Security alert in Nepal ahead of nationwide strike
Nepal’s royal government put its security forces on alert and stepped up highway patrols today ahead of an 11-day nationwide general strike called by communist rebels.
The government hoped to foil the strike, due to start tomorrow.
“We have a heavy presence along the major highways. There is no way they can disrupt the traffic,” said Major Bharat Khadka at the Royal Nepalese Army headquarters.
Along the Prithvi highway – the lifeline for residents of the capital, Katmandu – soldiers lined up trucks and buses so they could escort the vehicles.
In an overnight attack along that highway, a truck carrying diesel fuel was set on fire at Narayanghat, 100 miles south of Katmandu. No one was reported hurt.
Narayan Sharma, a reporter in Narayanghat, said the communist rebels have been throwing fliers along the highways urging people to obey the strike call.
In eastern Nepal, the guerrillas have blocked several mountain highways with trees and rocks. Soldiers were working to clear the debris, police in the area said.
The rebels said they called the strike to protest King Gyanendra’s takeover of the government and imposition of a state of emergency last month.
The king said he had to assume absolute power because successive governments had failed to counter the rebels, who have been fighting since 1996 to abolish the monarchy and set up a communist state.
The insurgency, which the rebels say is inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, has claimed more than 10,500 lives.
