Sunday’s nationwide banda is held in protest of an incident in Kailali in which five people lost their lives. Police and Maoist-led squatters clashed in the incident that had been building up for a long time, writes Republica:
The clash had been building up for a long time with thousands of squatters encroaching upon the Dudejhari forest in Lamki-Chisapani section of the East-West Highway. With active goading by local and central-level Maoist leaders, the squatters had built huts in the encroached area. About 500 bigaha of land was taken under control and divided into six sections, with a gate erected at the entrance of each section. Landless squatters were to resettle in these plots. The Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Squatters Association (ANSA) promised the landless squatters 10 kattha (36,450 sq feet) of free land if they encroached upon the forest area.
The forest lies in the corridor between Bardiya National Park and Shuklaphant Wildlife Reserve--a piece of land the government wants to use to merge the two conservation efforts.
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal said the incident was reminiscent of suppression during the Panchayat. Nepalnews writes:
Dahal said the government was inviting political confrontation and bloodshed in the country by resorting to brutal suppression on landless squatters. He also demanded fair investigation into the incident to bring the culprits to justice.
This raises the usual question of who provoked whom. Republica writes:
The police had gone to evict the squatters only after an all-party meeting asked it to free the forest area from encroachers. The Maoists had objected to the plan. Police said the clash started only after Maoist combatants from Gorunge satellite camp under the Maoist army’s 7th Division in Kailali prevented the squatters from vacating the place after the police asked them to leave.
Dahal conceded that situation had gotten out of hand. From The Kathmandu Post:
"The government should have resorted to some alternative means to control the situation," said Dahal at a program in the Capital. "Such a vicious state suppression may trigger bloodshed."
Home Minister Bhim Rawal accused the Maoists of violating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by seizing lands. He said the police had given the squatters plenty of notice to evacuate and the situation was controlled from deteriorating further due to police restraint.
A policeman died during the clash. He was lynched by the Maoist-led squatters after having his eyes gouged.
According to the government, four Maoists were among the dead. Maoist claim six of their party workers were killed. More than 50 people, including policeman, squatters and Maoist cadres, are undergoing treatment in hospitals. Yesterday the police torched 1500 huts in the forest, and demolished others. The squatters evacuated the forest, but disturbances were reported soon after. From The Himalayan Times:
The land encroachers torched 12 motorcycles near the forest area this morning while they were being ferried to far west for some festival. They also torched the truck ferrying the motorcycles. The forest encroachers made away with 12 more motorcycles, of which Patharaiya police recovered two.Later at night, the squatters set ablaze four passenger buses of Mahakali Yatayat and a microbus of far western region near the Dundejhari forest, according to Tekraj Joshi, president of the Far Western Bus and Minibus Entrepreneurs’ Committee.
Sunday’s banda disrupted a Constitutional Assembly meeting for the first time. The entire country is shut down. The Maoists are demanding that the policemen who fired during the clash should be disciplined, the dead should be declared martyrs and the injured should be provided treatment by the government.
(Posted by Indu Nepal)