Even though the Nepali Maoists announced a unilateral cease-fire, they continued to abduct and take people captive. The Maoists abducted some 7,551 persons during the cease-fire period.
Terrorist pressure to join their outfit coupled with extreme poverty led many Nepali children to work in stone quarries. “The Maoists repeatedly coerced me to join them, so I had no way out other than to join,” said RabMi with a gloomy face.
Sanjeeb said, though the Maoists were all out to get them recruited in their group, he and his brother were strictly against the idea.
“We have to feed the party (outlaws) at any cost whenever they arrive at our village when the reality is such that we are not in a condition to feed our family for a whole year.”
Chitra Kumari of Lalbandi, Sarlahi began working in the quarry three years ago along with her entire family.
They were forced to take to the quarries after failing to support themselves through their household farm. Her daughter Laxmi Mjar had to leave the school following her parents’ departure to Dhading.
She wants to become a schoolteacher in the future but it is uncertain whether her dream would be fulfilled because her study would depend on her parents’ condition.
She has been studying in class I at the local Jana Jagriti Lower Secondary School, which was established with the assistance of the Child Development Society (CDS), an NGO working on child labour for providing education to the children of those working in the stones quarries.
She helps her mother crush stones after school. More than 75 students at the school are the children of quarry workers, according to school headmaster Sanukaji Ale. The school has a dignified place compared to other government schools in the district he added. But, principal Ale fears that the children could leave the school after completing their study up to grade eight, as the high school is further away, in a different place. “The drop out rate remained at about 13 per cent last year in the high school,” he said.
It was reported that the Maoists killed four persons, abducted civilians, and took people hostage, issued threats of closing down schools and recruiting child soldiers even during the unilateral cease-fire they announced. It is important to have resolute and comprehensive efforts from the international community to fight the menace of terrorism at the global level.
The High Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th United Nations General Assembly produced an Outcome Document, in which the international community strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever and for whatever purpose, Nepal urged the international community to remain free of double standards and without any selective approach regarding the policies towards terrorism.
The role played by His Late Majesty King Mahendra, as an architect of modern foreign policy, who premised Nepal’s foreign policy on the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, that His Late Majesty’s enlightened pursuit of foreign policy helped Nepal earn a distinct identity in the international arena.
Keeping with the rich traditions of the Shah monarchs, His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev remains fully committed to the principles and purpose of the UN Charter. The Royal Nepalese Army supports UN peacekeeping operations, having deployed over 50,000 peacekeepers to safeguard peace in different trouble spots around the world.
