By IANS
Kathmandu : As the peace pact signed between Maoist guerrillas and Nepal’s multi-party government turned one year old, fresh terror rose in the southern Terai plains, causing hundreds to flee in dread.
A new armed group calling itself the Terai Tigers has been spreading terror in Sunsari district, causing at least 150 families to leave their homes and seek shelter in the bordering districts, Nepal’s state media said Wednesday.
Braving biting cold, the families have been taking shelter in shanties in Morang, Jhapa and the border of Sunsari, preferring the inclement weather to the attacks of the armed group, Nepal Television reported.
The report comes a day after the cabinet expressed concern about the worsening law and order situation in the plains and asked the home ministry to improve security.
Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who had boasted of a comprehensive security plan earlier this year, was asked to devise means for strengthening security.
Due to growing threats and murders by armed groups, including two bands of former Maoists, civil servants have resigned en masse in Bara, Rautahat, Saptari and Siraha districts.
Teachers joined the protesters in Siraha to close down schools and demand improved safety measures.
Police said they have been unable to curb the growing lawlessness due to interference by the ruling parties and Maoists, who intervene on behalf of arrested cadres or supporters.
As a case in point, Siraha Wednesday reeled for the second day under an additional shutdown called by the Maoists.
The Young Communist League, the feared youth wing of the Maoists, has called an indefinite closure in the district since Tuesday to force the administration into releasing two of its cadres who were arrested on the suspicion they were involved in the murder of a government official.
Maoists have also called a shutdown in Rautahat district in the Terai.
Over 300 people have been killed in the plains since January with three major clashes reported so far. In June, the government was unable to hold elections due to the growing anarchy in the plains.
However, despite repeated urgings by human rights groups, the UN, donors, and even former American president Jimmy Carter who visited Nepal in June, the government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has remained locked in an inter-party feud for survival and failed to address the issue.
More violence and bloodshed is feared in the coming days with the uneasy ceasefire called by two bands of former Maoists in deference to the festival season having come to an end last week.