All of this is in "retaliation" for the paper having published news implicating Ram Bahadur Thapa "Badal," a hard-liner Maoist leader very close to Prachanda, for having a doctor kidnapped. The doctor himself was a very active Maoist intellectual, appointed to his post as chief of the BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital during the Maoist tenure in government. The Party has kept eerily mum on the entire incident, not even asking for formal investigations or anything.
What I have been told by a journalist is that when Republica/Nagarik staff journalists ask well-placed Maoist sources about the whereabouts or condition of the doctor, the Maoist sources are quick to assure that the doctor is safe, and that this drama will end soon. More than one source [9 separate sources, is what I was told] corroborate the story.
The real questions now:
a] Did the YCL cadres who torched the van know that the driver had hidden the child under the seat?
b] How the fuck does it matter if they didn't know there was a child in the van? They still tried to burn a man alive, didn't they?
c] Did they know that the driver would escape unharmed? If so, is it still not an attempted murder? Who can correctly predict the outcome of an event like this?
d] What does the Maoist Party have to say about this?
e] Who are they trying to fool? It is either that Nagarik Daily is trying to propagate a lie about the Party (specifically, Badal and Chitawan YCL) , or that the Party has been caught with its pants down, fighting its own appointees over extorted/embezzled money, and now tries to terrorize journalists/wage earning drivers. What sort of an argument must they present to be not considered criminals?
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