: LVACVPPAQJ0MAVZ8MM76KSNTCWJ4
  • Story Text: Nepal's army vows to strike decisively to force
    Maoist rebels to the peace table days after the king sacked
    the government, arrested political leaders and seized power



    Nepal's Army spokesman Brigadier General Dipak
    Gurung said on Friday (February 4) that King Gyanendra's
    suspension of civil liberties, including the right to
    protest, under a state of emergency declared on Tuesday
    freed security forces to focus on the rebels.

    In the past, troops have been deployed to quell
    constant and sometimes violent political protests against
    the king.

    But the army, designed to take on foreign enemies
    rather than local revolutionaries, has been accused of
    widespread rights abuses and critics say military
    crackdowns drive many Nepalis, already disillusioned by
    poverty and political chaos, into supporting the Maoists.

    And the rebels have spurned several calls to resume
    peace talks abandoned in late 2003 and last month rejected
    a government ultimatum to return to the table. Both sides
    admit they do not have the might to win on the battlefield.

    "Now because of the declaration of emergency now there
    are certain freedoms have been curtailed. I'm not saying
    totally stopped but certain freedoms have been curtailed.

    So with that now we don't have to handle students'
    agitations, or political party's agitation. We can solely
    direct our resources and energy to dealing with the
    Maoists. So now we can go after the Maoists in a
    single-minded manner without having to worry what's going
    to happen in the streets," Gurung said.

    Gyanendra sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and
    his cabinet on Tuesday and cut all public communications
    within the Hindu kingdom and with the outside world,
    drawing worldwide condemnation.

    Deuba and other leaders are now under house arrest.

    Political arrests have continued across Nepal every day,
    activists say, but exact numbers are unknown.

    Kathmandu has seen no violence, but the independent
    human rights commission is investigating reports soldiers
    aboard a helicopter shot several student protesters in the
    western resort town of Pokhara on Tuesday, hours after the
    king's announcement.

    Human Rights campaigner Padma Ratna Tulasgar is
    mediating between the government and the rebels. He says
    the problem is that the government has never perceived the
    Maoists as a political force treating them as criminals
    instead.

    "In the royal statement also the Maoists were not
    addressed positively," Tulasgar said.

    The Maoists have condemned the king's suspension of
    democracy and Padma Ratna Tuladhar, who has mediated two
    rounds of peace talks, said the king's proclamation spoke
    strongly against the Maoists and he saw no chance of an
    immediate breakthrough.

    Gyanendra has also muzzled the media, banning critical
    reporting for six months and reporters homes have been
    searched and journalists grilled by police.

    Maois rebels have been fighting since 1996 to establish
    a one-party communist republic in place of the
    constitutional monarchy in the world's only Hindu Kingdom
    which is sandwiched strategically between nuclear rivals
    India and China.
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