Thursday, April 21, 2005

"Urgent: Disappearance Of My Father" by Sarahana Shrestha



(To be clear, my father is neither political nor a human rights advocate. The last time
I spoke to him, like all of my friends'parents, he was telling me why the king should be supported).

At Samudaya

Sorry to have mass-mailed. Please help me spread the word to media contacts, etc.

Just got this from my brother:

URGENT: Kidnapping and Disappearances In The Hands Of Armed Forces In Nepal.

On Thursday, 21st April 2005, my father Mr. Gyanendra Das Shrestha was kidnapped from
his office Baneshwor Bazaar, New Baneshwor, by a group of men who clamied to be members of
the Royal Nepal Army. Mr. Shrestha was taken into the house of Prabha Manandhar in the
same compound at around 11:30 AM. Since then, the where abouts of Mr. Shrestha has not
been known and the people guarding the house of Prabha Manandhar have denied that Mr.
Shrestha has come into that area at all. Later that evening, his personal secretary who was
witnessed Mr. Shrestha being taken in the house was also taken inside the same house. There,
a group of men who were dressed in civil clothes and armed with automatic machine guns
threatened and interrogated them for more than 1 hour.

When I myself went to the house at around 8PM to investigate the situation two people who
were staying there as security guards in civil clothes threatened me. After I refused to go inside
the house they said, “Nobody called Mr. Gyanendra Das Shrestha has come here today.
I
don’t work for anybody, any company or any organization. If you don’t leave now
it won’t be good for you.”


Today, 22nd April 2005, it has been over 22 hours since people who claimed to be RNA took
Mr. Gyanendra Das Shrestha into Prabha Manandher’s house. If the RNA has taken into
custody Mr. Shrestha, then I would like to urge them to immediately make public where they
have taken him and for what reason(s) they have done this. The people armed with machine
guns inside Prabha Manadhar’s house who kidnapped Mr. Shreshta have not said they are the
army. If those people with guns are not from RNA, then who are they? And if they are from
RNA, then why have they denied the fact that Mr. Gyanendra Das Shrestha was taken into that
house on Thursday morning?

I would like to plead to my friends, colleagues and fellow journalists working the media to make
this “act of disappearance” a public knowledge and question what is happening in this situation
to not only help find information not only about Mr. Gyanendra Das Shrestha and many others
who have fallen victim of similar situations, but also to help prevent incidents like these
happening to others in the future. I look forward to your solidarity against “acts of
disappearances in the hands of armed forces” in Nepal.

Sincerely,

Editor, WAVE
www.wavemag.com.np
Himalmedia P. Ltd
(Sarahana Shrestha has been the dynamo behind Samudaya.org and she has been instrumental with
the Dinesh Prasain tour. She sent this out in a second email. Below.)

My father has had a problem with her for a while now. She is the owner of the space he leased
to create a bazaar. She has not let him collect much rent from the storekeepers so far (this has
gone on for a few
years already, I believe they are in a lawsuit).

From what I know she is the daughter of one of the former ambassadors to UK or something.
And according to my brother, the day before his disappearance, what appeared to be a body
wrapped in cloth was taken
out from her house and into an army jeep. It was later reported
that a Maoist had been killed in New Baneshwor. My suspicion when I heard this was that she
had fabricated the story and that the person wasprobably not a Maoist at all, if it was a body
in the first place. From all I have heard, she appears to besomewhat of a nut case.


My brother is sending out a press release and going to meet with everyone possible. This is really
confusing. My father is neither political nor a human rights advocate. In fact, he is a supporter of
the King. I believe the circumstance is being misused against him.


thanks! I will send out more info as it becomes available.

Action

To: Ambassador Moriarty (Urgent --- disappearance incident)

Your Excellency.

From one of your media interviews, I got the
impression that you have been actively involved in
resolving individual cases of human rights abuse and
disappearances through your private audiences with the
king and the army top brass.

I would like to draw your attention to this recent
case that involves the non-political father of a
friend of mine. So far it looks to be the case where a
personal vendetta might have been acted out by perhaps
bribing some army personnel, though other
possibilities remain.

Thank you.

"Urgent: Disappearance Of My Father" by Sarahana
Shrestha
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2005/04/urgent-disappearance-of-my-father-by.html

Positive Resolution: Said person released.....

“There is too much pressure regarding yesterday’s case. if you can stall
them from your side, I will stall things from here. today vehicles from
different places have come to the location to inquire about it .”
In The News
  • NEPAL: Tuberculosis still a public health menace Reuters AlertNet, UK
  • Political Prisoners Arrested in Nepal Guardian, UK
  • Police drag former Nepalese minister from his home Malaysia Star
  • Nepal says plans to restore democracy soon Reuters AlertNet, UK
  • India, Nepal ready to bury the hatchet?:- Webindia123
  • Asia ; Nepal FM defends power-grab, king readies to woo Asia ... Keralanext
  • Former minister arrested in Nepal BBC News, UK
  • Pro-democracy leader in Nepal arrested by royal commission United We Blog
  • UN official to monitor torture cases in Nepal Hindustan Times, India
  • Guerrillas continue attacking schools in Nepal Xinhua, China
  • 'SIMI active in Nepal' Times of India, India
  • Nepal's Government Says Local Elections Will Be Free and Fair Bloomberg
  • ‘Nepal wants democracy restored’ Daily Times Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to explain a ban on private radio news broadcasts in the first legal challenge to censorship imposed after King Gyanendra seized power .... court has reportedly asked the government to reply within two weeks
  • Nepal says plans to restore democracy soon Reuters AlertNet
  • India, Nepal try to mend fences The Statesman Nepal has agreed to allow observers from the office of the UNHRC to monitor the human rights situation in the kingdom for two years. It has also agreed to allow a special representative of UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan to assess the internal displacement in the country caused by the nine-year-old escalating Maoist insurgency and allow a UN rapporteur for torture to investigate allegations and incidents of torture, both by security forces and Communist guerrillas, with access to all detainees..... Spared from Agenda 9, Nepal is on Agenda 19, to which all the 53 members of the UNHRC unanimously agreed last night. It means the countries agree that Nepal has a human rights problem, but one that can be resolved with technical support from the international community. ...... “We have a UN High Commissioner for Refugees for almost a decade now. We welcome technical support since it would mean strengthening our institutions. For instance, Nepal’s national Human Rights Commission doesn’t have a sufficient number of computers.” ..... Fresh communication channels having opened up between India and Nepal, a rapprochement could be on the cards.
  • Amnesty claims Nepal has detained more than 3,000 political ... eTaiwan News, Taiwan the torture of some prisoners included "being kicked and beaten with sticks, doused with cold water, forced to spend a long time in stress positions and being denied food and water."
  • Nepal: Human rights abuses escalate under the state of emergency ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland the human rights situation in Nepal continues to deteriorate while the conflict escalates .... information is being passed on by those human rights activists and journalists who are finding ways to operate and the picture that is emerging is deeply troubling. .... Pandey, stressed that restrictions under the state of emergency are being "continually relaxed", a similar statement to that made by the King .... government's actions over the last two months directly contradict this claim, as many fundamental rights remain suspended; mass arrests continue; media censorship tightens; and the constitution and rule of law is further undermined ..... more than 3,000 people have been arrested since 1 February ..... the rate of arrest increased dramatically in March .... more than 300 prisoners estimated to be held illegally in army barracks ..... Amnesty International has received detailed reports of torture of political party members detained in army barracks ..... journalists in the districts who face the greatest risk ..... in recent weeks the press have become increasingly bold in reporting on security force actions, Maoist activities, political protests and international criticism of the Nepal government. It appears that the Nepali media will not accept being silenced....... Breaking with the precedent set during the 2001-2002 state of emergency, throughout February and March the Supreme Court refused to hear writs related to non-suspended articles of the Constitution ..... some detainees arrested under the PSA, which allows for preventive detention for 90 days, are having their status illegally converted to detention under the 2004 Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance (TADO), which allows for preventive detention for up to one year..... "Justice Sector Coordination Committees" that bring judges together with police, lawyers and civil society have been established ...... he stated that the judiciary’s response to the crisis should be one "of respectful deference to executive wisdom". Such apparent partially from the Chief Justice ..... "intensified military offensive.... may be underway........ Bizarrely, the RNA has also reported mass surrenders of Maoist cadres..... While the stated aim of the mobs was to wipe out local Maoists and Maoist supporters, it is reported that most of the communities attacked were landless labourers...... the apparent support provided by the security forces and authorities to the vigilantes. .. local people were forced to participate in the violence by the security forces.. some members of the mob were security forces personnel in plain clothes ..... on 30 March members of a self-styled "Maoist retaliation committee" tortured and later killed Ramkishore Chamar of Somani VDC, Nawalparasi district. Ramkishore allegedly had his hand cut off and was forced to eat part of it, before being shot and killed a few days later...... a wider strategy by the authorities to develop "village defence forces" - armed groups of local people who would help fight the Maoists ...... local residents were summoned to a RNA barrack near Kathmandu and ordered by army personnel to form a local village defence force. ...... security forces continue to kill civilians, including children ..... Local people continue to be threatened by Maoists to comply with their demands, as well as by security forces to resist them......1 April the RNA Kathmandu valley commander, Dilip Karki, warned that stern action would be taken against businessmen who give donations to the Maoists in response to extortion demands..... An unfortunate result of the restrictions placed on the activities of human rights defenders and journalists is that human rights abuses by Maoists remain largely uninvestigated and unreported. This only increases the impunity with which Maoist cadres can terrorise local civilian populations....... on 26 February Subodh Pyakurel, Chairperson of INSEC, Nepal’s largest human rights NGO, was prevented from travelling to Nepalganj, where he was due to lead a human rights training for security force personnel. This was despite being told by officials in the RNA and Ministry of Home Affairs that he would be able to travel..... on 4 March NHRC Commissioner Sushil Pyakurel was turned back from Kathmandu airport when he attempted to lead an NHRC mission to investigate the mob violence in Kapilvastu...... The loss of independence and credibility of the NHRC is now a very real concern and one to which the international community must be alert....... This international mission will monitor and report on abuses by both sides to the conflict and will establish offices across the country. Such a presence is urgently required and must now be deployed rapidly and in full. The security forces and the Maoists must cooperate in every way with this new presence, as they have both promised to do..... it is vital that the international community does not become complacent, but stays alert to the very grave human rights situation in Nepal. The international community must act in coordination to ensure that every pressure is placed on the government of Nepal to restore full rights and freedoms to the Nepali people and on both parties to respect human rights and end impunity for abuses.
  • The challenge of restoring democracy in Nepal ReliefWeb (press release) urges the Nepal government to immediately restore democracy, civil liberties, withdraw the state of emergency, release all political detainees, journalists and human rights workers,to end all kinds of restrictions on the press and ensure autonomy to the National Human Rights Commission ..... called on the Maoists to abide by the international humanitarian laws..... Fossils from the one party Panchayat system, such as Tusli Giri ..... the King, who runs many businesses, and many people in the Royal family who have been involved in massive corruption do not appear to be an issue for the RCCC. After all, it was set up to silence all forms of dissent and therefore, even the Supreme Court judges were brought under its purview ...... On 17 March 2005, King Gyanendra established a high-level nine-member Human Rights Committee headed by the Attorney General to undermine the NHRC...... Justice Hari Prasad Sharma supported the coup as an attempt “to rectify bad governance, eradicate corruption and instill transparent public life” ..... King Gyanendra has no interest to respect human rights and democratic freedoms. ...... In order to evade a country resolution at the 60th session of the Commission on Human Rights, the government of Nepal announced 25-point commitments on human rights on 26 March 2004. But not a single comittment has been respected...... The emergency expires on 30 April 2005. King Gyanendra has very limited options - either extend the emergency through another illegal ordinance, revive the Raj Parishad, Royal Council, in the absence of the Pratitinidi Sabha, the House of Representatives, to justify the illegal measures or cobble up a government with the democratic forces loyal to him..... If the troika does support the charade to look for a way out for not confronting the tyrant, it will have devastating effects on Nepal. There is no military solution to the Maoists crisis. The involvement of the democratic forces for resolving the Maoist crisis is indispensable and their support cannot be obtained under dictatorship and tyranny of King Gyanendra........ persuasions must be accompanied by measures which will force King Gyanendra to listen to international community ..... Gyanendra will continue to exploit the undecisiveness of the troika and will not relent under the pressure of countries like Denmark and Switzerland alone.
  • Analysis: Nepal must not be left alone Washington Times An upsurge in attacks by Maoist rebels in recent weeks has coincided with the monarchy's crackdown on civil liberties ..... With an estimated 10 killings a day, Nepal is home to Asia's deadliest conflict.... a no-party state that has decimated democracy, kills people at will in the countryside (and) forbids freedom of expression .....the Maoists, estimated to number between 10,000 and 15,000 ...... Experts say the king has boosted the Maoists by crushing democratic institutions and the media..... "There is a real danger that war crimes in Nepal will spiral out of control." .... Analysts say because the monarchy and the Maoists lack a clear strategy, third-party intervention is vital to diffuse tension ..... a failing anti-insurgency strategy...... "Imperfect democracy in Nepal is preferable to no democracy" ..... "What the king has done is fundamentally unsustainable," Norris said. "He cannot take the football when things don't turn out his way. Now he'll have to recognize that he has made grievous errors or the dynamic on the ground will change rapidly ... for the worse."
  • Political figures set free in Nepal NEWS.com.au, Australia ...61 political prisoners, including former deputy premier Bharat Mohan Adhikari ... Adhikari had immediately demanded that political parties forge an alliance to fight for democracy.... demanded the release of all other political detainees, including NCP-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.
  • Nepal frees 61 political detainees Sify, India
  • A Strategy Of Failure Outlookindia.com Two and half months later, with emergency still in force, there is little sign of improvement...... most of the present regime's policy assumptions are flawed and, consequently, point towards a continued future of violence and conflict..... the traditional ruling elite and the business and industrial lobby support the king's actions and point to the relative quiet of Kathmandu streets, the coup and the emergency have not gone down well among the majority .... Militarily, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) and the other security services are still in a defensive mode, allowing the Maoists to seize the initiative at will. Recent military 'successes', therefore, are nothing more than a repulsion of Maoist attacks, and are not offensive operations in their true sense.... Nepal's political parties have little popular appeal at this point in time. Support for the parties is practically confined to their activists and partisan civil society groups. The population at large remains indifferent to their plight. ..... If the Royal regime makes serious missteps and fails to provide a general impression of progress, that window will close fast. That can be seen to be happening now....... The king's appointment of hardline Panchayat elements in his cabinet, the decision to revive hated Panchayat-era zonal commissioners, the campaign against democratic politicians through selective use of the Royal Corruption Control Commission, and efforts to constrict the role of the National Human Rights Commission by creating another parallel human rights body are all indicative of a vindictive approach towards political parties and civil society...... But reviving Panchayat era politicians and institutions has inevitably created the impression that the king is moving beyond his stated aim of establishing peace and strengthening democracy...... as public support for their protests remain lacklustre, the parties will be forced to re-think strategy ...... "they have actually come off better than the Palace in the eyes of the international community." ...... Almost all the party leaders realise that striking an operational deal with the Maoists could spell doom since that will mean the Maoists will have hijacked the political opposition to the Royal regime from the parties' hands...... After February 1, the Maoists have been very active both in the military and political sphere..... There seems to be a policy tussle at the top rungs of the leadership ...... Recruitment and financial resources, already drying up before the coup, may have worsened in recent months ....... the Maoists do want a peace interregnum to shore up their organization and finances, but are caught in their own rhetoric....... the most obvious aspect of security forces deployment was that they were guarding their own bases and perimeters. Offensive operations are rare, if any ...... the strategy is also handicapped by the lack of a hearts and minds campaign as well as a political component ...... The usual military modus operandi is to use helicopter gunship with dumb bombs that cause more collateral damage than Maoist kills....... In recent weeks, the RNA has used two strategies to counter growing perceptions of its failure: it has made strong attempts to fan rumours of an imminent split in the Maoist ranks, and it has also portrayed recent Maoist attacks as 'victories' for the RNA. Both are misleading....the Khara operation highlighted that it is the Maoists who still hold the initiative. They choose the place and timing of battle rather than the RNA. And despite being unable to overrun the RNA base in Khara, the Maoists did have the satisfaction of knowing that they successfully probed and tested the RNA's defensive capabilities and tactics. Prachanda himself made this clear. Acknowledging losses on the Maoist side, he said on April 12, "the two-day Khara campaign has provided valuable experiences and lessons and will help in taking the war to a new level." ......no important power is willing to antagonize India over a marginal country like Nepal.
  • Nepal’s war without end Open Democracy Almost all major studies conducted since the insurgency began in February 1996 – from the International Crisis Group (ICG) to UN visitors and parties to the conflict themselves – share two conclusions: that the root of Nepal’s crisis is socio-political rather than ideological, and that there is no military solution.... suggesting an alliance of all political forces and the abolition of the monarchy. But their spokesperson has indicated that there is room for negotiation....... Politically, the rebels can’t be expected to abandon their rebellion and surrender their arms, while the king can’t be expected to surrender his own future by conceding a constituent assembly that is likely to draft a republican constitution .... Militarily, each side admits the impossibility of complete victory yet neither will envisage giving up the struggle. King Gyanendra’s new promise of a fight to the end makes a break in the patter unlikely...... the path beyond war seems clearly to lie in the democratic drafting of a new constitution to be approved by popular mandate.......
  • Nepal says plans to restore democracy soon Reuters AlertNet

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Prachanda: A Profile



Prachanda: "My main thrust is that I hate revisionism. I seriously hate revisionism. And I never compromise with revisionism. I fought and fought again with revisionism. And the party's correct line is based on the process of fighting revisionism. I hate revisionism. I seriously hate revisionism."

The picture that emerges is of a person who prefers a few, simple broad strokes. He deplores "confusion" and "revisionism" and "intellectualism." He seems to have the mentality of the religious fundamentalists. Much emotion, little logic is involved. This can lead to "bold" action and a detachment from reality. Prachanda seems to exhibit the certainty of a stopped clock.

Prachanda might be the hardliner, and Baburam the moderate. Baburam is capable of nuances, Prachanda is not. When Baburam says Democratic Republic, he perhaps means it. He sees his work in the same vein as the French Revolution of 1789. But I am not sure Prachanda means the same thing when he says democratic republic. His could be the Kim Jong Il version.

Prachanda talks about the "intellectuals" like they were foreign tourists. Baburam talks about them as a group he belongs to.

But I would not stress this point too much. After all, the two have worked in close co-operation for quite a while. It is not possible there are such sharp differences between the two. But tough times require tough measures. Just like the king got rid of the politicians, it is possible Prachanda felt the need to sideline Baburam.

Prachanda is a total Old School Maoist. I am not sure he can even function in a democratic framework. I don't get the impression he is capable of going out to ask for votes. That might be too much "sunshine" for his mentality and thought processes.

That is why it is important to strengthen the Maoist moderates. Because if you humiliate them, like was done during the "peace talks," you end up with the hardliners.

I think the best option is to enage them in respectful dialogue as opposed to trying to divide and rule. They are so opaque, it is hard to figure out what is happening.

The central issue in dealing with the Maoists continues to be that the Monarchists are intransigent on questions like Constituent Assembly. The Monarchists are the number one impediment. February 1 has given more leeway to the hardliners among the Maoists.

Prachanda is for the Constituent Assembly idea as much as Baburam is. To me that is enough reason to take them seriously and treat them respectfully. This stand shows they are capable of reason and should be spared the caricatures.

But the "fissure" between the duo could be a serious "two-line struggle," as Prachanda mentions.

Also, distinctions have to be made between what the Maoists say in their internal deliberations and what they say at the negotiation table. Some posturing has to be tolerated.
  1. Reporters sans frontières - Nepal .... runs the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with an iron hand
  2. RW ONLINE:Red Flag Flying on the Roof of the World .... in areas where the People’s War is the strongest — like the Rolpa and Rukum districts in the West .... spring of 1999, RW reporter Li Onesto ..... the main thing is ideological clarity .... every time when there has been mass struggle, this leadership has been able to confuse the masses, to make compromises with the ruling classes and to get some concessions for this revisionist group...... when the British left India, Nepal became a semi-colony of Indian expansionism ..... There was a big ideological and political debate for 10 years after the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and all our leadership team is a product of that ideological struggle...... 1986, I think, when we finalized Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as our ideology. At the time, only the Communist Party of Peru had said this ...... the main question in these types of countries is how to fight against revisionism ..... when a revolutionary objective situation develops, at that time, deal a big blow ..... it is not a small country. Geographically when you look at the whole country of India you can travel in one or two days to every part and corner. But in Nepal you have to walk up and down for many days ...... mountainous region is very favorable for guerrilla warfare ..... we are surrounded on three sides by this big Indian country ..... 20 to 25 different oppressed nationalities ..... We fundamentally depart from all the revisionist and bourgeois parties. We uphold the right of self-determination for the oppressed nationalities ...... The West is historically, geographically, and culturally the basin of the revolution. It is the main point for the revolution-the people here are more oppressed by the ruling classes, and the government in Kathmandu is very far from there. ...... in the last part of the 18th century, at that time, this part of the country was not totally captured by the central government. There was a kind of compromise...... you saw how all our comrades there look Chinese ..... These nationalities are so sincere and such brave fighters- ..... Even male domination in these places is weaker-it is not like in the dominating castes. And at the same time, our party has a long history of working in these areas, like in Thabang and Rolpa...... one other area where we should concentrate work is in India, because more than seven million Nepalese live in India. ...... More than 72 percent of the Nepalese people live below the poverty line...... Just before the initiation we organized so many big mass demonstrations and mass meetings..... We had already declared we are going to initiate the People's War. But the ruling class didn't believe it and thought, "These people are talking, only talking." ...... The revisionist parties and revisionist leaders always teach the people the question of reform, reform, reform. And reform is reformism, is revisionism. But the question of making leaps is revolutionary..... we had indirectly participated in the elections, and we had 11 members in the parliament, nine in the lower house and two in the upper house..... There was parliamentary work but the main party organizational mechanism was underground at that time-you should note this....... In one push, the party was established in a big and national way and it was in the center of debate-after only one month..... the enemy started to massacre the people. Arresting, raping, killing, looting ..... In the whole process of this final preparation...there was consistent international involvement. First and foremost, there was the RIM Committee (Revolutionary Internationalist Movement). There was important ideological and political exchange. From the RIM Committee, we got the experience of the PCP (Communist Party of Peru), the two-line struggle there, and also the experience in Turkey, the experience in Iran, and the experience in the Philippines. We learned from the experience in Bangladesh and from some experience in Sri Lanka. And there was a South Asian conference that we participated in. At the same time we were also having direct and continuous debate with the Indian communists, mainly the People's War (PW) and Maoist Communist Center (MCC) groups....... we made some investigation of the Bihar in India. We went to Andar Pradesh to look at the struggle there ..... there had been a big setback with the People's War in Peru [with the capture of the PCP's leader, Chairman Gonzalo ..... we also took help from all over the world ..... We thought that, possibly, more than 50 percent of our party members could fall away but that other new comrades and new people would come and join the party....... there were so many petty bourgeois tendencies, so much intellectualism .... if we are prepared mentally, then it will not shake us.... we had a military plan to attack the police force, the landlords, the local goons in the rural areas .... we did not have a big plan for sabotage in the capital city because, at that time, we did not want to create a situation where with one stroke the intellectuals would go away from us ...... In Rolpa, in one month, thousands of people went underground. Not only party members but also masses went underground-in Rukum, in Jarjarkot, in Salyan, in Kalikot...... in the cities where there are more intellectuals, the process of transformation was very, very low, and in some cases, we can say, unsatisfactory ..... And at that time, what happened in the city? Wherever we went people said, "You should not stay here, the police will come." ..... for 22 days we had to move about continuously in the city...... in the city, the intellectuals were vacillating so much ..... Women in Kathmandu were the other force who, in that time of terror, boldly supported us and gave us shelter and helped us move around. ...... it was mainly laborers, women and students who helped us. But the intellectuals, who had a lot of knowledge of philosophy, theories, etc., these people were wavering so much they could not help very much.... Some petty bourgeois revolutionaries, due to terror, fled to India, to Arab countries ..... Questions of marriage, questions of love, questions of family, questions of relations between people. All of these things were being turned upside down ...... We have worked to make new relations between men and women ...... there are comrades who cannot change their whole thinking. They think just like before ..... there have been more than 700 martyrs. But thousands have stepped forward. This process does not harm us, it helps us.... When the ruling class started their repressive Kilo Sera 2 operation ...... there is vacillation among some intellectuals. But there are also good comrades from among the laborers, women, and students ...... Peoples of the oppressed nationalities-the Mongolian peoples, the Terai peoples and the far western peoples ....... the Magar National Liberation Front ..... the Tharu National Liberation Front in the Terai region and the Terai National Liberation Front and the Rai and Limbu and Tamang. And in the capital city there is Newar Khala ..... The great Karl Marx stated that the working class would have to go through 15, 20, 50 years of civil war, not only to crush the enemy but also to transform itself, to make itself fit to exercise new power...... the process of People's War is not only to crush the enemy, but also to clean our own dirtiness and all our bad habits .... Without destruction there will not be construction ..... without destruction there will not be any construction ..... war is a great process of construction. War has a very big cleansing effect...... The intellectuals' instinctive tendency is that we have to learn all these things, we should read everything, we have to do all these things, and then we can make war...... The question is learning war through war...... the police would sleep outside the post. They would put a candle or lantern inside the post, and when the Maoists came to attack the post, then they would be outside in the forest...... at that point in the villages there were not any Village Development Committees and there were not any police...... our comrades tax the local businessmen, how there are people's courts, land distribution, and collective farming, divorce, marriage ..... we can distribute land, we have collective farming, we can divorce, we can make arrangements, we can break all the chains, we can tax the businessmen, we can manage the forests ..... thousands and thousands of quintals of grain have been captured and distributed to the masses .... In terms of land ownership, it will be private ownership by the peasant. But the production process will be collective..... How many work hours a particular family did on that land-the return will be in that percentage...... Private ownership, but farming collectively...... When all our families work together, eat together, sing together, dance together-then it is more communal...... We are not yet able, in the Terai, to seize the land. But we are able to seize stored grain....... Armed struggle with no vision? ... No vision, exactly. This line exists in India..... a particular national situation and international situation is also necessary. This means there are big contradictions among the ruling classes-they are fighting among each other-and there is also an unstable situation with India. Because for us, ultimately, we will have to fight with the Indian army...... When the Indian army comes in with thousands and thousands of soldiers, it will be a very big thing. But we are not afraid of the Indian Army because, in one way, it will be a very good thing..... they will give us lots of guns..... they will dare, they will be compelled..... when Rolpa, Rukum, Jarjarkot, Salyan become a liberated zone, then we will declare the People's Republic of Nepal ..... we can organize a big mass movement in Kathmandu and other cities also ..... at one point we will have to declare a new government and the president and the republic, the ministry and all these things .... The whole feudal and individualistic, sectarian culture that has prevailed has been changed upside down...... thousands and thousands of people will have to be prepared to be sacrificed...... Mao said, if there is a third world war, everybody cannot be killed. Maybe half the population will be gone and half the population will remain and a new world will emerge...... in the mountainous region, in the Western Region, as you saw, there are not so many temples. But when you go to Kathmandu there are so many temples-it is a capital of temples...... among the oppressed nationalities, there is not so much male domination. There is a kind of equality there. In some nationalities women are seen as more important-the wives are seen as more important than the men...... the party is discussing the question of how to organize collective childcare.... to not have a baby for five to seven or ten years because it will be a big practical problem ..... there was a big two-line struggle inside the party, and I continuously went with the revolutionary line .... economically and culturally imperialism is in deeper crisis than before World War 2 ...... we see that a new wave of world revolution is beginning .... just like Mao said, there will be 50 to 100 years of great turmoil and great transformation. ..... The People's War in Peru has done a good job of establishing Maoism...... Nepal is a small country, we are a small party-but we have a big perspective. Our People's War may be a spark, a spark for a prairie fire..... In every corner now in India the People's War in Nepal is the subject of debate..... exposing international revisionism, modern revisionism, revisionism in China and Russian revisionism. In Nepal there is a very big revisionist party and much revisionist influence..... without the help of the RIM and without the help of all the communist leaders and dedicated comrades who are keenly and seriously helping the People's War in Nepal-we will not be able to sustain and maintain the People's War in Nepal.
  3. RW ONLINE: Statement by Comrade Prachanda, Communist Party of ... After the declaration of the ceasefire, the Royal Army not only mounted unnecessary checking and arrests, but it also continued killing our cadres in cold blood in Darchula, Makawanpur, Bhojpur and in other parts of the country, including encircling and forcibly arresting a People's Liberation Army contingent stationed peacefully in Kanchanpur....... brought an end to the relevance of dialogue, urging us to capitulate politically by handing over our weapons ..... It is obvious to all that our party is a revolutionary Communist Party fighting for a people's republic ..... we suspended the demand for a people's republic as an immediate issue to be settled at the negotiating table, and instead came to the universal method of solving problems through a constituent assembly. The slogan of a constituent assembly is not a communist revolutionary slogan ..... The paradox is, they would rather see the country get ruined than make the people sovereign through the election of a constituent assembly. The old state is ready to bow down to foreign powers and ready to drench themselves in the people's blood, but it is not ready to accept the people as sovereign.......
  4. Nepal Quote from Interview with comrade Prachanda StrategyPage.com
  5. Philosophical Concept of Prachanda Path Germany, which was backward compared to advanced England and France, gave Marxism. Russia that was backward compared to Europe and other countries gave birth to Leninism. China, which was underdeveloped and oppressed by imperialism, gave rise to Maoism. Today, the credit of giving birth to new ideas in the form of other height of Prachanda Path is going to Nepal, the third poorest country of the world. It is a matter of glory....... Gautam Buddha, a great thinker that gave message of atheism, dialectics and federalism ..... Prachanda has been specifically emphasizing on the concept of defense, application and development of revolutionary principle..... Prachanda has been standing for materialist dialectics against metaphysics...... Dialectics of development of each object and its phenomenon, which are interrelated with each other and exist constantly in a dynamic flow of changes, is such that, as Lenin said, does not take place in a straight line but takes place in a spiral form, that development does not take place spontaneously without notice and in a gradual way, rather it does in the form of a rupture in continuity, leap, catastrophe and revolution, in the form of transformation of quantity to quality and negation of negation....... In the course of struggling against the reformist and evolutionary concept of development prevalent in the Nepalese communist movement, the Party did sharpen specially the science of development of Marxist dialectics regarding collision, rupture, leap and catastrophe...... "Unity and struggle of opposites is the basic law of dialectics". .... "Unity is relative, temporary and transitional, where as, the struggle is constant and absolute." ...... "The bourgeois idealist cycle of idea, idea and idea that was dominant in the Nepalese communist movement has been shattered by the revolutionary theory through revolutionary practice. The door of the scientific process of developing and refining revolutionary theory through real revolutionary practice has been opened up." .... Mao has concretely formulated class struggle, struggle for production and scientific experiment as the source of knowledge. In its essence, Nepalese People’s War is the concrete expression of class struggle, struggle for production and scientific experiment...... the process of practice, knowledge, again practice, again knowledge is infinite...... He has been constantly emphasizing in the necessity of struggling against dogmatism and empiricism ...... If analysis is emphasized, it creates a danger of empiricism, departmentalism and regionalism..... on one hand, and the ideological struggle against modern, dogmatic and pluralistic revisionism together with the weaknesses of Stalin, on the other..... Comrade Prachanda, has further enriched and sharpened the Leninist concept on transformation of quantity to quality by presenting in the form of rupture, revolution, collision, qualitative leap and catastrophe...... the incarnationist concept regarding divine origin of the king has also been forcefully refuted here...... simple, innocent people struggling to live peacefully in steep slopes with their natural economic system and tribal culture ...... It is a matter of no lesser pride that even Karl Marx, the proponent of communist ideology and the leader of the world proletariat, too, had appreciated the sacrifice, bravery and skill shown by the Nepalese people in those wars...... "The centralized feudal state in Nepal has, by imposing Hindu feudal and Brahminist racial chauvinism upon the lingual, religious, cultural and traditional democratic concepts and right of different races, indigenous people and regions has obstructed the development of real national unity and strength and, it is necessary to establish today a foundation of strong national unity based upon equality and independence according to the right of self- determination in the present context of New Democratic revolution." ....... bureaucrat capitalism took birth in Nepal...... the necessity of turning this region into a new Soviet federation of the twenty-first century..... has guaranteed the acceleration of the people's consciousness to move from the world of necessity to that of freedom, by linking high technology with the cheap labor of the huge population of the masses...... with globalization to grab profits, unprecedented development in the field of information technology, mainly electronics, has narrowed down the world just to a small rural unit. Therefore, it is very likely that an event in any place will have a great positive or negative impact on the world as a whole, and vice versa...... has been preparing a revolutionary objective situation for 80 per cent of the people of the world ...... when the world in the process of globalization has been transformed into a small rural region? ...... national capitulationism ..... "Why all those parties that achieved victory by struggling, inside and outside of it, in the period of revolution ideologically against right, left and centrist deviations, being united with the necessity and interest of the masses and attaining unprecedented records of earth-shaking heroism, sacrifice in class war against enemy, turned all over the world into bureaucratic, revisionist, dissociated from the masses and counterrevolutionary ones relatively easily in a short span of time after seizure of power? ......... It is the problem of scientific application and development of the theory of continued revolution under two-line struggle inside the Party and dictatorship of the proletariat." ..... He has seriously embraced the universal significance of violent revolution....... the world has been narrowed owing to intense development of science and technology. He has regarded Nepal as a base area of world revolution....... The process of initiation of People's War, its continuity and development has taken place amidst innumerable series of people’s rebellions and shock-like military actions. In the task of bringing out originality, particularity and grandeur, the dialectics of Prachanda Path is very much militant, revolutionary and noble...... Without a goal of seizing people’s power through People's War, to talk of mass mobilization and mass line is revisionism...... If Nepalese People’s War by getting plagued with right capitulationism or left adventurism suffers a setback, in this or that form, it will play a big negative role in the development of world revolution...... to prepare for intense military offensive by establishing the accusation of terrorism is going to be the most effective way ...... Communist Party is a division of one into two ....... two-line struggle is not a process that appears and disappears in times but is the one that exists constantly, sometimes in high and sometimes in low level ...... When two-line struggle is not developed and expressed in higher form, then it is within the limit of non-antagonistic struggle and is resolved through the method of criticism, self-criticism and disciplinary action. But, when it develops and appears in higher form then that is expressed in antagonistic way, which is resolved through a qualitative method ......... carry out struggle constantly against factionalism, splittism and all kinds of non-proletarian thinking, trends and styles of work, advance the process of rectification campaign ahead ..... the dialectics of Prachanda Path has excellently succeeded also in struggles against liquidationism, anarchism, individualism, mean Alok tendency* and pluralism. It is in favor of unified and centralized leadership in all domains of idea, policy, plan, command and activities including organization and struggle....... ensure right to build another Communist Party by rebelling against if that goes wrong ..... discourage use of force in two-line struggle ..... ensure ally classes to participate competitively in the power and not confine to cooperative role only ..... the concept of consolidating proletarian dictatorship on the basis of development and wide democratization of the state power, an institution that can organize constant flow of revolution..... has hit hard with a strong theoretical blow upon those class enemies and revisionists, who while pretending to be great democrats and accusing revolutionary communists of dogmatism, totalitarianism and mono-partyism, are in fact the real killers of people’s democracy ...... Prachanda Path is now standing in a new turning point of history to make a qualitative leap in the process of becoming universal, not particular.
  6. International Nepal Solidarity Network » Archive » Gyanendra ...
  7. United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal » ‘Prachanda Hasn’t Been A ...
  8. Prachanda, February 1, 2005
  9. CHIP-INDIA KNOW HOW
  10. The Rising Nepal
Special Mention
  • Marla Ruzicka: Trekking In Nepal The story of Nepal is the same as many failed states. The situation reminds me of Iraq, when the US disbanded the army after the fall of Saddam and failed to create jobs, and what they have now is an ugly insurgency ....... Some say the Maoists control 70 percent. Although “control” is probably an overstatement. They operate freely on much of the countryside because the government is absent ...... Maoists enter people’s homes demanding food and shelter. Then, the government forces trouble the homeowners. The Security Forces have even taken food from poor villagers, claiming it was for the Maoists ..... At curfew I saw soldiers hanging around a house with beautiful young girls. For the girls, prostitution is their only way to make a wage ..... Jit Man Basnet ..... About a year ago he wrote an article about a military action where 16 unarmed Maoists were discovered meeting and subsequently killed. (They should have been arrested not killed on the spot, Amnesty International condemned the action). Two months after the article was published, Jit Man was enjoying tea at a friend’s shop near the airport, when three men in civilian clothes grabbed him, tied his wrists together and blindfolded him. He was then taken to an army base. He was told to sit on the cold floor and then they beat and interrogated him. For 251 days Jit Man’s wrists were tied and his eyes covered. He forgot what color the sun was and the sound of the human voice. With the intervention of Amnesty International and other human rights groups he was finally released. Almost a year later his back is still marked from the whippings. Jit Man has trouble walking and suffers memory loss. Every month he has to go back to the base to be questioned by the military. A couple of days ago another journalist disappeared. Jit Man does not want to be taken away again........ a union leader for teachers and member of the Maoist Survivors Association was recently shot in cold blood by the Maoists ...... He was the best and the brightest ..... Why do the Maoists claim they are for education and health for the masses when they murder teachers and destroy clinics? ..... Senator Leahy sponsored an amendment which is now U.S. law, which put human rights conditions on military aid to the Nepalese Army. (I am not against US military aid as we do not want a Maoist government). I have been talking to others about setting up safe houses for human rights activists who feel threatened and hotlines where people can report abuses on both sides...... There is so much more to tell you. I am still very much focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, but having been to Nepal I want to dedicate at least a few hours a week to this cause. The world needs to pay attention to this conflict. Nepal deserves peace.
In The News
  • Geneva: Resolution Adopted INSN ..... appeals are mainly directed to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal as it is subject to international obligations; additionally gravely concerned at the serious breaches of humanitarian law committed by members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity ..... certain rights, in particular the right to life and the right to freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are recognized as non‑derogable in any circumstances ..... condemns the recruitment and use of a large number of children into Maoist forces .....
  • Former Top Nepali Diplomat Writes To The US President United We Blog Murari Raj Sharma, a former ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations ..... your strategy to root out terrorism: smart use of force to weaken the extremists accompanied by a political process to isolate them ..... there are no signs that the king will roll back his draconian step. The United States, together with other countries, must do more
  • The 5-Minute Briefing: Nepal's Maoist insurgency Independent, UK ....Nepal should be spoken of in the same breath as Somalia and Sudan...... students, many of whom said the King was forcing them into an alliance with the Maoists. Many say they are angry with the King's move but too scared to protest in the face of repressive measures from security forces. In the Maoist-controlled areas the King's coup has had little effect, since his power does not extend there anyway.
  • If Nepal King seeks audience, PM likely to oblige in Jakarta Indian Express
  • Nepal King leaves on first foreign tour since power grab : 123Bharath.com
  • Nepal Must Restore Democracy, End Arrests, UN Rights Body Says Bloomberg ....people held at unknown locations and subjected to torture by security forces..... Under the agreement signed last week with the Nepalese government, UN monitors will set up regional offices to respond to human rights violations
  • Blast in southern Nepal kills 4, wounds 5 Boston Globe The bomb exploded when the policemen were trying to remove sacks left by the rebels to block the roads. The bomb had been hidden behind the sacks.
  • Geologists find a new active fault in Nepal, potentially links ... PhysOrg.com, VA
  • Cabinet approves signing of extradition treaty with Nepal Hindu, India
  • 18 injured in western Nepal explosion Xinhua A group of suspected insurgents hurled the socket bomb at a crowd gathered at government office premises
  • Nepal to deepen relations with Asian, African nations: king People's Daily Online, China
  • Commerce secy level talks of Nepal, Bangladesh begins Gorkhapatra, Nepal
  • Ashok Menta: India Can Not Just Wait And Watch INSN (The Tribune) The King believes there is life after democracy — which is absolute monarchy ..... The Economist last month asked, “what’s the plan, Gyan”, the King does have one. .... RNA has claimed killing 195 Maoists for the loss of 15 of their own soldiers since February 1. .... He is not interested in a dialogue with the Maoists or reviving the democratic process ........ The RNA is short of 4000 officers at a time when it is rapidly expanding to double its size to 100,000 in the next two to three years to achieve a force ratio of 1:25 against the Maoists ...... that he required 100 days to restore the political process — which is holding municipal elections! He has skilfully skirted parliamentary elections..... He is defiant and confident as never before. His eyes are fixed on the elections in which monarchists secure the majority. He has ignored the sanctions and strictures of the international community ...... There is little pressure on the King internally. Dissent has been squashed .... the RNA is emerging as the real power centre ..... The RNA is being pampered. Four of the six ambassadors announced by the palace are retired Generals, and 52 Brigadier-Generals have been appointed. A salary hike is in the offing....... India does not have a fall-back position as it still hopes the King would roll back ...... The policy of wait and watch is not going to work with King Gyanendra. The squeeze on the King seems inevitable. India has done it before in the late 1980s. It can be done again but surgically ...... Internal and external pressure has to be applied on the King ..... an all-party resolution to revive the democratic process, intelligence agencies engaging the Maoists
  • King, Maobadi And Democracy Express India ....Nepal’s socio-economic backwardness can largely be ascribed to the period of absolute monarchy under his father and brother .... Gyanendra, who remains opportunistically fixated on condemning political parties as the source of all evil. ..... a king who seems for the moment unbending but whose hold is precarious...... Knowledgeable analysts and army generals confirm the possibility of a rebel takeover is just not there....... Maoists have lost some of their best fighters over the last year ..... credible information of division within the Maoist leadership on matters of strategy ..... Guerilla leaders would know that there is no winning this war and it is important to try and bring them to a ‘safe landing’ before they fracture into warlordism. There are even indications that the leaders seek such a landing, but a palace bent on victory would not even be willing to call their bluff....... The political parties have not yet been able to mount a spirited campaign against the coup. They are meant to function under parliamentary structures, but the absence of Parliament since ’02 has made cooperation problematic, not to mention a palace working overtime to exploit inter-party differences. ...... internal power plays are in progress. There are also divisions between those who call for a fight-to-finish for a king-less republic, those who would like to see a ceremonial monarchy retained, and others who regard the army-backed royal palace as too powerful to confront...... the democratic interlude heralded rapid advance in social/economic indicators, and ushered the rise of ethnic and regional assertion against dominant elites, full media freedom, the doubling of the rural roads network, spread of telecommunications, and the opening up of overseas employment which has sustained the economy in these lean times ..... His choice of fellow travellers are ultra-conservatives from the earliest Panchayat raj....... democratic governments must stay the course and not provide any support/succour to the king. ..... they must not fall for the ruse that the rebels will win if the king is not allowed free reign.