Pyuthan, November 21:

The Maoists have locked up the house of a civilian, Rim Bahadur Basnet, at Maranthana village development committee-3 of Pyuthan district to exert pressure on Basnet to ask his sons to quit jobs in the Nepal Police and the Royal Nepalese Army. The Basnets have been living in an open field in this chilly weather for a week now, Hari KC, a local, said. Two of Basnet’s sons are in the RNA and one is in the police.

The Nepal Bar Association’s Human Rights Project in Pyuthan has urged the Maoists to lift the lockout. Meanwhile, three businessmen —Balaju Shrestha, Mahendra Gupta and Dhaneshwor Khanal — who were abducted by the Maoists earlier, are still in their captivity.