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Nepal still reeling under shock of Maoist attacks

By Sharat Pradhan in Dang (Nepal)

Nepal is still reeling under the shock of an unprecedented emergency in the aftermath of violent uprising by heavily armed Maoists, who have virtually shaken the very foundations of monarchy and the prevailing democratic order.

Seventy-two hours after it was stormed by a heavily armed band of Maoists, Dang is still struggling to recover from the shock and trauma that descended on the 40,000 population of this city in mid-Western Nepal, about 160 km from the Indian border at Rupaidiha (in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh).

Be it Nepalganj, the busy and large border divisional headquarter, or Dang, the largest valley in the Himalayan kingdom, there is a palpable fear in the air.

Dang shot into the spotlight for being the first major Nepalese town to be virtually taken over by thousands of heavily armed Maoists for several hours on the midnight of Friday-Saturday.

Local officials and the common people heaved a sigh of relief only after the militants themselves chose to retreat into their hideouts in the thick woods covering the hilly belt all around.

But Maoists did so only after displaying their full might over each of the three pillars of governance -- the civil administration, the police and the army -- each of which stood overpowered for atleast four hours on the fateful night.

Despite the officially declared only night-long curfew in Dang, curfew-like conditions prevail in the town even during the day, with the administration having sounded high-alert and gun-wielding military personnel scanning every nook and corner, besides keeping a strict check on movement of any outsiders.

Even this scribe and a team of other Indian journalists were detained for sometime by the army personnel, who ordered them to leave the territory of Nepal 'at once'.

Though government offices were officially declared to be 'open', no work seemed to be going on anywhere, banks kept their shutters down, while schools preferred to declare holiday, and shopkeepers looked anxious and worried over what lay in store for them.

Interestingly, both the people and the authorities appear to be equally clueless about handling the situation under the changed circumstances of an emergency.

No one is clear about the extent of suspension of fundamental rights, though officially only the Constitutional provision for habeas corpus has been exempted from the ban.

With the shocked civil administration yet to recover and army having been entrusted with major administrative duties, there is virtual suspension of all civil liberties.

"The law does not even permit assembly of more than two persons in a public place," said a local shopkeeper.

With intensive checking of all incoming as well as outgoing traffic by armymen, the atmosphere is tense. The intermittent hovering of military helicopters deployed on aerial surveillance to hunt for the Maoist hideouts in mountains add to the apprehension of the people.

Unexploded grenades, reportedly used by the militants, could still be spotted in different parts of the city.

Apparently, the army and the police are so busy in putting themselves back on the track that they have ignored reports of live grenades or bombs being spotted in public places.

"We have decided to shut our school after we spotted a live grenade lying in the bushes," said Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, teacher in Bal Vikas Primary School in the heart of the town.

He said, "We had promptly informed both the local police and army authorities, but no action has been taken so far."

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