Nepal army vows crackdown if rebels ignore king?s peace talks call
(AFP)

4 February 2005



KATHMANDU - Nepali security forces battling Maoist rebels will be told to uphold human rights but guerrillas face tough action if they refuse King Gyanendra?s call for peace talks, the kingdom?s army chief warned on Friday.


In an apparent bid to calm international fears of human rights abuses following Gyanendra?s seizure of power and imposition of emergency rule, the army chief said forces will be ?given directives? about ?international law and the Geneva Convention? on treatment of prisoners of war.

Security forces should not ?harbour any illusions about ... having unlimited powers during the state of emergency,? said army chief of staff General Pyar Jung Thapa said in the state-run newspaper Rising Nepal.

At the same time, Thapa warned the army would pursue ?a more vigorous offensive? ... if the Maoists neglect the (talks?) call of His Majesty.?

Gyanendra fired the government Tuesday for failing to hold elections and quell the insurgency by Maoists, who want to topple the monarchy and install a communist republic, and named a loyalist cabinet under his ?chairmanship.?

He has pledged to restore multi-party democracy in three years.

Apart from heavy security, there was no sign of the political crisis in Kathmandu. The ancient capital?s winding streets were jammed with traffic and schools, shops and businesses were open.

There has been no rebel response to the king?s call for talks but after he seized power, Maoist leader Prachanda denounced him as a ?national betrayer? and called for a broad political front with those opposing ?feudal autocracy.?

The army chief?s threat of tough action came as telephone, mobile and Internet links remained cut for a fourth day. Censors were in place in domestic television and newspaper newsrooms to vet reports of Nepal?s once lively media.

Army spokesman Brigadier Dipak Kumar Gurung said the clampdown was helping security forces battle ?terrorism as they don?t have to deal with rallies, strikes, protests due to the state of emergency? in the former hippie haven wedged between China and India.

But the information blackout meant there was no knowledge of events on the ground in the army?s battle with the rebels that had become increasingly savage. The insurrection has claimed at least 11,000 lives since 1996.

Army spokesman Gurung said the communications shutdown had hurt the Maoists? ability to communicate. ?Due to this, their assault plans have become damp squibs ... (they) depended upon pre-paid mobiles.?

But the blackout was causing hardship for ordinary people. ?We don?t know what?s happening in the villages, we haven?t had news from our families,? a 23-year-old student said.

A human rights group, which has in the past denounced military and Maoist abuses and educated people about their rights, had ceased most of its work, said an employee. ?We?ve been advised to not talk about fundamental rights or about the Maoists, and broadcast songs,? he said.

International human rights groups, who have in the past accused both sides of atrocities, have expressed concern the army may use emergency rule and the muzzling of the media to try to brutally suppress revolt.

The Nepal Human Rights Organisation said Deuba and four other former prime ministers were under house arrest as well as scores of others, including politicians, party activists, trade union figures and students.

India, which had been supplying Nepal?s army with equipment and training to help it crush the revolt, said it had been in touch with the new government but has not revealed yet whether it will continue aid to the kingdom.