|
|
|
Defying the Maoists
12:35 p.m. EST Feb 27, 2004
This past month has seen a flurry of political activity in Nepal, culminating with the first reported tourist injury as a result of the Maoists, and the fourth general strike called within a month.
So what exactly is going on right now? Well, the Maoists have taken to abducting teachers and students. Recently, 60 students were abducted, “in keeping with the ANNISU-R plan to create a 50,000-strong child militia by April-May,” the Himalayan Times said. Scary.
The recent strike was called to disrupt student elections – it was the fourth one this month. Yesterday we wrote about people defying the strike and driving around in the streets. ExplorersWeb also got wind that the Maoists called off the strike – apparently they realized that the people were getting fed up and aren’t as scared as previous.
Today, Nepal News writes that there was a, “massive turnout for the student elections,” despite all the bombs that went off. In previous strikes, no one was in the street, all the businesses were closed, and no one was driving. The Nepali’s were scared out of their minds – yesterday shows that the people are getting fed up with this.
A statement from a Maoist official yesterday also said they were going to stop issuing strikes and using other forms to get their point across, “we will soon make public other ways of protesting regression."
What does this mean for the Nepal people, the climbers visiting in the next month. The US says things have gotten worse in terms of human rights violations – in regards to both the Nepali govt. and Maoists. “…Other ways of protesting regression,” we wish that this could mean more peaceful ways, but with recent happenings, this is unfortunately doubtful.
What should the climbers do? The Nepali govt. has urged folks to just pay up to the Maoists to avoid conflict if an encounter happens. The only other thing is to get in and out of Kathmandu as fast as possible.
Image of a Maoist symbol along a highway in Nepal courtesy of Michael Brown.
|
