The Maoists have joined the government but it seems like they have not given up their ways. I don’ know if I am reading all the wrong news, but Maoists extortion doesn’t seem to have ebbed down at all. Minutes ago, I was talking about businessmen and now they are targeting Nepal’s monasteries as well!
The Times of India reports Nepal’s Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, met an unusual delegation. Clad in bright yellow and purple robes, nearly three dozen Buddhist heads of different monasteries told the premier how Maoists were visiting Buddhist gumbas and demanding money, crops and food.
I wasn’t expecting any of such demands… Maoists have already joined the government but they certainly havn’t changed their ways.
Conflict Resolution 
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
March 24, 2007 at 4:46 am
Bibek
The Maoists will only be Maoists.
The high hopes and little credence that I had over the Maoists after they signed the Peace Accord seem to have faded. Although I never wanted to trust them I did, thinking why should I only be the one behind when the entire nation is giving them a chance. Quizzically I made myself believe that there would be a new dawn in Nepal and a decade of bloodbath would finally conclude.
But no.
It seemed like the Maoists had been out of scene for a while, at least out of bloodshed. There were still some news of looting and trouble-making. I said to myself, “Well, how many cadres will Prachanda, the supremo, control? With time they’ll follow the path to peace.” And with all their guns locked up under UN’s eyes, I thought people could now take a sigh of relief.
But no. There was violence again. This time, it was the Madhesis from the South who were rebelling for a separate land- a Nepal of their own.
Not even in my wildest thoughts had I imagined that Nepal would be such fragmented. Unfortunately, it has.
To add up fuel in the already burning country, to emblazon the flame of fragmentation, the Maoists have yet again showed their side– to which they’ve always adhered–violence.
A recent story in BBC reported the death of 25 people in a gun battle between former Maoist rebels and supporters of a regional rights group in southern Nepal. I wasn’t surprised at all.
I had a premonition of this day. I knew it would happen, sooner or later. And here, I looked for answers for the credibility and ethics of the Maoists; few questions summoned my mind–
“Where did the former Maoists get their guns from?”
“Did they actually submitted their entire collection of weapons to the UN?”
“Are they really in the government with a purpose?”
They indeed might have a purpose but it’s hard to know what exactly their purpose is-peace and progress or lead the country to peril.
The latter seems to be an emerging truth but let’s not hope so. I assume everything will be alright one day.
But at this moment, I can only say: “The Maoists will only be Maoists.”
I hope and humbly wish that I get proved wrong.