A team of Maoist-affiliated All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Kanchanpur), raided a beer bar in Gaddachauki on Indo-Nepal border on Tuesday and took three persons, including two Indian nationals, into their control.

The team, led by Narahari Nath Yogi, coordinator of the Maoist trade union front in the district, took Shambhu Kurjeet and Rajiv Kumar Kurjeet of Chandigarh (India) and a Nepali woman who worked at the bar for interrogation. They were released the next day. While in Maoist custody, the rebels quizzed Indian nationals regarding their alleged misbehaviour towards Nepali woman.

In eastern district of Ilam Maoist cadres brutally beat up Tilak Niraula, 20, a resident of Nayabazaar VDC-4 accusing him of having illicit relation with his niece, Meenuka Kharel. Both of them denied allegations.

According to Niraula, he was held and tortured by the Maoists for more than 24 hours, and forcefully made to admit to the false accusation.

In Dhanusha, Maoists captured six people on Tuesday morning on charge of robbery from the north eastern Godar area of the district. According to locals, Ram Ekbal Yadav, Uma Jaiswal, Bramhadev Yadav, Rajesh Jaiswal and Lal Babu Jaiswal have been abducted.

Early this week, the rebels demanded up to 100,000 rupees from each shop in Dhulabari Bazar of Jhapa district in eastern region.

Shopkeepers in Dhulabari bazaar closed their shops for seven hours on Tuesday protesting against the Maoists’ forced donation campaign.

Reports say at Chisapani of Kailali district in the far-western region, the rebels have set up barriers to collect “taxes” from vehicles and consumer items entering the region. The rebels have set up seven `customs points’ throughout the district while the Nepal government has only two. The rebels are not only collecting ‘taxes’ from goods entering Nepal from India, they are also levying ‘taxes’ on goods that are being transported to hilly districts of the region via Kailali, according to The Kathmandu Post daily.

As Nepal government and local administrations turn mute spectators, Maoist rebels have been continuing abductions, extortion and torturing people by violating the 25-point code of conduct they signed with the government in May this year.

Reports from western district of Parbat say the rebels have been pressing transporters to register their vehicles with the local “peoples’ government” and pay taxes for transporting pebbles and sand in the district. They also threatened to torch vehicles in case of non-compliance of their orders.

In eastern district of Ilam, Maoist cadres are running “kangaroo courts” and subjecting commoners to harsh physical punishment, according to reports.

Talking to Nepalnews, one of the members of the national code of conduct monitoring committee and chairman of Human Rights Organization of Nepal, Charan Prasain said that such incidents are against the code of conduct signed by them and the public commitments expressed by the party high command.

Prasain further said that continuation of such acts despite senior party leaders’ commitment raises suspicion as to how their political commitments are going to be implemented in such a situation, so the Maoist leadership should issue strong directives not to repeat such acts and comply by the code of conduct.

Maoist leaders, on their part, insist that their party should be seen as a parallel government and its activities seen accordingly.

Talking to Nepalnews, Suresh Ale Magar, a central committee member of the CPN (Maoist) said that his party was continuing local people’s governments and parallel military force in the country and that nobody should take it otherwise.

He further said that they had already stopped all people’s courts but receiving complaints in some parts of the country as per people’s aspirations.

When asked how they could assure people of free and fair election without arms management, Ale Magar said the people’s army was not engaged in any plot against the people and the country so they will not be an obstacle.

Ale Magar, who described ‘abductions’ as taking people under their control for interrogation and extortion as collection of taxes said that they would continue such activities unless two governments and two armies were merged in the country into one.

Commenting on the continuity of the Maoist “people’s courts” and Maoists atrocities in various parts of the country, senior journalist, Kanak Mani Dixit said, “If they (Maoists) believe in rule of Law, as they should as a group that wants to come into open competitive politics, then they should already have done away with these Jana-Adalats.”

“Such activities of the Maoists have raised suspicion over their statement that the rebels’ weapons will not be obstacle for holding free and fair elections for the constituent assembly,” he added.

Such activities have also raised question whether the Maoists will be able to convert themselves into open, competitive politics leaving behind the politics of weapon. Therein lays the real challenge for the party that still wants to take leadership of the people’s resistance movement worldwide against imperialism and feudalism. nepalnews.com Pratibedan Baidya Aug 17 06