Nepal Maoists force more than 700 people to attend anniversary fete

DeepikaGlobal.com ^ | February 12, 2004

[Tailgunner Joe]

Kathmandu, Feb 12 (DPA) Maoist insurgents abducted more than 700 people from different villages of the west Nepal hill district of Achham to take part in the Maoist insurgency anniversary celebrations, the Nepali language daily Kantipur reported today.

The report said the abductions took place during the past few days.

The Maoists are observing the completion of eight years of their Peoples War on February 13. The armed Maoist insurgency began in February 1996 with the objective of setting up a communist republic in Nepal.

The newspaper said the villagers were abducted after they refused to take part in the upcoming Maoist anniversary bash.

The newspaper, quoting locals, said the Maoists forcibly took those who refused to attend the mass meetings and cultural programmes being held as part of the Maoist anniversary programme under ''orders'' of the Maoist district committee secretariat.

A school teacher from the area said the Maoists asked, ''Why don't you want to attend the ''janabadi utsav'' (peoples carnival)?'' and spared no one - from children to the elderly - in forcing them to attend the programme.

The report also said that the Maoists meted ''inhuman'' treatment to 21 teachers for their ''non-cooperation''.

Each teacher was made to carry more than 35 kilograms of foodgrains from one centre to another across the mountains, the newspaper said.

Achham district, one of the most backward in Nepal, is located 450 kilometres west of the capital.

[genefromjersey]

I looked into something in Nepal a few days ago:Some 90 people in a remote village all became ill with about the same symptoms. It was thought at first it might be the avian flu that has been raging in Asia,but knowledgeable medical people from outside were of the opinion the symptoms were most consistent with exposure to BZ,an LSD-like nerve agent which disorients (no pun intended) its victims,causes fever, hallucinations,lethargy,and general helplessness.

The stuff was first produced in the US during the 50's,then dropped (all stocks destroyed).It next popped up in East Germany, where it was intended for sabotage attacks;then "migrated" to North Korea.

Lord only knows what is going on in Nepal....and why !