After destroying a stockpile of 46,850 IEDs in six major cantonments, the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT) faced obstacle from the Maoists at Dasharathpur camp in Surkhet district in September-end.
"We backed off after the Maoists told us to not proceed," Indra Ranabhat of UNMAT told myrepublica.com. UNMAT has been technically assisting the Nepal Army and the Maoists in clearing landmines and defusing explosive devices as per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Meanwhile, the Army has announced it has cleared 14 landmine sites across the country. This year the Army aims to clear as many as 19 landmine sites. During the conflict, the Army had laid landmines in 53 different locations to prevent the Maoists from attacking its barracks.
Unlike the Army, the Maoists had applied a different modus operandi of manufacturing IEDs. They used local materials to make IEDs. As per the CPA, the Maoists should have destroyed all IEDs within 60 days of signing the historic agreement that formally put an end to the decade-long bloody war.
However, the IEDs defusing drive started much later. Only in April of 2007-- more than five months after signing the CPA -- the former insurgents began destroying IEDs with help from UNMAT.
The IEDs, which have yet to be destroyed at the Surkhet cantonments, are said to be in a significant amount. These IEDs are extremely explosive compared to other devices the Maoists previously destroyed. UNMAT has put them in ´A´ category, meaning high explosives.
According to Maoist sources, only those explosive items that UNMAT placed in ´B´ and ´C´ categories have been destroyed so far. These items were brought together mainly in six cantonments.
UNMAT professes ignorance about the Maoist motive behind obstructing the highly explosive devices. "We are ready to resume it the moment the Maoists give us green signal," Ranabhat told myrepublica.com.
However, the Maoists rule out any ulterior motive behind obstructing the operation. "We have not walked away from defusing the IEDs," said Manjil, the division vice commander of the Maoist People Liberation Army (PLA). "We are still in favor of destroying all IEDs."
According to him, the Maoists have proposed using IEDs in development works. "We can utilize IEDs in blowing up mountains for road constructions instead of simply disposing of them," he says. "Our proposal is being discussed within Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC)."
JMCC headed by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) which has representatives of both the Nepal Army and the Maoists, is a mechanism constituted to resolve disputes pertaining to conflicting parties´ arms and armies.
The Maoist proposal came at a time when they were threatening to launch protests after quitting the government over the army chief row. The timing of floating such proposal was enough to raise suspicion over their intentions.
Due to delay in defusing landmines and destroying IEDs, common people are still at risk of losing lives. According to UNMAT, at least 250 people have been killed or injured by falling victims to landmines and explosive devices.
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