Nepal Reports on the Conflict Rolpa: Battle leaves deep scars (Sept 2000)

September 2000 DUNAI, DOLPA

14 policemen were killed by guerrillas in the north-western district of Dolpa. Fourteen prisoners set free from a nearby jail by the rebels during the attack have surrendered. The authorities say 12 security guards are still missing - they have accused the rebels of abducting them.

The battle in Dunai that began at midnight will probably live forever in the impressionable memories of one of the most vulnerable group - children. Some children, fast asleep with their mothers, went senseless following the Maoist rebels' blitzkrieg in the district headquarters. Their mothers say, the young kids are yet to recover from the loud blasts of the socket bombs that rebels pounded at this tiny hamlet. The nightmare still hounds their psyche, even in deep slumber.

Bombs started to explode and bullets pierced their homes. Houses in this small market shook due to the impact of heavy blast of explosives just like in an earthquake. It could have been fatal if one tried to move even in his own room. On this horrendous night, wife of Ratna Khatri, an employee at the local telecommunication office, could not dare to get a glass of water for her two sons and herself who were intensely thirsty at the time. The young ones had fallen unconscious due to the shock waves generated by the loud blast.

"My elder son Pradeep wetted his bed out of fear before falling unconscious," recalls Mrs Khatri. "And to quench my thirst, I was forced to lick it." Situated on the bank of the Thuli Bheri river and on the lap of Tipla hill, Dunai bazaar was in deep slumber when the Maoists launched their raid at midnight Sunday.

"All of a sudden, series of explosions went off with loud bangs," a local resident Hariman Shrestha recalls. "It was a disastrous night to be alive." The crossfire between the rebels and police lasted till dawn. The locals were trapped in the crossfire throughout the night after the guerrillas surrounded the strategic District Administration Office, District Police Office and District Jail and pounded socket bombs from all sides at them at once.

Dunai was covered in a cloud of dust and smoke till sunrise and some people said they were choking with the smoke. "I have never seen such action even in a movie," says Shanti Rokaya, "I had lost all my hope of life." Her home stood right in the line of fire, as it was located between the District Police Office on the one side and the District Jail on the other side. Tikaram Subedi also has similar story to narrate. "I feared that my house would burn down after the bullets started coming from both sides," Subedi, who runs a shop, said. His house is marked with countless bullet holes and bomb shrapnels. Subedi said everyone in his family hid under the bed to avoid being hit in the cross-fire.

Meanwhile, at another part of the small village, a group of Maoist guerrillas, who had gone to destroy the Land Revenue Office returned back after Rajya Laxmi Hamal, wife of an employee at the same office, pleaded them not to destroy the house. The Hamals owned the house and had provided it on rent to the revenue office. The house was left untouched but two women rebels robbed Rs 54,000 from the revenue office. However, Hamal told the reporter that the rebels had turned the Land Revenue Office into a health camp for their wounded comrades. She also said that the rebels had a 40-member medical team who stayed at the office treating their wounded till dawn.

Still, Dunai bazaar is in dead silence. Locals are not at all confident about peace and security in the area despite the visit of Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi, Inspector General of Police Achyut Krishna Kharel and Parliamentarian Nara Bahadur Budha. District Development Committee Chairman Shiva Nanda Budha said most of the donor agencies in the district are moving out because of the poor security.