Loose cannon
The Maoists attacked the army in Dang and carried off three cannons with them. Will the Maoists use these cannons against the army? The people need not be worried that the Maoists will use them. The cannons were a curse, not a boon to the Maoists.

According to army sources, the Maoists carried off three 81 mm cannons from the Dang barracks but they will not be able to use them. Although they took away the cannons, they were not able to take their "base plates" on which the cannons must be placed to be used. The army officials are smiling.

For the cannons to be functional, the guns have to be fixed on to the plates before firing. If the cannon is not fixed to the base-plate and then used, it will be uncontrollable, causing more damage to the people firing it than against whom it is being used. As the Maoists did not carry out the cannon's base plates, these weapons are little more than a source of trouble for them.

Forewarning, movie-style
Next to the barracks are a small village and shrubs. The Maoists hid in these shrubs and fired into the barracks with their .303 guns. When the firing started, the telephone in the signal room" rang. An officer answered the phone and the voice on the other end said, "The noise you hear outside is not from firecrackers being burst. It is us, Maoists, and we will be attacking you in a few moments. The firing and this telephone call were just to warn you. Do you have the guts to fight us?"

Captain Thapa had been transferred from the barracks in Bhaluwang to Ghorahi that very day. As soon as he heard the threat, he replied, "We are prepared to fight you. Come on in if you really want to fight." As soon as he said this, the Maoists, who earlier had been firing from the south only, opened fire from three sides, the south, west and the east. As the firing started, an army personnel made his way to the signal room and informed the barracks in Surkhet, Rolpa, Dailekh and Kathmandu. When the firing started no one had a clue where the telephone directory was, but luckily the person in the signal room knew the telephone numbers of the barracks in Rolpa and Dailekh and was able to give a live commentary on the battle taking place right in front of him. After the Maoists overran the barracks, they found him, dragged him out and asked, shouting, whether he too was fighting them. To save his life, this man lied and said he was a new recruit who had just joined the force.

Guns without gumption
In earlier encounters between the police and the Maoists, the police had a lot of trouble with their pre-World War II weapons. Similarly, the army had to face a lot of trouble using their outdated weapons. As a result, the Maoist forces could successfully overrun the barracks and all the army personnel there were killed. The extra magazines did not fit into the SMG guns, while the general purpose machine guns simply did not fire. These shortcomings helped the Maoists to a great extent.

The Maoists' beef
After their success in Dang, the Maoists threw a party for their activists in Holeri. They included everyone they had taken prisoner, and Chief District Officer Lok Bahadur Khatri was also invited to the party. As Khatri tells it, the Maoists even served beef. Khattri has not divulged whether he himself partook of the feast.