Nepal Struggles to Break Maoist Rebel Blockade
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:08 a.m. ET
KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal ordered more troops to patrol highways and warned against hoarding in an effort to break a Maoist blockade across the nation, the biggest challenge so far to King Gyanendra's seizure of absolute power this month.
Traffic was thin on the second day of the indefinite transport shutdown called by the Maoists to force the king to withdraw his decision to sack the government, impose a state of emergency and suspend civil liberties.
Information and Communications Minister Tanka Dhakal said soldiers had stepped up patrols and set up pickets along the highways to bolster public confidence, shaken by nine years of conflict that has killed more than 11,000 people.
``People are feeling a little more secure and more are coming out,'' he said, adding the government had offered to pay immediate compensation if any vehicle was attacked while defying the guerrilla ban. So far, there were no reports of violence.
``We have put out more troops, there are helicopters providing air patrols along the highways,'' Dhakal said.
A government official said there were enough fuel reserves for Kathmandu's 1.5 million people and vowed to punish any retailer found hoarding stocks.
``We have enough stock, ranging from 15 days to a month, depending on the oil product,'' said Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel, secretary in the supplies ministry.
``The government has four or five monitoring teams and we will take action against the hoarders.''
The Maoists, who have fought for years to replace the constitutional monarchy with a communist republic, successfully enforced a blockade of hill-ringed Kathmandu last August through threats alone, without any physical show of force.
TALKS OFF
King Gyanendra, who blamed the previous government for failing to contain the Maoist revolt, has ordered a crackdown on the Maoists in their remote mountain hideouts and thick jungles to force them to resume talks, cut off since August 2003.
The guerrillas said on Saturday the king's Feb. 1 power grab had ended all possibility of early peace talks.
Instead, they have urged the country's warring political parties to unite with them to fight the monarchy.
The king's decision this month to take absolute power has prompted protests from many countries.
In New Delhi about 500 Nepalis carrying red banners gathered shouting ``Down with Monarchy'' and ``Long live the Republic.''
``We are here to protest against the royal proclamation and the king's assumption of power,'' organizer Laxman Pant said.
``Our first demand is the lifting of curbs on the media and restoring fundamental rights and revoking the emergency. And India and the United States should stop all aid to Nepal as this has strengthened the monarchy. The solution lies in an election.''
Thousands migrate every year from Nepal, one of the world's 10 poorest nations, to India every year for work.
Life in Kathmandu appeared unaffected, and there was no sign of panic buying in city markets despite the rebel blockade.
On Saturday, the first day of the strike, only 137 vehicles entered the capital through the main checkpoint of Nagdhunga, compared with 1,659 vehicles the previous day, the daily Himalayan Times said, quoting the army.
Residents reached by phone in the towns of Biratnagar and Janakpur in the east told Reuters there was little traffic in the towns and on the highways.
``Nobody can travel because long distance buses are not running,'' said Madhav Khanal, a resident in the western town of Nepalganj. ``There is confusion and uncertainty among the people, we don't know how long this will last.''
