Volume 3, No. 7, July 2002

In the first week of May 2002, the press reported that the so-called Royal Nepal Army had unleashed a massacre of over 650 villagers in the areas around Rolpa. They claimed that they had hit a number of Maoist training camps. But if we are to go by the past six-month’s history, these would have been the killings of ordinary villagers, the bulk of whom are active with the Maoists. In fact Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation into reports into the mass killing of Maoists by the security forces at Lisne Lek in Rolpa district between May 3 and May 8. Amnesty International demanded that the bodies are not immediately disposed off and that the scene of the crime is safeguarded. It also voiced concern at rewards announced for the capture, dead or alive, of senior Maoists leaders.

In spite of this government offensive the Maoists launched a massive counter-attack in the very same area where Army operations were at its peak. On May 8 hundreds of Maoist guerrillas of the PLA over–ran a police and military post in the Goma area of Rolpa district, killing 105 policemen and 25 army personnel. Shaken by the huge success of the 5-day Nepal Bandh from April 23-27, 2002, the fascist Gyanendra-Deuba regime had launched this brutal attack on the villages at the very heart of the new people’s government. But they were given a fitting reply.

Panic stricken, Deuba went scurrying to meet American Big Chief Bush, and India’s Army Chief has spent five days in the Nepal scheming counter-insurgency operations. When some western powers voiced serious concern against the holocaust in Gujarat, the Indian rulers spoke haughtily of not interfering in the internal affairs of India. Yet, the Indian rulers fish in the troubled waters of Nepal, by sending its Army Chief to plan the massacre of the Nepalese masses?

Stricken by the Maoist offensive the Nepal government was pushed to its knees in entire 2001. In the process the Prime Minister Koirala was forced out and Deuba came in promising peace and talks with the Maoists. Prior to the talks, in a bid to hoodwink the masses he announced, what was propagated as a radical change in the laws pertaining to land reforms, poverty, untouchability and gender discrimination. This announcement was made barely a day after the Maoists formed a 3-member committee to hold negotiations with the government. These ‘reforms’ spoke of: a ban on land sales, until reforms were enacted providing land to the landless and extremely poor; temple access to lower castes; women’s rights over parental property; land for bonded labourers; and a programme for the upliftment of the hill tribes. Under pressure from the Maoists he announced steps to initiate steps to regulate the consumption of alcohol and gradually help liquor manufacturers to switch to other business. This followed an agreement with the Maoist women’s organization — the Akhil Nepal Mahilla Sangh (Kratikari). Maoist women had attacked a distillery, punished people and had prohibited drinking in at least 24 districts that were under their virtual control. According to the agreement signed, drinking was banned for people below 24, sale of liquor was limited to four hours from 2pm to 6pm, and no fresh license would be issued for opening a distillery in the next five years. It was also agreed that revenue collected from alcohol would be used for setting up educational institutions for women.

Giving in to these nominal demands, it hoped to dupe the Maoists at the negotiating table, who had put forward 3 major political demands. As all these demands were ignored, and the government was merely playing for time to launch their offensive during the period of the talks. Seizing the initiative the CPN (M) broke off the talks and launched a brilliant military offensive killing hundreds of enemy forces and seizing huge quantities of arms and ammunition. By then the government declared an Emergency and brought in the Army. With a complete ban on the media, they hid the reality of continued Maoist strikes and propagated that the Maoists were on the run and that the army had gained the upper hand. But this was soon proved false by the biggest ever attack on the govt. forces at Achcham on Feb.17. A retired military officer, panic-stricken, said "Machine guns, rockets, they used the army’s own weapons, looted from an armoury in November, and they used them with skill. That’s frightening."

In fact as the Maoist Information Bulletin (MIB) –3 says: the RNA bulletins and the reactionary media have been conspicuously hiding the figures of RNA casualties in the real encounters. In the first three months of the so-called emergency about 400 RNA soldiers and officers in the Western Region and 100 each in the Central and Easter Regions were killed by PLA, which was never acknowledged by the reactionaries.

The army, unable to hit at the PLA forces took revenge on ordinary civilians, massacring them by the hundreds. An example is what happened in March. The MIB-3 says: On March 16-17 the RNA had claimed to have destroyed a PLA camp at Gumchal of Rolpa and killed 69 persons. But in reality the RNA mercenaries had butchered local masses gathered for a cultural show-cum-mass meeting. And there was no question f any PLA camp at the said site. The local Party has challenged the international human rights organisations to visit the place and verify the claims of the royal butchers.

The Achcham attack was followed by a two-day Nepal Bandh on the last two days of the 3-month Emergency, demanding that it be withdrawn. The bandh of Feb. 21 and 22 was a resounding success. .However, when the state of emergency was extended by another three months by the reactionary state, it was just natural that the revolutionary forces organised an effective resistance of the masses to the same. Hence the call for a five-day ‘Nepal bandh’ was given by the party on February 26. (MIB-3)

Following the call of the Party, the URPC announced a series of a month and a half long struggle programme culminating in the five-day ‘Nepal bandh’. According to the programme flashed by Com Baburam Bhattarai, Convenor of URPC, on February 27, a publicity campaign was launched from February 27 to March 13, a mass mobilisation campaign from March 14 to 23 and a mass action programme from March 24 to April 2, all of which were highly successful. (The bandh was later postponed to Apr.23-27 as the student’s exams fell in the first week of April)

The situation then prevailing was expressed in a statement issued by Comrade Prachanda, Chairman of the CPN (M) on March 27. He said:

He added that: In this context it is clear that there is no alternative other than to resist the regime of Gyanendra and his mercenaries by the whole country in unison. Our assertion that only an interim government, constituent assembly and institutionalisation of the republic can guarantee the liberation, peace and progress of Nepal and the Nepalese people, has been all the more verified by the subsequent events. For this, all the political parties both inside and outside the parliament, organisations, intellectual personalities and the general masses have to rise in unison. Without destroying feudalist fascist’s military dictatorship, the very thought of imagining peace and progress in Nepal or to talk of any name or form of freedom will be nothing other than cheating oneself. Feudal fascist military terrorist’s zenith, (or the zenith of feudal fascist military terrorism) and the sense of sacrifice, devotion, bravery and martyrdom displayed by the Nepalese people against it; even while watching this it is a matter of pity that certain political forces are trying to compromise again with the palace murderers through the so called constitution reforms. Constitutional reform is not the solution to today’s problem faced by Nepalese society; it is historically necessary to understand this correctly.

The five-day Bandh began with reports that entire Nepal had closed down, in spite of the coercive methods used by the government to try and keep things open. Not only was road transport fully affected, but domestic flights also ground to a halt. On the first day of the bandh the ancestral home of the prime minister was blown up. The Maoists have also targeted the houses of other ministers in recent weeks.

In one eastern district, Mahottari, a group of Maoists attacked a broadcasting station of the state-owned Radio Nepal, destroying costly equipment including transmitters. Built in 1990 with Japanese assistance, this was the first radio station to be destroyed by the Maoists. Several bombs exploded in Kathmandu ahead of the strike and there were attacks elsewhere, killing several people. Residents of other main centres across the country told Reuters by telephone that shops and businesses were shut.

On the very second day of the Bandh the government published Maoist photographs and offered $64,000 cash rewards for the capture - dead or alive - of three top Maoists who allegedly ordered the strike. Smaller cash rewards were offered for the capture of more than 30 other Maoists.

It is in response to the effectivity of the Nepal Bandh, that the government launched its renewed round of massacres in the first week of May. But after the retaliation of May 8 the government has been concentrating on seeking the involvement of the US imperialists and the INDIAN EXPANSIONISTS to shore up their flagging moral.

Of late the US imperialists have been taking keen interest in planning the offensive against Maoists in Nepal. In an unprecedented step the US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Nepal in January to show support for the government in its struggle against the Maoists. In Washington, the U.S. State Department said the Bush administration had planned to grant Nepal $20 million in emergency aid to help combat the six-year Maoist ‘insurgency’. A State Department spokesman said several options for military assistance are under review. A team of U.S. defense officials was, in fact, on a fact-finding mission in Nepal at the time of the Bandh. This military team even visited, in April, the Maoist areas and the headquarters in Nepalgunj of anti-Maoist operations. To follow up on these promises Deuba went on a weeklong visit to the US in the second week of May.

The growing military involvement is also reflected in a report of the MIB-3, which stated:

As for the Indian expansionists they have not been too happy with the speed with which the US intervened directly, instead of depending on it. A situation much similar to what has occurred in Sri Lanka, is unfolding here. After moving into Sri Lanka, the US military is dreaming of stationing forces in the very strategic Nepal. With China on one side, Afghanistan/Pakistan on the other and the disturbed regions of Kashmir and the North East in the vicinity, US military forces in Nepal could play a key role in establishing US hegemony in the region. As the MIB-3 says: It is noteworthy that after the first ever Nepal visit of a US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, in January last the US has already announced $20 million in military aid against the revolutionary PW and there are reports of plans for keeping permanent US troops in Nepal. The strategic US objective of keeping a watch on both China and India through this project should be obvious to everybody. Despite their recent pro-US tilt the Indian ruling classes, who have traditionally claimed exclusive strategic domination in the South Asian region including Nepal, could not have taken to this overt US imperialist intrusion very kindly.

Yet, in consultation with the US military, Indian involvement is bound to increase in Nepal. This was clearly indicated by the high profile 5-day official visit of India’s Chief of Army Staff, S. Padmanaban, to Nepal in mid-May. On the very first day of his visit he was invited to the royal palace by the king, and in a special investiture ceremony was conferred the title of Honorary General of the Royal Nepal Army. On the next day the Nepal Chief of Staff accompanied him to Nepalgunj — the headquarters of anti-Maoist operations. Indian expansionist involvement, either overtly or covertly, is inevitable given the losses of the RNA in the battlefield.

The Nepal government is particularly panic-stricken with the reported (May 6th) involvement of Gurkha ex-army men with the Maoists. Parts of western Nepal are, after all, the cradle of the Gurkha soldiers belonging to the Magar, Gurung and Chettri ethnic groups. The press report said that Nepal might soon ask India and Britain to stop pensions of Gurkha ex-servicemen involved in Maoist activities. So panic-stricken are the rulers with this, that even the Indian butcher, Padmanaban, while in Nepal, appealed to the Gurkha ex-soldiers of the Indian Army, to assist counter-insurgency operations.

This report goes to show the extent of the insecurity of the Nepalese armed forces vis-à-vis the Maoists.

As show in earlier issues of this magazine, the Indian ruling classes have extensive economic interests in Nepal. With the Nepalese ruling-classes badly battered by the Maoists, and deeply divided by their squabbles, the Indian rulers seek to extract the maximum.

So, the signing of the 5-year trade agreement was finally completed in March after the Nepalese capitulated to Indian arm-twisting. India’s comprador big bourgeoisie wanted to stop the surge of third country (i.e. Chinese) goods into India; like vanaspati, acrylic yarn, copper products, zinc oxide, etc. They were demanding that a duty be imposed on such goods, while Nepal was resisting. Finally. The Indians got their way!!

On the other hand Indian big business continues to use Nepal as a launching pad for its products, not only in Nepal, but also in the north of India. For example, Dabur is sourcing Amla Hair Oil and hajmola from its manufacturing operations in Nepal to cater to the neighbouring Bihar and UP markets. The turnover of Dabur Nepal Pvt. Ltd. touched a massive Rs.130 crores last year — a growth of 19%. Of the Rs.130 crores sales, Rs.120 crores came from exports to the Indian market. Dabur is also seeking to rob Nepals’s natural wealth for its herbal medicinal products.

Also India is seeking widescale penetration of the telecom market of Nepal. Last July a joint venture company was set up called United Telecom Ltd (UTL). This is comprised of four companies — 3 Indian (MTNL, VSNL & TCIL) and one Nepalese (Nepal Ventures Pvt Ltd.). The 3 Indian companies dominate with 80% of the share capital of UTL, with the balance owned by NVPT. The combined investment is Rs.300 crores.

This economic domination and loot of Nepal coupled with the increasing military intervention in the country will only act to strangulate Nepal further. The Nepalese ruling clique is tied in many ways to Indian big business, and so dances to their tune. Of late, even local upstarts, like Chautala, are seeking a share in the loot of Nepal’s rich water resources. An already impoverished country will be further reduced to penury. And what with the government now utilizing the bulk of its funds to purchase arms to combat the Maoists, what negligible amounts were spent on development will also stop.

It is only the victory of the people’s war in Nepal that can take the country out of poverty, and free it from the robber barons that are looting it.

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