BIRATNAGAR, Nepal — Ram Prasad Mainali, head of the terrorist organization that bombed one of Nepal’s oldest churches in May, has been arrested along with three accomplices. Mainali became a household name after the little-known underground organization he headed, the Nepal Defense Army, claimed responsibility for the May 23 bombing that killed two women and a schoolgirl and injured more than a dozen people. Though police claimed a breakthrough in less than two weeks, saying they had arrested a 27-year-old woman who planted the bomb in the prayer hall of the Catholic Assumption Church, the suspected mastermind remained elusive.
Despite a red alert for his arrest, Mainali remained at large in the former Hindu kingdom, continuing to intimidate Christians by ordering them to leave the country or face further violence. Police arrested him Sept. 5 in Biratnagar. After the initial joy, Christians fear that Mainali and his accomplices could be released soon, either because of legal loopholes or due to the culture of impunity pervading Nepal since 1996, when Maoist guerrillas triggered grave human rights violations for a decade.
“We will have to wait and watch what happens now,” said Balan Joseph, a 42-year-old garment factory employee who lost his teenage daughter, Celeste, in the bombing; eight days later, his wife, Buddha Laxmi, succumbed to an internal hemorrhage from the blast. “Mainali’s arrest doesn’t mean his gang has been wiped out. Unless the government takes tough action, the morale of all potential killers will rise and recruits will continue to flock to these gangs.”
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