Following a meeting of high-level government officials concerned with security held Monday at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, an official said, “Currently we are in a ´wait and watch mood´, but if such activities get more violent we will be compelled to take strict action against the disruptive forces.”[break]
Currently, it is hard to predict the extent to which the 33-party alliance lead by the CPN-Maoist will go to foil the CA poll, so the authorities are observing and analyzing their activities closely, he said. But the government cannot remain silent in a situation that would induce violence and frustrate the election, said Minister for Information and Communications Madhav Prasad Paudel, who is also the spokesperson of the government.
“The government is moving along with its Integrated Security Plan (ISP) to ensure a violence-free and fair election in all the electoral constituencies, but in case of a ´violent-boycott´ it won´t remain silent,” said Joint-secretary Shankar Prasad Koirala, spokesperson of the Home Ministry. In comparison with earlier elections, the situation is peaceful as of now, he said adding that the government is ready to ensure fail-safe security in every corner of the country.
Referring to the four incidents that occurred in different part of the country, DIG Nawa Raj Silwal, spokesperson of the Nepal Police, said these incidents were carried out on the sly. “We were able to arrest some among those involved and definite steps can be taken to stop such violence."
Security will be further tightened ahead of the election as the anti-poll forces have called a 10-day banda in the lead up to November 19 and this could invite more violent and clashes with the campaigning parties, according to police officials.
However, CPN-Maoist leader Pampha Bhushal said the campaign against the poll would go peacefully, adding that the alliance was not responsible for recent incidents of arson against road vehicles being used by the candidates.
She also clarified that no leaders of her party were semi-undergrounded and everyone was available either at the party office, at home or at party programs. “How can we torch the vehicle of a republican leader like Narahari Acharya," she asked.
Meanwhile, an unidentified group torched the vehicle used by Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala in Nepalgunj, Monday morning and UCPN(Maoist) cadres attacked supporters of the Nepali Congress at Gaunkharka VDC, Nuwakot, leaving three seriously injured.
Meanwhile, government ministers, who are non-political bureaucrats, have realized that the dissident parties are not in a position to come into confidence and work out a settlement through negotiations. “The issues of the dissident parties are totally political and are not in the hands of the government while the political parties are fully preoccupied with their election campaigning,” an official at the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
CoAS Rana on nationwide tour
With a view to monitoring election security and army deployment, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Gaurav Shumsher JB Rana has started a visit across the country commencing from Monday.
According to Nepal Army´s Directorate of Public Relations (DPR), on the first day of his visit CoAS Rana visited the Mid Division and units under it, at Mid Division Headquarters, Hetauda. He also visited Parsa, Rautahat, Sarlahi and Dhanusha to garner futher information on the security situation.
These districts are considered to be highly sensitive. According to the army´s DPR, Rana also sought reports from the respective commanders and instructed them to deploy fully for a free, fair and fear-free election.
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