 KATHMANDU - Nepal’s Maoist rebels - accusing police of ineptitude - have begun patrolling capital Kathmandu in a bid to halt rising crime, angering the multi-party government who say the move is “totally illegal”.
| Just the latest move towards establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat. |
“We have arrested 190 people, of whom 180 were freed after investigations,” said Sagar, the Maoist commander of what the rebels call operation crime control, which began earlier this month.
The rebel commander said the party had deployed 200 People’s Liberation Army soldiers in the Kathmandu Valley. “We want to make Kathmandu a crime-free zone in the next couple of months,” said Sagar, who goes by only one name.
| "We'll start by arresting wreckers, reactionaries, social deviants, revisionists, Trotskyites and anti-revolutionary elements." |
The rebels claim that police have ignored rising crime in the valley, including kidnapping and theft. “The state and the police administration failed to fulfill its duty in maintaining security in the valley so we took the initiative to start our own operation. Also, requests were made by people to control the growing incidents of criminal activities,” Sagar told AFP.
| "The people love us. They don't utter a word of protest when our troops are around. Isn't that something!" he added. |
The rebels do not intend to jail suspected criminals but plan to ”investigate and keep them under our surveillance”, Sagar said.
The government has protested against the patrols. “What the rebels are doing in the name of maintaining security in the valley is totally illegal. They must stop such activities immediately,” Baman Prasad Neupane, Nepal’s home ministry spokesman told AFP. The police declined to comment on the rebels’ vigilante activities in Kathmandu. |