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Blasts rock Nepal after rebel ceasefire ends

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 09:14 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

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