Nepal shutdown: Maoists torch buses, army refuses to budge

...and, here's an example of the kind of stuff that happens when strikes are called - and occasionally "violated" (ie, if one decides to move about freely).

Kathmandu, June 10 (IANS) Nepal's Maoist guerrillas Sunday set five buses ablaze in a district in the southern Terai plains for plying during an indefinite closure enforced by them while the army, the target of their anger, refused to pull out from the area.

Kapilavastu district in southwestern Nepal, revered by Buddhists as part of the ancient kingdom where the Buddha was born and spent 29 years before leaving home in search of enlightenment, has lain crippled since Saturday after an indefinite shutdown called by the Maoists.

The communist guerrillas have called the protest to force the Nepal Army, once their bete noire, into pulling out its base at Birpur village in the district, where about 40 soldiers are stationed.

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