Kathmandu, July 19 (IANS) Panic-stricken by systematic attacks by a variety of armed groups and facing threats to leave or face dire consequences, government employees have started an exodus from the turbulent Terai, creating an administrative vacuum in the southern plains ahead of a crucial election.
The brutal murder of a senior municipal official in Siraha district Wednesday by a band of former Maoists takes the number of government employees killed in the Terai since March to seven.
Nearly 100 people have died in the violence engulfing the plains since January as different armed groups, heartened by the Maoist guerrillas’ success with the gun, have started emulating them and unleashed a reign of terror with extortions, abductions and killings.
Ram Hari Pokhrel, secretary of the Govindpur village development committee in Siraha, was abducted Sunday by the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha – a group of ex-Maoists led by Jwala Singh.
Pokhrel’s captors cut his throat early Wednesday for not having paid “tax” to the group.
The whereabouts of a schoolteacher and a civilian who were also abducted with Pokhrel remain unknown.
The killing triggered a strong protest from municipal employees, who began an indefinite nationwide strike Wednesday, demanding security from the government.
The seven murders since March include that of Ram Briksh Rai, also a village development committee secretary, and Navraj Bista, an engineer working on a World Bank aided project.
The bank has warned Nepal that it will stop its activities in the areas if the government cannot ensure the safety of workers.
While the Jwala Singh faction took responsibility for two killings, its rival group, also a band of former Maoists led by a former top leader from the plains, Jay Krishna Goit, was behind two other murders.
A little-known group, the Terai Cobras, owned up killing a fifth while no group has so far admitted responsibility for the other two victims.
Though the Maoists signed a peace pact with the government last year, nearly a dozen armed groups are now active in the plains.
They have the same demand: an autonomous state in the plains by, for and of the plains community, who have been neglected by a succession of Nepal governments.
The demands grew since this year with the armed groups asking all government and security personnel from the hill communities to leave the plains or face dire consequences.
Jwala Singh this week gave them a week’s time to move out, throwing a counter-challenge to home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who has asked the rebels to begin talks within a fortnight or face tough security action.
In eight districts, employees of the local development ministry have asked for transfers to the hills, fearing for their lives, the Kathmandu Post daily reported Thursday.
“There is terror,” Bimal Prasad Dhakal, chief administrative officer of Bara district, told the Post. “Officials of hill origin can’t move about freely.”
There are reports of some government officials choosing to work from home due to the growing lawlessness.
At least 23 government staffers from eight districts – Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa – have stopped going to their offices, the Post said.
The crucial election, scheduled for June, was postponed to November due to the worsening security situation, especially in the plains.
Both Jwala Singh and Goit have warned they will not allow the polls to be held in the plains till their demand is met.