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Communal Violence in Kapilvastu
By KTM Metro Reporter
Communal violence suddenly erupted in Kapilvastu, one of the districts of the central terai region of Nepal after unidentified gunmen shot Mohit Khan dead on September 16, 2007. Violence continued unabated for days causing loss of human lives and property.
Civil society leaders visiting the area found that the killing of Mohit Khan and subsequent violence and killing of both the hill and Madheshi Nepalis were well planned and executed.
Mohit Khan was the leader of the vigilantes in the area during the autocratic rule of the king. The then Home Minister went to him and officially armed his group and him to fight against the insurgents. Since then he had been under the army protection. On September 16, an unidentified person called and asked him to come out about one km away from the army barrack where the unidentified people shot him dead. Immediately after that the communal violence erupted and the arms provided by the then Home Minister used to kill both the Madheshi and hill Nepalis in that area according to the civil society leaders.
Civil society leaders have advised the government to rehabilitate the people displaced during the violence in Kapilvastu immediately.
Some victims of the violence in Kapilvastu are in Kathmandu for seeking immediate relief from the sufferings, as they have not received anything from the local administration. Most of the families have lost their breed-winners in addition to the houses and stores burned down by the perpetrators of violence. They had burned more than 160 vehicles, 200 stores and 600 houses of both the hill and Madheshi communities. The actual figure might be more.
The victims demanded the removal of Armed Police Force Superintendent at the Chandrauta base camp, Bikash Shrestha and Chief District Officer Narendra Dahal for their failure to control the riot and provide security to the people. They also demanded the government to bring to justice the perpetrators of communal fights and violence in the Kapilvastu district.
The state-run newspaper ‘The Rising Nepal’ of September 27, 2007, reported that the Area Police Office in Chandrauta, Kapilvastu district has found 13 out of the 37 arrested as guilty of perpetrating the riot and violence started on September 16, and initiated legal actions against them. However, the police have been finding it difficult to arrest the perpetrators of violence in Krishnanagar, Kapilvastu as none has made any complaints so far.
None of the non-Madhesi staffs in the government offices in Krishnanagar have reported to work yet even after 10 days of the violence. Some staff have gone to Butwal, others fled to India and some escaped the riot and gone home. The internal revenue office and the customs office have currently only three guards to keep the office safe.
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has sent Rs. 6.05 million to the Kapilvastu district administration office (DAO) for providing relief materials to the victims of violence in the Kapilvastu district. The DAO in turn sent Rs. 2.4 million for relief works to the Bidhyabasini battalion Chandrauta, but only Rs. 400,000 has been distributed so far. The chief of the battalion said that the people are still angry at the administration making it a problem of distributing the relief materials to the victims.
The district administration has been reducing the curfew hours after the situation has gradually improved, and has lifted the curfew from 7 AM to 3 PM in and around Chandrauta and from 6 AM to 8 PM in Krishnanagar and Taulihawa areas since Tuesday, September 25, 2007.
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=27368
