A personal encounter with Nepal’s Maoist rebels is a ‘show’ of force in more ways than one.
By Kevin Sites
Pics and captions by Dinesh Wagle
Even if you don’t have a gun, act like you have one! That’s what this guerilla girl was doing in a parade organized on the play ground of a primary school in Kailali last week. Because of the free environment created after the ceasefire, many of the Maoist armed guerilla have gone on leave to see their families and friends in their homes. I saw several groups of unarmed guerilla in civil uniform with their backpacks. They were returning home. The far west division commander told that armed guerilla were decentralized after the ceasefire. “But we can’t go very far from each other,” he said. “Maximum three hours of walking distance.”
CHAINPUR, Nepal- They are just flashes of green as we drive past them: members of the Royal Nepalese Army in their jungle camouflage, out for their morning run. “Those are the ones we are fighting,” says one of the men in our spotless gold Land Cruiser. The others laugh.
It’s 6:30 a.m. and my translator, Dinesh Wagle, and I are riding with an official in the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), his assistant and a couple of cadres.
We have an appointment, a promise really, to see soldiers from the party’s People’s Liberation Army, a force estimated to be 20,000 strong, which has waged a 10-year war against the royal government of Nepal.
It’s a war in which there have been numerous human rights abuses on both sides, a war that has taken the lives of as many as 13,000 people.
But now there is a cease-fire, in the aftermath of the pro-democracy “people’s movement” in which nearly two dozen Nepalis were killed and hundreds wounded in clashes with the police while protesting the rule of King Gyanendra.
The Maoists have joined a seven-party alliance in the hopes, they say, of permanently curtailing the powers of the king and creating a multi-party democracy.
That has made this meeting a difficult one to arrange. The Maoists have been active partners in the alliance and want to flex their political muscle now, not their military might.
We negotiated with Sharad Singh-Bhandari, the party’s Western Region Secretary, for two days before we finally received a call in the evening saying to be ready at 6 a.m. the next morning.
We drive for an hour and a half, then stop in a small village where Singh-Bhandari meets his military counterpart, the 7th Division Commander, a man in a long-sleeved white T-shirt who goes by the party name of “Prajjwal.” Both Singh-Bhandari and Prajjwal are just 30 years old. (article continued after the box story)
Who says revolution will not be successful here? I saw this group on the main street of Dhangadi walking on a line. These are the members of Krishna Sen Cultural Group (Krishna Sen is a Maoist journalist who was killed by the state in jail) who were singing revolutionary songs while walking. They said that they will be presenting different songs and dances in programs organized by the party in different places. ‘Kasle bhanchha kranti yaha safal hudaina….’
Great in the Video: When they knew that I wasn’t just taking their pictures but shooting their movements in video, they, especially the girls, were more than curious to see that. “Ah.. I look great,” was a girl’s comment.
Talking About Maoist Guerilla
By Dinesh Wagle
At a time when Nepali media and daily press releases of Nepal Army were filled with reports and cases of Maoists extortions, I went to far west Nepal to see the and meet the real cause behind forceful donations. It took a gringo’s arrival for me to get an opportunity to see the armed Maoist guerillas in a village in Kailali district. That was my first face to face encounter with armed Maoists. I went there as a translator for Kevin Sites, an American war correspondent whose One Mand Band journalism has thrilled me. I was closely following his activities over the last seven months as he was roaming around the world writing for Yahoo’s original news efforts called Hot Zone. (By the way, gringo is the term, Kevin told me, that Mexicans use for white people. So, he said, he was a gringo for Nepalis as well.)
A few minutes before they started appearing dramatically on the play grounds of an improvised primary school in eastern Kailali, I was told that those armed Maoist guerillas were taking lunch somewhere in the village. And THAT lunch for thousands of army of Prachanda is forcing his organization Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) to extort money and accept ‘forced’ donations from general Nepali citizens as well as business communities around the country. The disturbing thing is that Maoists are not willing to accept that extortion or ‘forced donations’ are bad thing. Instead they firmly believe that if every other political party is operated by donations from business “why can’t we do the same.” While arguing like that, they tend to forget the fact that other political groups don’t have armed force like they have and people do fear the Maoist guerillas.
Need of the hour is that we have to find some way so that Maoists can feed their army and people and business don’t have to donate hefty sum of money to the party. There is no alternative to the government moving forward to help Maoists feed their army so that they don’t create havoc among general people. The idea of government helping Maoists feed their army may sound weird to some but we can clearly feel that the country is heading toward permanent peace. To achieve that peace, we have to accept that Maoist guerillas are part of the society who will occupy some positions in Nepal Army and other security agencies. Also, if they are not given food, CPN (Maoists) will be in trouble and might not be able to continue participating in the peace process. Even Prachanda can’t stop his party from running the extortion business without any alternatives for feeding those ‘men in green’.
When you ask the ‘men in green’ the standard question “why did you join the party” you will get the same answer as if they were brainwashed. “To liberate the proletariats of Nepal.” There is significant percentage of women participating in the Red Army and majority of them (both male and female) are young. It’s not necessary that they are all educated but they are determined to the cause of their party. The reason for participating in the war on behalf of the party varies from person to person but one thing is common: They know they might die any time.
Dinesh and I sit in a tiny shack by the side of the road, eating spicy noodles and sipping tea while the two go off to make contact with their commanders in the field. The noodle shop plays an upbeat and catchy revolutionary song on a boom box. There are lots of other young men milling around carrying backpacks.
“They’re Maoists,” one shopkeeper tells us. “They’ve come in from the field and are heading home for a while.”
After an hour, the two return and we get into the Land Cruiser again and drive another half-hour. We stop at another village where we’re swarmed by school children wearing light blue shirts. The sight of a tall Westerner with cameras slung over his shoulders intrigues them. I snap their pictures and show them the digital display on the back. They giggle uncontrollably.
We’re ushered into yet another roadside restaurant, where we sip more tea and wait. After another half-hour we get back into the vehicle, this time backtracking a bit until we meet a motorcycle rider. We follow him off the main road and onto a dirt path leading to the edge of the tree line at the base of the nearby foothills. We park in a large grassy opening on the grounds of a rural elementary school in the village of Chainpur.
Within minutes of our arrival, young men and women, many of them teenagers, begin pouring out of the woods from several different directions.
Some are in light green camouflage and strung with dark-blue magazine pouches. Others are in T-shirts and jeans with bandannas tied around their heads. They carry a mix of aging, bolt-action and top-loading Chinese assault rifles and the occasional squad-operated machine gun. But many don’t have any weapons at all.
Their commander, who calls himself Sagat, is 33. He wears thick glasses and a cap emblazoned with the communist red star. He says the soldiers are members of the Lokesh Memorial Brigade, which is normally about 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers, but is currently only a fourth that size. Many of them have rotated home for a few weeks off during the current cease-fire.
Fought in Tansen: This girl participated in Tansen clash where rebels tried to captures an army barrack. They said that she was injured after shrapnel from a grenade hit her leg. Transmission of a local FM radio station and a historical palace building were destroyed in the clash. She is married and her husband works somewhere in India. “But here is my family,” she said throwing a glance to her comrades. “So I don’t miss my family.”
“We haven’t been engaged in any military activities,” he says, “but we’ve been busy publicizing the policy of the party.”
He says the women fighters are as good as the men, and that so many have joined the Maoists because they see an opportunity to fight for their rights as women.
Within the group I see a girl who looks to be only in her early teens. She is tiny and looks innocent, but carries a compact machine gun over her shoulder.
She calls herself Janaki and says that she is 16 years old. She has been with the rebels for one year. When I ask her why she joined she gives a robotic response repeated by many of the other rebels.
“Because I couldn’t tolerate the oppression of my people any longer,” she says.
“Are you ever afraid?” I ask her.
“No, I’m not afraid,” she replies, in a soft voice.
But when I press her on the issue, she can no longer even find that soft voice. She just stares ahead, unsure, certainly uncomfortable with the attention we are focusing on her. She can find no other words.
Another rebel who says his name is Rajeev Thapa looks almost as young, but says he’s 19 years old. He wears a sleeveless blue T-shirt and is slight, but has the bearing of someone sure of himself and his weapon. He says he’s also been with the Maoists for a year, and that he joined to liberate the country.
“I heard too many stories about people being beaten, raped and killed by the army,” he says. “So I had to do something.”
At this point, it’s beginning to dawn on me that this entire group of rebels is here for no other purpose than as a show for myself and Dinesh, who is a journalist for Kantipur, Nepal’s largest newspaper.
I’ve encountered these situations before, covering both regular armies and insurgents, but each time it makes me uncomfortable.
I had asked for this meeting and there is a need, I know, to put a face on these rebels, to show them as something other than just a name to which acts, both bad and good, are attributed. And they are, after all, a key factor in the future outcome of Nepal’s nascent democratic movement.
But I had thought, perhaps naively, that we might see them in their natural environment in the bush, rather than this grassy schoolyard. I want to see them doing whatever rebels do during a cease-fire: cleaning their weapons, reading “Das Kapital,” playing football, flirting with the female comrades.
I am glad to see them with my own eyes, to know they are real. But to see them assembled solely for our cameras makes it somehow less authentic, despite the cold metal of their weapons, the very real smell of their campfires and the palpable intensity of their purpose.
They gather under a larger tree and begin a series of awkward drills, specifically so that I may see them in action. Commander Sagat looks at a cheat sheet written in pen on his hand, then barks orders to the rebels.
With each command, they hop to attention, then either stand, kneel or sit, pointing their weapons, or their hands, in the direction of an imaginary enemy.
Just an answer: “I am fighting for oppressed people.” This 16-year-old girl couldn’t answer most of our questions. What she said was that she joined the party to fight for the oppressed Nepali people. She didn’t respond to questions about her family.
As a precise drilling unit, they’re the equivalent of the Grateful Dead — not exactly tight. Their movements are hesitant and awkward, but determined.
Regardless, the 7th Division Commander, Prajjwal, says his forces have consistently defeated the Royal Nepalese Army and the Armed Police Force. He says, however, that his biggest concern has been American-trained Nepalese Ranger battalions that are better-equipped and more motivated than the others.
He says fours years ago, during a battle in the Rolpa region, his forces captured three U.S. Army advisers during fighting there, but released them because, he says, the People’s Liberation Army’s fight isn’t with America. His statement couldn’t be independently verified, although the U.S. government has sent military aid and advisers to the Royal Nepalese Army.
Many of the rebels we talked with say they’ve been in combat several times, including a 25-year-old woman who goes by the party name “Sapana,” which means Dream.
“I was in the first line in an attack to capture an FM radio station in Tansen,” she says. “It was guarded by an army barracks and one of the soldiers threw a grenade at me. I could see it coming and I moved back but pieces of shrapnel still hit my leg.”
Sapana says four or five other rebels were also injured, but they made it back to their lines and were able to get treatment. She pulls up her fatigues and shows me the scar on her shin.
Another rebel, 29-year-old Bishan Dhami, says he’s been with the Maoists four years and has seen combat nearly a dozen times.
I ask him if he’s tired of the war. His answer is an immediate “no.”
“Not until we defeat the monarchists, which we have labeled terrorists,” he says.
That’s a label associated with the Maoists as well. The U.S. State Department includes the Maoists on its “Country Reports on Terrorism” list, because, it says, of the rebels’ policies of attacks on civilians, land confiscation and extortion.
At the end of the “drilling,” the rebels make an exit as inconspicuous as their entrance, proceeding, weapons in hand, in single-file lines back into the woods.
They’ll wait there, say their commanders, until they’re needed — either as a show of force, or, if peace talks fail, to actually fight again.
[UWB: This article originally appeared in Yahoo’s Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone. Here is the original article. Reproduced here with permission from Sites.]
United We Blog 
Comments
76 responses to “Meet the Rebels: Maoist Guerilla of Nepal”
Mr. Wagle,
A general curiosity triggered me to ask you this question.
Where about does blog.com.np lie in terms of the political spectrum?
Thank you
I have never supported the brutal maoist tatics.But for the first time i feel so proud of being a citizen of “Nepal”.We all know that, what we have achieved today couldn’t have been achieved so quickly had there been no maoist.Even though i am opposed to the idea of “Peoples War”, but seeing the innocent and courageous faces of the maoist fighters, today i felt proud for them.I want to say “Thank you for liberating us.Today we showed the whole world what we could do together.A heartfelt thank you!!”
We know Industries, schools, teachers, workers, general people, tourists, are being terrorized by the tools of MBs for past decade. The tools included extortion, murder, intimidation, slitting of throats, hammering, killing of shcool children and teachers, bombing of public buses, etc. More than 13000 lives being lost. We were among the crowd in street against KG. After long time we were hearing about peace. Now Industries are being halted. Extortion is gaining momentum. I am wondering why UWB is glorifying MBs? Is not it a show of strength of MB’s power? Why UWB is trying to be another tool of Terror for MBs?
I strongly renounce the violent policy adopted by the Maoists but I have to admit that above posted photos are some of the finest photos of the Maoist movement I have ever seen. But I am hopeful that they are coming in to the peace process. I am also confident about the peaceful days ahead. I think Maoists have understood over the years that it is simply impossible to win over the state militarily. So they are just waiting for the right time to convince their armed cadres to leave the violent method and go for peaceful one.
Not all cadres and soldiers have correct knowledge about Maoist movement and communism. Look at those girls; do they even know whom they are fighting against? I am sure they are brainwashed. They don’t have capacity to think independently. That is all because Maoists have become able to exploit the poverty in Nepali society.
I would love to read the sexual exploitation inside the Maoist organization. I am sure there are many cases.
frens,
maoists kill 4000, king’s men killed 9000
.total=13000
Well the sooner the UN comes in with a code of conduct agreeable to both sides leading to the surrender of arms under their supervision the better. These Maoists cadres seem very honest but we all know their top leaders are not. I hope these young rebels are properly resettled and integrated into mainstream society.
I would like people to think why the Maoists have so much support in rural Nepal. Please think and realise how they have been marginalised, oppressed and abused. Personally I despise the Maoist leaders for going in for a violent movement-but the young people in the villages were caught up in it and look who they chose to side with. Having heard about the brutality of the security forces and the apathy of those in power-did they have a choice?
The people pointing guns in the photoes are illiterate, innocent victims of Moaists’ rogue ideology. They can tell you what they have been asked to learn, and nothing else. It is not their mistake. Human beings are capable of commiting every imaginable crime.
The leaders, however, are the actual killers. They are responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent people, most of them farmers and petty servicemen/women. They have killed the poorest, most underprivileged, and deprived. All this was done in the name of a theory which is neither new nor practical.
Chairman Mao killed 500000 people during his hineous ‘cultural revolution’. The people who were killed were teachers, bureaucrats, artists, etc. The cultural revolution is painted in history as one of the most viscious mass murders of innocent people. Mao, however, died without a word of apology for his crime.
Baburam and Prachanda are no different.
Today, they are claiming a share in the would be government. They have no shame. If they smell their hand properly, they will definetely smell fresh blood of innocent Nepalese people.
Maoists are the killers. They are no better than Gyanendra. This is sad but true.
UWB,
Please, for God’s sake, relax your filter. Give a little freedom to the people who come to blog here. Freedom makes people responsible, but your autocratic filter does no good. The whole joy of blogging is taken away when you moderate each and every post. Please, relax your filter.
Kevin, Dinesh.. GREAT WORK !!
Maoists should not be allowed to roam freely with Arms and ammunitions. This will not make Nepal Army comfortable. If it happens then its just a matter of time when there will be another voilent clash and both party will blame one another, no one will take responsibility. If MBs want to come out then they should come with out guns.
Prachanda rejected the proposal to disarm maoists before CA elections…to read more click on my name.
I lived in Boudha 7 yrs ago and came to love Nepal.Even then there was gunfire in the streets.I heard through people who live there how the present “king” came to power.I have three beautiful adopted daughters there and fear for not only their safety but their future. How I would love to see them again, and be back in the streets of Kathmandu!To all there who dream of a safe, happy, prosperous
life, I wish only the best for you.Perhaps the fierce,destructive energy of the Maoists will counterbalance the equally destructive lassitude of the monarchy. Lha gyal lo- may the gods be victorious.
Prachanda again has made the true intentions of the maoists clear. they will not agree to anything less than all of their demands, which include not allowing “foreign interference” and advocating land reform…basically, the same as under Mao.
The Maoists are not going away yet, you guys.
But Dinesh, what is a “war reporter”? Come on, this guy came in, spent a few days wandering around and now thinks he is an expert. oh, and you were his “fixer”. La de Da. Why is it that some hunky handsome american guy with big muscles who has a nice lovely lif and a feeling that, in a few brief photos and paragraphs, we can “grasp” what’s going on and somehow make a difference.Come on. He leaves for a much deserved “holiday” (man those few days in Nepal were really harrowing!) and then back to his cozy LA home. War reporter? come on. Oh, and looks like yo are really cozying up to the americans now after your US trip, dinesh, huh? You never had much kind to say about us before in these pages. Guess the State Dept changed your mind (hell, staying in five star hotels in the biggest cities in america, all expenses paid, might do that)
“Any process of disarming of the Maoists must be matched to the inch by corresponding steps for the RNA,”
So said Sitaram Yechury a few weeks ago in “Peoples Democracy” the Newspaper of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
People have forgotten his words and need reminding that Sitaram Yechury played an important mediator role between Maoists and Koirala.
We have seen the media being hyped up becuase the Maoists have not agreed to disarm unilaterally before elections.
This was never on the table, what is on the table as Prachanda has made clear is international supervision of the Nepalese Army and the Peoples Liberation Army prior and during elections.
REASON-AND-REVOLUTION has called for a purge of the unpatriotic elements in the Nepalese Army not only as a confidence building measure by the current Nepalese govermment but as an act of national security of the Nepalese people
We should not let the Maoists grow.Because they trying to have more money through extortion and “taxes” and utilise it to threat the people. whatever maoists will do, they will not succeed at the end because they are not in majority. The majority is with SPA and there are other simple people who do not like Violence of Maoists.So govt. should try to contain the Maoists as early as possible.If not they can come to take the power.
[icd]
UWB: We respect all religions of the world and are strongly against taking side of one religions against the other. The original comment posted here was deleted because it spoke against some religions.
Hye kushal,
I dont give a fck about your 25 fking years in US.May be Secular State is not what you want ,but we dont care.What we want is progress.By the way, we shouldnt be afraid of other religion.Preventing others to change religion is not a good.Religion is a matter of personal freedom.Its like your fcking life in US- live where you want.
Well said Rosan,
Things is not same as before. Nepal is now Secular state and it should be forever. Though I was born in Hindu family as most nepalease, and still believe in hinduism. But I have respect on all religion and that personal matter of each people to practice there desire religion. People who don’t want to accept change making propaganda about religion.
UWB,
When will you grow up?
Look at the cra* posted by some s*xual*y confused immature idi*t called Kushal. Do you think the double posting of such cra* was good here? Your obsession with the Maoists deserves nothing but hatred. You ban serious criticism of the Maoists from your site. Why don’t you openly publicize yur policy?
I am a Hindu and so my friend is. I am not a Brahman by cast but my friend is. We both are in USA studying Engineering. We usually go to Mc Donald for our lunch and most of the time I order double burger and he orders Spicy Chicken. Some times we both order from chicken menu. He has never tried beef not because he doesn’t like the taste but beef is a holy cow. Actually he used to make fun of me at the beginning but now it is no big deal. In my defense I used to tell him when I go back home, like before, I will stick to chicken and goat meat. Not even buffalo meat; not allowed in my family as the rule has been laid down by my mother. Actually it’s needless to say beef because Cow meat is out of question in Nepal. Just like that, my friend’s house rules also prohibit buffalo meat, but according to him he never missed a single chance to visit local Momo restaurants back home. I have never tried buffalo meat because I played by the house rules when I was in home. But my friend has already broken his house rule, so I asked him to get real and order cheese burger next time. Then he says, “Its not about house rule; its about religion. Buffalo is not holy, but we worship cow back home!!” Then I tell him, “But we don’t worship American Cow!!!!” He bounce back saying a cow is cow where ever it is. Then as a scripted dialogue I always tell him that we can not eat the back-home cows but we can eat the US cows, so there is the difference. That line usually brings our lunch time conversation to an end. He doesn’t like the idea of slaughtering Cow in Nepal. Then I don’t miss my golden opportunity to irritate him saying, “Imagine goat, buffalo and cow’s heads being displayed in your local butcher shop”. I can feel that he is very much against to that kind of thought. The funny chat goes on and on until a blonde passes by.
But it is not funny when my same friend also speaks for a secular Nepal. I am not saying that he has to eat a cow or dog meat to join the “secular club”. But when he says Nepal should no longer be a Hindu kingdom, there is a great problem. This man who has never taken a single bite of beef (even in USA!!) and hates with the concept of slaughtering Cow in Nepal has problem with Nepal as a Hindu Kingdome. I think he is the perfect example of a guy who is messed up in between politics and religion.
He has gained lots of political aspects from media and he know it very well that all the great countries are secular. He knows that to speak about a Christian, Muslim or Hindu country is not popular (Israel sucks?). No big leaders “speak for” that, not even G.W. Bush.
Don’t get me wrong thinking that I am a die-hard Hindu who loves to see his country as a Hindu nation. This piece of writing only realizes the present situation, its not trying to pass any biased judgment. And what I have realized now that, all the countries have to go through this phase where they loose their virginity (unless they stand great wall all around it). And this phase also has mixed emotions like loosing something on one hand and entering a new world of concepts on other hand. A sea-change! No one can also block that change. So, wise people go for the change (with their roots and principle still rooted at the origin). I mean they grow toward change but not flow along the change. They just don’t plunge into the river of change. And in this modern world every one is wise, even G. W Bush. We all speak for change and for cosmopolitan.
My point here is, are you really really ready to accept the change in your daily life? If you are talking for your country then is your country ready for that change?
As I always ask the question to my friend I put the same question here also that can we allow cows being slaughter in Nepal? Will you digest your mutton that’s bought from the same store that sells beef? How about interracial relationships? Are you ready to overcome the traditional and beaten concept of cast system and deal with racism? That’s just one of the hundreds possible issues that will arise. A revolutionary butcher will slaughter a cow in a 99% Hindu town just to practice his rights whether the product sells or not. But that situation is not imaginable right now. So alog with good changes secularism may also trigger religious conflict to our country. Where it has not? And there is no lack of opportunist in the society that can play dirty games to gain their benefits from conflict of two different mass.
I am not speaking against the change as I am also a wise guy but not quiet like G.W Bush. But I am just realizing that we have reached the stage now where issues like religion will amplify. So if we have asked for a new changed world lets expand ourselves to include the new things too.
Cutting to the chase, there are people for whom religion is hard-wired and politics is a passion. Let’s hope there were very few of them who helped bringing this revolutionary change in our country Nepal. No U-turns!!
The truth lies in the unspoken words or rather afraid to be spoken words of these young cadres. I like the way that Dinesh who must be pro maoist by now (he was a pro SPA a couple of months back – go where the tide goes huh Wagle?),posts photos of young innocent looking girls to put a “kind” face to the maoists so that he gets sympathy from us. Unfortunately for the likes of Dinesh and gang the corrupt and not at all innocent looking faces of the leaders we see on the media like the guy extorting the businesses in Birgunj are all too apparent.
It is time to free these young innocent minds from the grasp of the maoist claws. There is no use fighting our own poor and innocent. The govt. should go after the blood sucking leaders who are at par with the pedophiles we hear of sucking the innocence out of our children and killing a nation.
Coup against King
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Koirala has strengthened Maoists —- It is absurd to hail Thursday’s parliamentary coup in Nepal as a “modern Magna Carta,” as is being done by those who are cheering the grossly ill-advised move to strip the King of all powers and privileges. The parliamentary resolution moved by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on behalf of the seven-party alliance that now rules Nepal, and unanimously adopted by the 205-member Pratinidhi Sabha, is astounding in its scope. Apart from removing King Gyanendra as the commander-in-chief of Nepal’s Army and placing it under the control of the Cabinet, the resolution says the monarch shall no longer have the right to take a final view on major issues, that he will lose immunity from prosecution and taxes, that Parliament will now decide the royal family’s benefits, and, that nothing in Nepal will any longer come attached with the ‘Royal’ tag.
As if all this were not bad enough, the resolution also declares that Nepal shall no longer be known as a ‘Hindu Kingdom’ but as a ‘secular state’. What the Maoist terrorists could not achieve in more than a decade of bloody insurgency, Mr Koirala and his colleagues have succeeded in doing in less than a fortnight: They have destroyed the basic identity of Nepal by reducing it to a perversion of its past and erasing its civilisational history. It is another matter that the sanctity of resolution is suspect because the present Pratinidhi Sabha is an interim arrangement and does not have the mandate or the legitimacy to bring about such sweeping changes in the Constitution. What is, however, significant is that despite denuding the symbol of Nepal’s sovereignty and its unique cultural identity in so grotesque a manner, Mr Koirala has failed to satisfy the Maoists.
This is evident from the Maoists’ response to the resolution. While Mr Koirala has claimed that his parliamentary coup against Narayanhity Palace, which has just stopped short of dethroning King Gyanendra, “represents the feelings of the people”, Maoist leaders have spurned it as “insufficient”, saying they want the monarchy to go. It is as good as declaring that the Maoist onslaught shall not cease till such time Nepal becomes a Communist state ruled by Comrade Prachanda’s thugs. Given the stranglehold of the Maoists over vast areas of Nepal, established through terror, murder and extortion, and a political class robbed of all credibility, it is more than likely that the proposed Constituent Assembly, as and when it is “elected”, will be packed by Prachanda’s men who will then opt for the final putsch, the contours of whose terrifying consequences defy imagination.
If Mr Koirala and his colleagues believe that they can buy popularity with the masses by weakening the monarchy, they are sadly mistaken. On the contrary, they have only whetted the appetite of the Maoists and made it that much easier for them to achieve their goal. It’s Nepal’s tragedy that rather than stop Mr Koirala from destroying the unifying symbol of that country, the world has refused to lift a finger. Perhaps realisation shall sink in when the arms the US has now promised to supply will become the armoury of Prachanda’s People’s Liberation Army. We have seen this happen elsewhere, most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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interesting comment ck2.. i hope that’s just co-incidence in terms of following what’s the highlight.
I have been in chainpur before and i’ve never seen or known so many ppl. with such individual strength to be a part of the Maoists. I hope they really know what they are doing. Great job on sneaking into different parts of Nepal.
stupid Maoist and killer of Nepalese people… showing their Arms power..can we get any info that people are supporting them or not?
Maoists claim that they captured three american in Rolpa is a hoax. I never can beleive such propoganda but I am not the supportet of americans.
The Govt. of has never done a serious study about the Maoists. They do not have any estimate about their no. of guns and actual no. of real fighters with guns. They must have some estimates.I don’ know how they are governing the country. Untill now they could not even expand their own Cabinet, how they can rule ? I think the same culture of Commission, Bribe taking will again foster under that crazy women called Sujata. No doubt about it ? We have to fully eliminate such social hazards and only we can start a clean New Nepal.
If Maoist communes and camps were the ideals, China never would have gone to capitalism immidiately after Mao’s death. In villages, people don’t talk of bad of Maoists because they are forced not to talk so at gun point. Till Baishakh 11, whole system was in pitch dark. When it dawned, not only monarch but the Maoists too, we found, are naked. Their extortion, killigs, oppression are quite visible in democratic light. We found defficiencies of party leaders when there was democracy and now we find in Maobadis. We should oppose and stand against Maoists’ atrocities as we do against that of monarchy.
After dictator in no form is acceptable
It seems the scenario is still strange as people think they have been victorious..its not that simple.
It seems the maoists see a golden chance of hitting the head and finally taking over..thats wat their leaders interviews hint.The parties still dont know if they have power dependent on real people power or mob power.The supporters of the king are watching keenly and waiting when they can pounce back.Changing names and throwing away hoarding boards is no big deal…wat we really need is genuine peoples power willing to keep nepal’s identity intact as well as warn all extremes that they face nemesis if they begin tampering with peoples freedom.
WARNING TO SPA:
Don’t lift maoists on your shouldiers. because they have started killing people like in Rautahat.They have not stopped abducting people. They will issue one denial letter and say that we have not done it. Would you believe it ?
So Maobadis are FATAHA so do’t believe them. After we finished the King, we have to tackle the Maoists. We are ready to fight against them if necessary. give us the guns. But another warning to SPA? if you take one paisa as bribe, we will finish you also.
I have to laugh at these discussions. A month ago, and in the past year, I have issued repeated warnings on this blog, saying that you guys and the SPA should not trust the maoists, that Ambassador Moriarty was right and that you are deluding yourselves. do you know the responses I got? STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE!! IT WON”T HAPPEN! THEY WILL LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS AND COME INTO THE FOLD PEACEFULLY!!
I have to say, I TOLD YOU SO. IT is a sad thing to say, though. I wish I didn’t have to be the one to say so. I saw it coming all along. If yuo had bothered to really HEAR what Prachanda was saying (not just his words, which he cleverly manipulated, in a way that made it appear he was going to make concessions) but the underlying messages, which could be gleaned by all his years of speeches and writings, you would have known. This guy was not going to drastically change his tactics. Prachanda has repeatedly stated what will have to be done before they give up their arms. A “people’s republic” with land sharing system (straight out of Mao’s little red book!) is what they want…
well
we have always been talking about MBs army and their disposal. On current top talks about mixing the MB’s army with NEPALI ARMY i would like to disagree with that. How can the army of ONE & SOLE polticial party can be nepali army.we can’t give that much blind faith to a polticial party of whose theories we are so well known of.
We have always being critizing nepali army we should not forget that nepali army had been fighting with then called terroist and too many have died. Nepali army is innocent they had been doing what they were asked to. They have fought for NEPAL and us for these last 10 years .
Regarding the MB’s army they all are pieces of brainwashed brains. They do what they are asked to do by their so called comrades. Although parties had done some mistakes in past & maoists have utlized that scenerio in brainwashing peoples quite illetrate and poor. Think of peoples who are poor and have no food to eat thay would sure join MAo’s army as they can rob people threatn them and too have facilities of sex & roaming around in the country. If i was enough dull i would too perfer joining maoist army (**i too have heard abt beautiful teens there **)
So maoists leaders have not only the criminals of killing many nepali peoples but are too guilty of raping emotions of thousands of poor & illetrate peoples in their army who had simple dream of twice meals a day.
NEPAL AAMA WILL NEVER FORGIVE MB’s
that’s it!
1.Never dissolve parliament before the elections of the CA.
2. If the killing, abductions continue, organise the peaceful demonstrations against Maoists also all over the country. Then they will feel the people power.
3. If they come to the interim govt. never give them Defence and Home portfolios.
Actually general public of Nepal are against Maoists, Can only 50,000 people can rule Nepal on the ground of threats ? It is like tail is wagging the dog.
i am really in your favour limbu well u have although increased the number it should be less then 10000 so called real maoist there in this group all others are brain washed and can be washed again & this time a clean wash
that’s it!
when the maoist will come on power they will realize the scenario here
i hope they certainly will normalize radical communism view
we should believe them to some extent
when the maoist will come on power they will realize the scenario here
i hope they certainly will normalize radical communism view
we should believe them to some extent
i agree on LIMBU that ganeral public are against them but they cant be simply neglected
they should have respectful positions on interim government
the decisions on other issues are done by CA
i disagree with u sudeep.
It is been heard that they want to lead the government now. I was puzzled hearing that.
They had been advertizing that thay have been fighting for the system for the peoples and when things came in a little favour of them then they are asking for the Prime Minister.
now think how they are different.
they should not be believed and for making a new goverment including maoist now they should be given i think two ministers maximum and of low grade.
If they think they have really won nepalese’s heart i call them in ground for elections nepalese people would show what they think of the aoist.
that’s it!
Maoists are terrorists. And they should not treated as a political party. They must leave their guns to be a political party.
they were
not are at least
King’s government also used to say terrorists when we were on streets on PM II
the context has changed
we must accept the truth
to roashan
but seeing the innocent and courageous faces of the maoist fighters, today i felt proud for them.I want to say “Thank you for liberating us.Today we showed the whole world what we could do together.A heartfelt thank you!!”
What a piece of shit!!!!u re going to hell ….u mean that those blood thirsty maoists have liberated you.Are you crazy????Are you trying to insult the great martyrs???The liberation is all because of the nepali citizens who took part in the aandolan without any fear of death. Maoists only know to take the lives,,why r u so ignorant?????
and about those maoists fighters,,they r the poor ignorant rural people who are greatly brainwashed by the so called maoists leadership,,,,just ask those fighters who is Mao????Its just mass hysteria,not the fight for the liberation of nepal ,,,,then u ll find the truth.
santosh
SPA and maoists
why not EPA(eight party alliance)
division of ministry is negotiable
they are saying to go for democratic system
I totally disagree with sudeep and agree with sharma.santosh. Maoists should not be given chance to lead the government. Everybody knows they are terrorists. And they were the main trouble for Nepal for the last decade.
hey sudeep,
You are favoring Maoists as if you are a cadre of Maoist. I hate you.
The activities of maoists are still saying that they are here just to make fool of this government and go back to jungle after freeing their comrades and collect large amount of money from businessmen.
Shameless Prachandra says they are collecting “chanda” because code of conduct “Acharsanghita” wasn’t decleared.
I’m afraid that it’s been one month since the Janandolan, and the maoists have been the same except for their cesefire, which can be broken at their whim and fancy while the SPA have done so much to heal wounds. I think I agree with my fellow bloggers who say that they are behaving just like terrorists. There is no reason to think otherwise.
Yeah it has been almost a month since the janandolan ended, and all we see is guns and more guns and uniformed maoists spreading more of their propoganda , extorting, and heaven knows what else the media have’nt or will not piuck up on. It’s time for the people to crank up the pressure on our govt. to crank up the heat on them.
Teenagers weilding automatic weapons. What is next, infants in suicide bomb campaigns?
now that we have removed royalty and royal tags from all office/organization names in nepal, smashed all royal signs and statues, we should now take a step forward and burn all nepalese rupees that have royal pictures or shree panch on it. we should proclaim a date this month, gather in city centers and celebrate “money burniing”. i have accumulated some nepalese money which i will donate for the ceremony.
Do not trust the maoists at any cost. They have no intention of coming in to the democratic fold. Their actions show it, why are we still giving them the benefit of doubt?
When I see these kids with no feeling in their eyes and their childhood lost forever, I feel like going out and hunting down Prachanda. When Prachanda comes to Kathmandu, I hope someone just shoots him – he or she will be the greatest martyr of them all.
well
about MB’s & Nepal army ………… i never agree on the union of maoist and nepal army because there are lots of reasons that they should not be united. First of all, the force that were fighting before few weeks now from the change of scenario can they forget their rivalry. Moreover, there are many armys and maoist cadre who have just joined the force to take their revenge, can they ever be together? A small misconception in the force after being united may lead to army rebel. So they should not be united. ok
So you guys see some pictures of Maoists with guns and suddenly everyone realises how dangerous they are! How funny! But relax guys, it appears that the UN is coming in, India has given it’s consent, so things look good for peace right now. We all know that none of the three-SPA, Maoists or Palace, can prosper without India’s support and their nod to the UN to come into Nepal can only mean that they too want peace and stability here in Nepal (they have a serious Maoist problem too remember?)
The Maoists can’t just give up their arms and come into the mainstream-they have their radical members to persuade and placate, so it will take a little time. Soft landing-do you know what that means?