KATHMANDU, DEC 20 - Normal life across the nation was brought to a virtual standstill on Sunday, the first day of a three-day general strike called by the UCPN (Maoist) as part of their third-phase protest demanding the establishment of 'civilian supremacy'.
Vehicles stayed off the roads, shops were shuttered and the educational institutions were closed due to the banda..Over a dozen Maoist cadres and half-a-dozen police personnel...were injured in Baneshwor..which according to eyewitnesses turned into a virtual battle gound.
The agitators did not spare journalists' vehicles and ambulances in certain parts of the country despite their earlier commitment to abstain from attacking vehicles belonging to hospital, media and diplomatic missions....However, the other parts of the country remained relatively peaceful in comparison to the capital despite minor reports of scuffle and vandalism. -SANJEEB PHUYAL/DEEPAK GURUNG, ekantipur.com
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Yesterday, the mountain road from Pharping Pass through Dollu and up into Pharping was strangely silent, as locals walked on the blacktop without fear of the cars, trucks, vans, buses, and motorcycles that customarily clog the thoroughfare during daylight hours. Pharping, itself, took on a holiday air, as the steel rolldown doors of half the shops were down, while most of the others featured storeowners standing in doorways, watching the few walkers and motorcycles on the nearly empty streets.
At the intersection of the two main streets that make up Pharping, eight or so policemen in their usual blue and grey camelflage uniforms stood outside their guardhouse and looked down the road at a like number of young Maoists males in street clothes, casually blocking the road into the village with a limp red cloth on a makeshift stand. The two groups kept their distance, while, between them, teams of village children, off from school, played on the dusty soccer field near the side of the road.
As if to celebrate the unexpected free time and the lack of traffic that would ordinarily push them to the side, a group of villagers gathered in front of a closed shop and put on an extended, impromptu song and dance concert. (Click on pic for larger view.) --Jerry in Nepal
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