On 8 March, Bhagawati Gautam of Shoba village in Rukum was heading to Khalanga for a Women's Day rally. She stepped on an anti-personnel mine near the military camp in Saankh and lost her right leg (see picture). The security forces and the Maoists are both using landmines in this increasingly costly war. This is worrying because of the danger to civilians and the long-term impact landmines have on populations long after the conflict is over.

In districts like Rolpa, Rukum, Sallyan, Jajarkot and Kalikot the sound of bombs going off and gunfire are so commonplace, people take little notice. Ordinary people are trapped between the government's sankatkaal (emergency) and the Maoists' mahakaal (showdown). Walking across these districts, there are checkpoints everywhere: army sentries and Maoist sentries. Many district level politicians are immobilised. Almost every VDC building in Rukum has been demolished. Most local politicians have sought refuge in Musikot, or further afield. Those who dared stay back are harassed.

Bane Kami, the VDC chairman of Maikot was held captive for five months, and the Maoists tried to bury him alive. They raided the house of Pashupati Thapa, VDC chair of Gotamkot, looted Rs 800,000 worth of property and are still holding him captive. They abducted and tortured Karna Bahadur Gurung, Kewal Sharma, and Devilal Khadka. The Maoists are preventing students travelling to the district headquarters to take their SLC exams.

The security forces are based in the headquarters ringed by barbed wire and minefields, and the Maoists rule the countryside. There is an undeclared curfew after 6 pm. Rukum's CDO went on a five-day leave, and arranged his own transfer. There has been no CDO here for months. Flights to Chaurjhari have stopped after the Maoists destroyed the airport tower two months ago. Everyone expects the next attack at Musikot's Salle airfield, the last remaining lifeline to the outside world.

The Maoists are now on a rampage: destroying bridges, stopping highway construction. The government is controlling transport of food and medicine into the hinterland of Karnali, Bheri and Rapti zones so it does not get into rebel hands. And the Maoists are looting whatever provisions villagers still have left. The locals are running out of food, and there is a real danger of starvation. Farmers are not growing food because they have to pay a cut to the Maoists even for the vegetables they grow.

The Maoists are now picking on the weak and helpless. Those with money and connections are no longer in the district or have bought their safety by giving the Maoists food, donations and shelter. Those who remain now have little choice but to run away, leave everything and head to India in search of work.

Some who survived Maoist excesses have been caught in the security forces dragnet. Many civilians have been killed and wounded in army action. Kotwara in Kalikot has seen casualties: construction workers at an airfield, political cadre of the Nepali Congress and UML shot because they were mistaken for Maoists. Villagers in Rolpa going to the forests to collect firewood were wounded during helicopter attacks.

(Prakash Jwala is the UML MP from Sallyan, and visited Rukum 23-25 March.)