by Kedar Man Singh
KATHMANDU, Aug 23 (AFP) - Nepal`s government on Monday renewed its appeal to Maoist rebels for talks in a bid to get them to call off a six-day blockade of the capital, hit by new jitters as suspected guerrillas shot dead a pedestrian.
The Maoists, who control much of the Himalayan kingdom, have declared the capital of 1.5 million people off-limits to traffic as part of their drive to topple the constitutional monarchy.
Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari reiterated his appeal to the rebels for talks. "We are ready to be as flexible as possible and discuss their grievances," he told reporters.
Adhikari made a similar appeal last Thursday.
A key rebel demand for ending the blockade -- which is being enforced by fear of reprisals rather than by roadblocks -- is that the government stop calling them terrorists. The tag keeps guerrilla leaders hiding in the mountains to avoid arrest.
Asked about the terrorist label, Adhikari said: "Let them come to the negotiation table. We will discuss whatever they want."
The government Friday agreed to another demand by saying it would release within a month information on an unspecified number of leftist activists who have gone missing in the civil war, which has claimed 10,000 lives since 1996.
But in a sign the moves were not enough, the Maoists stormed a town in northwestern Nepal late Saturday and launched small-scale attacks in the blockaded capital.
Prem Bahadur Thokare, a contractor, was hit by two bullets as he walked Monday past the tightly guarded home of an army officer in the capital`s outlying Kapan Sawaraswoti Nagar area, police said.
Dozens of panicked residents gathered around Thokare`s bloodied body as it lay on the pavement, searching for a way to take him to hospital.
"Everyone started looking for money to provide a cash deposit to the hospital so he could get treatment, but while we were preparing to take him he succumbed to his injuries," said neighbour Sunder Wagle.
A bomb exploded Monday in a government irrigation office in the Kathmandu Valley`s Bhaktapur area, causing moderate damage but no injuries, police said.
In the western Parbat district, rebels abducted 1,500 teachers and students Friday from about six schools and were believed to have taken them for "revolutionary" training, said former district chairman Ganesh Timalsina.
Such mass abductions are common in rural Nepal, with most kidnap victims released after several days of indoctrination. Some, however, are drafted into rebel ranks, human rights groups say.
Kathmandu, however, has been relatively immune from violence. Observers see the small-scale attacks as a way to maintain psychological pressure since the blockade is maintained through fear.
"The Maoists` main objective is to create panic. The closure of the roads has not been fully successful so they are trying additional methods," said academic and political analyst Prakash Joshi.
Hundreds of trucks continue to venture daily into the Kathmandu Valley, where armed police and soldiers frisk incoming passengers and check the identity of all those going out.
"We provide protection, including with helicopters flying overhead, to give the drivers a psychological feeling of protection," army spokesman Colonel Deepak Gurung said.
While local markets remain well stocked with produce, prices have shot up, leading to fears that a prolonged blockade could be devastating.
The Maoists late Saturday raided the remote town of Khalanga 445 kilometres (278 miles) northwest of Kathmandu, bombing and setting fire to seven offices including a court.
Five rebels and one soldier were killed, police said. Residents said the insurgents carried away 20 to 25 wounded colleagues.
Troops searched the mountains Monday for six policemen, four civil servants and four civilians abducted in the raid, police said.
The Maoists draw their inspiration from Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong`s fight against landowners and their tactics from Peru`s ruthless Shining Path guerrillas.