Nepal Maoists clash with police over arms movement, 6 injured

Nepal's Maoists today clashed with riot police after the former rebels obstructed trucks transporting arms and ammunitions on the outskirts of the capital, claiming that it was a violation of the 2006 peace accord.

Half a dozen Maoist cadres were injured when the riot police baton charged the protesters who obstructed two trucks of the paramilitary Armed Police Force (APF) carrying arms and ammunitions at Naubise, 45-km west of the capital.
   
The Maoists claimed that the government had imported weapons from India in violation of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord with the former rebels that ended the decade-long civil war.
   
Prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal dismissed the Maoists' allegation, saying that the arms and ammunitions were brought under regular process for the APF and Nepal Police for training purposes.
   
It will not violate the peace accord as it was a regular process, he told reporters in the capital today.
   
He pointed out that under the peace accord while the Nepal Army is not allowed to import weapons, other security agencies can bring such items.

Home minister Bhim Rawal refuted the Maoists charge that the arms were for the army. He said Home Ministry has every right to bring in arms and ammunitions for the APF, Nepal Police and the National Investigation Department.
   
At a press conference, he slammed the Maoists for obstructing the vehicles carrying security equipments.
   
"The Maoists' acts were aimed at creating anarchy in the country and disturbing peace," he said.

Home minister Rawal underlined the Maoists should not obstruct the transportation of arms for the police organisation as it was necessary for maintaining law and order in the country.
   
The home minister said the government has every right to bring in arms not only from India, but also from China and other countries for its security agencies as Nepal does not produce arms.
   
The two trucks carrying security equipments were then taken to the headquarters of the APF at Halchowk in the west of Kathmandu with police escorts after the Maoists tried to obstruct the movement.
   
The Maoists had demanded a probe by the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), which is tasked to monitor the arms and the army of the former rebels and the Nepal military.

The Maoists, who waged a decade-long insurgency, joined mainstream politics after a 2006 peace deal with the interim government led by GP Koirala.

The political parties are deadlocked over the Maoists' demand to rectify the decision of president Ram Baran Yadav, who reinstated General Rukmangad Katawal, the then Army Chief dismissed by Maoists prime minister Prachanda in May last year.

The Maoists have demanded that the president publicly admit that he acted "unconstitutionally" when he reversed the decision by the Prachanda-led government to fire the army chief. They then want the government disbanded, followed by the formation of a new coalition government led by them.