Political parties, including the CPN-Maoist, have condemned the incident. But the UCPN (Maoist) has blamed the CPN-Maoist for the incident.[break]
After arresting Kunwar, police also arrested Kunwar´s brother in-law and Maoist Salyan district committee member Bhim Bharati, and YCL Baglung district secretariat member Gobinda Karki, who were living in the building in Dhapasi, Kathmandu. While Bharati is still in police custody, Karki has been released on bail Saturday morning on the condition that he report to the police when asked.
Earlier, CPN (UML) Chairman Jhalanath Khanal was slapped by his cadre in Sunsari and Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala was attacked by his cadre in Kathmandu.
Why Kunwar slapped Dahal?
Kuwnar, 23, is from Rajkut VDC -2 of Baglung. All of Kunwar´s family members were active UCPN (Maoist) cadres during the 10-year long insurgency. His house and properties were destroyed by the state security forces in 2003. His sister Sadhana, brother Tek Bahadur Kunwar, who was People´s Liberation Army (PLA) company commander, were both injured during the insurgency.
According to his family members, Kunwar was frustrated to see party leaders´ leading luxurious life-styles while the cadres struggled to make ends meet. His family members fared no better.
"Sadhana still has bullets lodged in her abdomen. On the other hand, Tek Bahadur not only retains physical scars but is also mentally unstable," said Karki.
"But party and party leaders have never shown concern for the plight of Sadhana and Tek Bahadur. Though the conflict ended long ago, they still await treatment."
According to Karki, all of Kunwar´s family members made a sacrifice for party. They lost their dreams, happiness and even their ancestral property fighting for a classless society free from discrimination. But party leaders worked only to bring riches to their own family and relatives showing complete disregard for the sacrifice of party cadres.
Kunwar´s father Prem Bahadur is currently the Baglung district committee member and Sadhana state committee member of the UCPN (Maoist), while his brother Tek Bahadur´s wife runs a small grocery shop in Rajkut. According to Karki, Kunwar was also a party cadre and worked for the student wing during the insurgency. But, later he flew off to Qatar for employment. After returning home from Qatar, he was undertaking a “professional cook training” at Hotel Yak and Yeti. Kunwar was not associated with either of the Maoist parties after the split.
"He was a bright student. Unluckily, he had to abandon studies for the party. He passed SLC this year," added Karki.
Though Karki claims that all of Kunwar´s family members are UCPN (Maoist) cadres, some leaders of the CPN-Maoist said Sadhana and Prem Bahadur have joined the newly formed CPN-Maoist.
UCPN (Maoist) central committee member Tek Bahadur Basnet of Salyan, said that Kunwar´s brother-in-la Bharati was a Salyan district committee member. "Bharati is our party district committee member but he is not in touch with us now," said Basnet.
When asked why Kunwar slapped Dahal, Karki expressed ignorance saying he has still not been allowed to meet the former. “We have been accused of planning the incident, but we have no involvement. We were called by the police to meet Kunwar but they arrested us instead. The police have also been conducting raids at the houses of Kunwar´s relatives. I don´t understand why we are being dragged just because we had been living with Kunwar in the same house,” said Karki.
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