NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Almost all businesses and educational institutions in Kathmandu remained closed as a three-day nationwide strike called by the underground Maoists began on Monday.
The Nepal bandh was called by the underground Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist, to protest against King Gyanendra's decision to sack a democratically elected government in October. Initially, it was supposed to coincide with the snap polls called by deposed prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Deuba later postponed the scheduled election to November 2003 following an all-party consensus. But on October 4, the constitutional monarch sacked Deuba on grounds of incompetence for his failure to conduct the election as scheduled.
But the monarch or his handpicked government headed by Lokendra Bahadur Chand is yet to announce dates for the local and general elections that are supposed to be conducted soon.
On the first day of the bandh, public transport stayed off the roads while police and army men patrolled the deserted streets of the Nepali capital.
"These bandhs are hitting the poor and working-class people like us very hard," said Bishnu Siwakoti, chairperson of the Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs, which groups the 100,000 operators and owners of the country's various means of public transportation. "But these frequent bandhs never solve the problems facing our country."
"I have a lot of work pending in the city, but not a single bus will take me there," says Yamuna, a lady in her twenties, as she stood by a deserted road on the outskirts of the city.
On the eve of the strike, the police rounded up 88 suspected Maoist rebels from public places in the capital, according to Tapendra Dhoj Hamal, Kathmandu district police chief.
The rebels went on a rampage in other parts of the country destroying smaller hydroelectric plants and attacking passenger buses. In southern Sarlahi district, two persons were killed on Sunday when the bus in which they were travelling hit a landmine, said home ministry spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pande. Even so, a few taxis and autorickshaws dared to come out on the streets and carry tourists to and from the Tribhuvan International Airport.
Last month, the rebels invited King Gyanendra for talks to end the nearly seven-year-old conflict that has wrecked this south Asian nation, but the government is yet to respond. Over 7,000 Nepalese people have lost their lives since February 1996, when the rebels launched what they call a "people's war" to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
