A bomb went off outside the corporate office of Ncell mobile phone in Nakhhu, Lalitpur Friday night. Singha Pratap Gurung, one of the three injured, died early Saturday morning at Mediciti Hospital, Lalitpur. This is a tragedy of epic proportion. He did not have to die. They were probably on their way to celebrate Friday. As of Saturday evening, Nepal police has arrested six suspects in connection with Friday’s bombing.
Friday’s incident is deplorable. We condemn this cowardly act in the strongest terms and demand that the culprit be brought to books at the earliest. We have also seen few other bombing incidents in and around major project sites. Earlier incidents were carried out by members of Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’-led Maoist outfit. They have been going around the villages and extorting ‘donations’ from the people. Even businesses in cities have not been spared. These all activities feel very similar to the ones carried out by the Maoists as they were launching their people’s war in the early 1990s. The Oli government has not been proactive in arresting and charging Biplav’s cadres in connection to previous bombing incidents. Many of them were released as a part of the then ongoing negotiation with the group. But if the government continues to turn a deaf ear to the unruly activities of different groups, we are sure to suffer more from episodic violence. As the country begins to move toward an era of political stability and economic prosperity, terrorist acts like the one on Friday shakes our confidence and distracts foreign companies who are thinking of coming to Nepal. The attack comes at a time when the government is working on hosting an investment summit next month in Kathmandu.
Be it Biplav or CK Raut, the government must not tolerate elements that are bent on destabilizing our country. We must learn from the past and not let these activities spread their wings. If we cannot act now, there will come a time when it will be too late to contain such forces. We are with the government in its pursuit to identify, arrest and charge those responsible for Friday’s cowardly act. The domestic terrorists are beginning to create havoc, and we cannot afford to stay silent. The people must feel that the government takes the security of its people with the highest priority.