By IANS,
Kathmandu : The devastating floods that left a trail of havoc, death and diseases in south Nepal and Bihar have also swept away the training camps of underground rebel groups and destroyed arms and ammunition, a report claimed Thursday.
The raging Saptakosi river that destroyed tens of thousands of homes in Nepal’s Sunsari district and India’s Bihar state across the border has also wiped out the secret training camps of at least three Nepali armed groups and swept away the rebels’ guns, ammunition and explosives, the Naya Patrika daily said.
Veteran Maoist leader from the Terai plains, Jay Krishna Goit, who broke away from the parent party accusing it of failing to address the sufferings of the Madhesi community and began an armed movement for an independent Madhes state, had his Akhil Terai Mukti Morcha’s covert camps destroyed by the swirling waters, the daily said.
Its breakaway faction, the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha led by Goit’s former lieutenant Jwala Singh, as well as a little-known group said to be behind a series of abductions and extortion, the Madhesi Tigers faction headed by underground rebel Prafulla Yadav, had also suffered similar losses, the report said.
Just as the Maoists had set up training camps for its guerrillas in the border areas of Nepal and India, where concealment was easy and arms easily available, the three Nepali underground organisations had their training centres in Sunsari’s Shripur, Haripur and Basantapur villages as well as Araria and Supaul districts of Bihar, the report said.
The camps began to mushroom about three years ago.
Due to the floods and the destruction of the camps, the training of rebel cadres has been put on hold, the report said.
Along with the camps, the floods have also destroyed firearms, documents and a large cache of explosives.
The daily said the former Maoist outfits had their training camps in Araria’s Banelipatti while the Madhesi Tigers had their camp in Kausikapur in the same Indian district.
A senior leader of Madhesi Tigers, who gave his name only as Pratap, told the daily the swirling waters had carried away hundreds of small, home-made bombs.
This week, Nepal’s new Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam called the warring factions to talks, delivered with the warning that those who declined the call would be regarded as criminals and would be subjected to force.
Recently, in the first incident of its kind, the Nepal police gunned down the chief of another shadowy outfit, the Terai Army, who was said to have planned the serial blasts in the capital last year in which three women were killed.
Absorbed in planning rescue, rehabilitation and security measures, Nepal’s home ministry declined to comment on the report.
“It is not possible to verify at this stage whether the report is true,” home ministry spokesman Modraj Dottel told IANS.