By IANS
Kathmandu : Within 48 hours of the Nepal government pledging top priority to holding elections in November, deposed prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Friday raised doubts about the exercise and said the security situation was still fragile.
Deuba, who heads the Nepali Congress-Democratic, the fourth largest party in the ruling alliance, said the volatile Terai plains in southern Nepal and continued acts of lawlessness by the Maoists cast a shadow on the Nov 22 elections.
"People are still being killed in the plains," he said. "The Maoists too have not given up violence."
Deuba was sacked in 2002 by King Gyanendra for failing to hold general elections due to the growing Maoist insurgency.
Though the guerrillas' 'People's War' ended last year when they signed a peace pact with the new multiparty government, the Terai plains have become the new hub of violence, where nearly 100 people have died since January.
Almost one dozen ethnic groups are waging separate movements for autonomy in the plains with explosions, abductions and killings becoming the order of the day.
Though the Maoists joined the government in April, their youth wing, the Young Communist League, has become a byword for violence, causing the UN and other rights organisations to express concern.
The Terai violence had forced postponement of the elections scheduled for last month.
Before the poll was deferred, Deuba and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's daughter Sujata Koirala, a senior member of his Nepali Congress party, were among a few people who ruled out a free and fair election in view of the turmoil.
This month, the government gave instructions to the home ministry to control the Terai violence.
The Nepal authorities have also been holding talks with Indian security officials for improving law and order along the border areas where Indian criminal gangs are active.