Nepalese parents stop Maoist convoys to search for their children

Nov 21, 2006, 12:05 GMT

Kathmandu - Angry and anxious parents and guardians Tuesday formed human shields and halted Maoist military convoys to search for the children they allege were forcibly taken by Maoist insurgents to induct them into the Maoist Peoples Liberation Army, a Nepalese media report said.

The independent Kantipur Television said the parents stopped the convoys comprising 28 bus-loads of Maoist guerrillas at two different places in Palpa district in western Nepal, about 220 kilometres west of the capital.

The convoys were carrying the Maoists to a new cantonment site as the one in Palpa was rejected by an inspection team comprising representatives of the government, the Maoists and the United Nations peace team in Nepal.

The parents and human rights workers present at the scene were trying to identify the occupants of the buses, including those said to be forcefully abducted by the Maoists, the television report said.

Nepalese media have been reporting large-scale abductions of youths and school students by the Maoists to induct them into the Peoples Liberation Army in violation of the 25-point ceasefire agreement they reached with the government.

The Maoists deny that they were abducting youths to conscript them into the Peoples Liberation Army and say that they would investigate the media reports.

Top Maoist leaders, including their top leader Prachanda, say they have been trying to expand their organisational base following the November 8 peace agreement and were adding new cadres to their organisation. But they said they were not recruiting anyone into the Maoist army.