CHITWAN, May 29: Maoist cadres have torched a pick-up van carrying Republica and its sister daily Nagarik keeping the driver and a child inside the vehicle in Chitwan Saturday.
The van (Ba 6 Cha 8700) carrying the dailies to Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Makwanpur from Kathmandu was set ablaze in Ramnagar by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) cadres at 8:45 in the morning. The cadres had earlier torched the two dailies on Friday for publishing news related to Maoist involvement in Dr Bhakta Man Shrestha´s abduction.
Driver Kishan Shrestha said the Maoists torched the van without allowing him and his elder brother´s seven-year-old son Sudarshan to get out of the vehicle. “I don´t know who torched the vehicle. But the number of one of the motorcycles was Na 7 Pa 3768,” the petrified kid said. The van was carrying 9,500 copies of the dailies.
“First they pelted stones asking me to come out. I pushed the kid under the seat to save him. They then torched the van sprinkling petrol and saw dust,” driver Kishan said. “They continued to pelt stones till the fire blazed. I brought the kid out of the fire after they left the scene in a while. The back seat and the front part were already burnt when I came out,” he added.
He revealed that a group of seven-eight persons had obstructed the highway with four motorcycles. The Maoists had torched the vehicle in the middle of the jungle just a kilometer ahead after the driver dropped papers at the police post in Ramnagar.
The driver said he felt he was followed by two motorcycles after he left Sugam Petrol Pump in Dasdhunga along the Munglin-Narayangadh section of the highway refueling the van but couldn´t call anybody as his mobile set was not charged. “A few persons had asked me where I was going and I had told them that I was heading to Narayangadh,” he revealed.
A fire engine from Bharatpur had doused the fire.
Young Communist League (YCL) cadres had proudly informed the media in Chitwan about the torching of van through phone. Chitwan President of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists Krishna Giri has slammed the Maoist action after reaching the site of incident while police said search is on for the persons involved in the act.
? 
?
?