UNICEF and others have long been urging the Maoists NOT to use children as soldiers.
But the Maoists have paid absolutely no attention to those requests.
That is why, children in rural Nepal routinely get kidnapped and/or see their schools turning into battle-fields or indoctrination camps.
And no matter how many of these kinds of pleading requests (see below) come from transport entrepreneurs and other well-meaning Nepalis, the Maoists are simply NOT going to listen to anyone.
How naive and utterly stupid can we Nepalis be to think that the Maoists will even
listen to other Nepalis?
As every garib in Nepal has learnt to sing that Narayan Gopal song to the champions
of the poor aka the Maoists:
"yay malai maya garchu bhannay hajoor
timro tada ko moi lay poogay na malai
najeek aai sataunay gara"
And "sataunay" is what the Maoists has been doing well.
oohi
ashu
**************
Declare highways as ?Zones of Peace:? NNTOF (Special Report)
As Nepal?s major highways turn into battle zones killing dozens of security personnel, rebels and civilians almost every day, a major transport operators? organisation has called upon all sides to declare and treat the country?s highways as ?Zones of Peace (ZoP).?
Talking to Nepalnews, president of Nepal National Transport Operators? Federation (NNTOF), Yogendra Karmacharya, said it was a matter of great concern that innocent people were falling victims almost everyday as the highways had turned into battle zones.
?The transport industry?that provides employment to hundreds of thousands of families all over the country?is in dire straits and billions of rupee worth investment in it is in the doldrums,? said Karmacharya. He insisted that the transport operators were not in a position to pay back their loans due to frequent shut down strikes.
As soon as the rebels lifted their week-long blockade of major highways in the country leading to capital, Kathmandu, last week, local units of the Maoists declared ?bandhs? in mid-western districts of Banke, Bardiya and Dang this week.
?The public transport in western Nepal has been badly affected for the last several months due to frequent strikes. Drivers, helpers and a number of passengers have fallen victims in the crossfire between the security forces and rebels,? said Karmacharya. He lamented that neither political parties nor Kathmandu-based human rights groups were concerned towards difficulties being faced by common people on a regular basis.
Public and private transport as well as shops, schools and industries in several districts in eastern Nepal remained totally closed for over a week last month though local level Maoist leadership reportedly clarified that they had not called the shutdown strike.
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