Himalayan News Service

Rolpa, April 25:

The Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) is conducting “Operation Khara” in Rolpa district. The operation aim at befriending the local residents in the so-called Maoist special zone, the capital and the areas throughout the district with strategies different than those launched earlier, Major General Deepak Bikram Rana, the commander of Mid-west Division Headquarters (MDH), said. “This operation is different from the earlier ones,” Rana said adding the army’s target was to win trust of the local people by visiting them in their villages. He said the army would reach out villagers and shake hands with them and talk on different issues and also ask them to suggest their children to denounce Maoist violence. This, the army claims, would help in changing the people’s attitude towards the army. People had negative impression about the RNA because of the misbehaviour meted out to them on 1997-1998. Helping locals with their daily works and ask the civil administration to solve the people’s problems at the earliest is also a part of the operation, Rana said.

He informed that the RNA was concentrating its activities in so-called Maoist strongholds as Parsawang, Kotgaon, Maoists’ special zone Ghartigaon and Maoist ‘capital’ Thawang. “We won’t harm unarmed person but won’t spare persons carrying weapons,” Brigadier General Ram Bahadur Gurung, the chief of the 19th Brigade of Dang said. The army claimed that the operation had dispersed the Maoists. The forces from Nepalgunj, Dang, Salyan and Baglung have headed for the operation in Rolpa. The MDH said for the operation, the ranger force had also joined from Kathmandu. Meanwhile, the MDH public relation officer Lieutenant Colonel Yagya Bahadur Rajaure said the Operation Khara also continued at several places today. “The aerial and land attacks continue as per the need,” he added.