Kathmandu- If reports are to be believed, many Maoist activists may be finding life in the jungles hard, and the insurgency movement too difficult to continue.

According to a top level police source, about 2,500 Maoist activists have already surrendered their arms to the police.
Another report says that recently as many as 40 activists have surrendered or have showed their inclination to lay down their arms.

Many of those activists are said to have developed some kind of aversion to the activities within their group morally unacceptable.

“The rampant sexual promiscuity within the Maoists groups is too much to digest,” one activist was reported to have said. They also said the ‘order’ to look at one’s parents as class enemies is also socially unacceptable. The weary insurgents also say that those who oppose such immoral activities are given both physical and mental torture. They also cite the fear of being killed by the police as another reason for their laying down their arms.

As reports started appearing in the press about the unacceptable social and moral conduct within the Maoist ranks and about its activists deserting the cause, it seems the Maoists may be finding it hard to sustain their movement.
Meanwhile, police have also intensified their campaign against the Maoists. Police AIG Rajendra Bahadur Singh in Nepalgunj has been quoted as saying that the new search operation has been targetted more at the jungle hideouts of the Maoists.

A police source also said the police are after the Maoists with renewed vigour after they were criticized for failing to curb the Maoists and thus the rumours of the army’s mobilisation to control the insurgents cropping up.

It is said in the last two weeks more than two dozen Maoists have been killed, mainly in the Maoists hotbeds in the mid-western regions. In Rukum district, eight Maoists were killed in clashes with police last week. Police have also captured a huge cache of weapons from the Maoists.

While the police have intensified their campaign, Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has repeated his pledge that those who lay down their arms will be given general amnesty. He also said the government is willing to talk to the Maoists to find a solution to the ongoing insurgency problem. Similarly, Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala has also vowed that he will start an awareness campaign against the Maoists. Now, with the Maoists looking vulnerable, it might be a chance to strike a decisive blow to the insurgency campaign.

If the government can kept its promise of providing security and means of livelihood to those who have surrendered, it can open doors for more such misled people, who have taken part in the insurgency. They must be encouraged to return to normal civilian life.

However till now, the government has failed to announce  and provide any kind of relief and developmental packages to the people of those areas. If the government can give a sense of security to those people, provide them immediate relief and work towards implementing development programmes, half the battle against the Maoists will be won.