HI EVERYONE I FEEL SO SAD WHEN I READ THIS ARTICLE ....NOONE CAN FORGET THEIR CHILDHOOD, Aafno ganu (village) janmeko thau... I GUESS THERE ARE SOME KHOTANGE MITRAHARU INTO THIS CHAUTARI.... i've copied and pasted this article here specially for them.... i heartly thanks to Deepak G.
Under The Gun
BY DEEPAK KHANAL IN DIKTEL
Twenty-three year old Radha Rai, resident of Diktel, has been living in a state of fear for the last year. She has nothing to do with the Maoist rebels or the security forces; she doesn’t even know much about them. But the regular rumor that Maoist activists are preparing to attack Diktel, headquarters of Khotang, is in her mind every night.
From her teashop Rai says, “I have heard that they are coming here with big guns. We might be killed.” Rai is not alone in her fear. Khotang is under heavy Maoist pressure these days. Everyone in Diktel is afraid of getting killed in a shootout. They point out that the Maoists have already attacked the headquarters of other hilly districts in the east, including Sankhuwashava, Bhojpur, Solukhumbu and Okhaldunga.
Even the security officials feel the Maoists’ intense pressure. “Yes, their mobility has increased in this district in the later days,” says Shiva Lamichhane, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office. He adds quickly, “but it is more propaganda than reality.”
People working in governmental and non-governmental organizations say the same thing, though in different languages. They say that the Maoists’ movements are increasing day by day, and anything could happen anytime. Bikash Rai, executive chief of People’s Service Center, a popular NGO working in the rights sector, is acutely aware of warnings of attack.
There are 76 VDCs in Khotang. Apart from Diktel and Aiselukharka, five hours walk away, all are controlled by the Maoists. About 1,200 security personnel from the police, the Armed Police Force and the army are working in and guarding the district. In Aiselukharka a new army platoon has been set up with three hundred soldiers. “We have managed the security arrangements as per our capacity,” DSP Lamichhane says.
Diktel is under curfew from 7:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. During curfew even the security personnel do not move. There are no night patrols, but in the daytime security forces are highly visible. A local resident asks, “How can they provide security to us while they themselves are not sure about their security?”
DSP Lamichhane reluctantly agrees. “We have not reached the people, and our access is limited,” he says. Several incidents involving the security forces, especially the army, have damaged their reputation. A local hotel owner says the Army, “came and tied me and my husband and beat us badly without any reason. They charged us of opening the hotel late,” she says bitterly. The local people protested against the army officer who was involved: later he was transferred.
Occasionally, army patrols reach villages outside the headquarters. According to residents, the teams observe the situation of villages from a distance and sometimes shoot or torture school students, local youth and others on the charge of being Maoists. If security forces see someone walking fast and carrying a bag, they conclude that the person is a Maoist and attack him. The local people say that a number of such incidents and innocent killings have taken place in Khotang’s villages. “We don’t need the army and police for our security,” a man in Rabhuwa says.
The local people also feel insecure if they encounter strangers. We faced this: people watched us suspiciously and didn’t want to answer questions. One older man listening to Radio Nepal said, ‘‘We don’t know you. You speak and behave well, ask questions about Maoists and army. We answer, but later we are charged with being either rebels or informants. About a half-dozen innocent villagers have been killed here.’’
The Maoists formed a district people’s government under the leadership of Ratna Rai, resident of Haleshi. Rai is a former district committee member of the CPN Marxists-Leninist. According to Maoist sources, around 2,000 guerrillas have been working in Khotang. The Maoists have built a training centre about seven hours walk from Diktel. A villager informed us that two trainers from India have been teaching the art of guerrilla warfare to the Maoists, but Maoist sources denied the claim of foreign trainers.
Khotang is now isolated from the Tarai by Maoist blockades, and Maoist activists have imposed a ban on transporting food within the district for the last six months. Food prices are skyrocketing; a packet of iodized salt is twice as expensive as before. “If security is provided, we can import rice, but it cannot be done on a regular basis,” Chief District Officer Mohan Prasad Sapkota says helplessly. If the Maoists lift the ban on transporting food, there is enough to feed everyone. Until then, Khotang is facing both fear and famine