Blasts rock Nepal after rebel ceasefire ends

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Two fresh bomb blasts hit the tourist
town of Pokhara in Nepal on Tuesday, following a series of
overnight explosions in the Himalayan kingdom, which came just
hours after Maoist rebels called off a four-month truce.

The explosions coming soon after the Maoists ended their
unilateral truce at midnight on Monday has raised fears of a
resurgence of violence.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Tuesday’s
blasts in Pokhara, 200 km (125 miles) west of Kathmandu. One of
the explosions occurred near a local government office and the
other on a road.

No one was hurt in the overnight blasts in Pokhara and in
the two other western towns of Butwal and Bhairahawa, and no
group has claimed responsibility, but officials blame the
rebels.

In its first reaction to the end of the truce, Nepal’s
royalist government said it stood ready to protect the country.

“It is unfortunate. The state is prepared for any
eventuality,” junior Information Minister Shris Shumsher Rana
told Reuters. “We are ever vigilant.”

The United Nations expressed its concern over the prospect
of an escalation in fighting.

It said it regretted that many appeals from the people of
Nepal and the international community for an extension of the
truce had gone unheeded.

“The United Nations urges both parties to the conflict to
exercise restraint, to respect fully their obligations under
international humanitarian law, and to take appropriate
measures to establish a mutual ceasefire,” it said in a
statement.

The Maoists first declared a three-month truce in
September, but later extended it for another month under
popular pressure.

TALKS URGED

On Monday, Prachanda, the elusive rebel leader, said the
ceasefire would not be prolonged further and accused government
troops of provoking his forces to break it.

The government of King Gyanendra, who fired a previous
government and seized absolute power in February, had refused
to respect the truce, saying the Maoists could not be trusted.

As the ceasefire ended, local media reported that the
rebels, who have a strong presence across much of the
countryside, were planning to attack the heavily defended
capital, Kathmandu.

Commentators and ordinary Nepalese called for talks to try
to end the fighting that has raged for a decade. More than
12,500 people have been killed in the insurgency that aims to
topple the monarchy and establish one-party communist rule.

The violence has delayed parliamentary and local elections
and wrecked the economy of the aid-dependent nation.

“The government must take the initiative for talks between
the king, political parties and the Maoists,” said Nepal
Samacharpatra, a local newspaper.

Sunita Chamling, a housewife in Kathmandu, said the
government should have matched the Maoist truce.

“Peace had a chance under the ceasefire. Therefore, the
government should have responded to the Maoists,” she said.

Security has been stepped up across the country and
witnesses reported troops patrolling Maoist strongholds in the
west of the rugged kingdom.

Gyanendra has called for elections to 58 municipal councils
to be held on Feb 8. But the Maoists have pledged to derail the
polls and the seven main political parties, pressing the king
to restore democracy, have announced a boycott.