Maoists had abducted over 600 students and teachers from remote Ramechhap and Syangja districts in Nepal - Newindpress.com

Wednesday September 22 2004 00:00 IST

IANS

KATHMANDU: Lamps were lit at holy shrines and processions were taken out by Nepalese praying for peace on World Peace Day, but violence in the Maoist insurgency-hit kingdom continued.

Hundreds of people took part in peace marches in the capital and outer districts, hoping for an end to a violent insurgency that has claimed over 10,000 lives.

But at the same time, media reports said Maoists had abducted over 600 students and teachers from remote Ramechhap and Syangja districts to make them attend the rebels' indoctrination programmes.

A private radio channel reported that five Maoists were killed in two encounters with security forces in Sunsari and Dhankota districts on Tuesday morning.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba alleged at a peace meeting Tuesday that the Maoists were not serious about holding peace talks.

The state media said eight Maoists, including two women, were killed by security forces in two incidents on Monday night.

An NGO, Centre for Victims of Torture, released a report saying 17,000 people have been physically tortured by the rebels since the insurgency began in 1996 and over 100,000 people subjected to psychological pressure.

The National Measles Vaccination Campaign, said to be the biggest health campaign in Nepal's medical history targeting to immunise 9.5 million children aged between nine months and 15 years, also began on Tuesday amid fear that it could be disrupted in violence-prone areas by Maoists or even security forces.

The National Human Rights Commission in Kathmandu said it had written to the Maoists' supreme commander Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda, asking him not to disrupt the immunisation programme.

While the nation prayed for peace, an opposition coalition of four parties, led by former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress party, has announced it will start a new phase of protests in the capital, giving rise to fears that there could be more violence.

The opposition has been demanding the ouster of the Sher Bahadur Deuba government and has been holding protests continuously since King Gyanendra appointed the government in June this year.

There is fear of further violence from student organisations who are protesting against a recent hike in the price of petroleum products.

The students' demand that the government roll back prices has also been taken up by the Maoists' trade union which has forced 47 business ventures to close down till the government meets its demands. Sphere: Related Content