News of the day:
Maoists Formally Dissolve Peoples’ Governments, Peoples’ Courts: Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has said that it has dissolved all its “people’s governments” and “people’s courts” across the country. In a statement issued Thursday, Maoist Chairman Prachanda said that all levels of local governments run by his party were dissolved as per the agreement reached with the governments in the past. (more)
Photographs of the first day of registration and storage of weapons and registration of Maoist combatants, at the Maoist 3rd Divisional cantonment site in Chitwan, Nepal on 17 January 2006. [related blog]
UN Senior Military Advisor Jan Erik Wilhemsen, with Deputy Caommander Pasang (senior Maoist representative on the Joint Monitoring Coordinating Committee) and Deputy Commander Ananta (in charge of the Central Region)
UN registration team (in green sleeves, on left) with Maoist commanders and UN monitor (centre) [also the photo below].
[The UN monitors began the registration and authentication process of the Maoist army yesterday (17 Jan), which is to be followed by the arms storage process. Meanwhile, a team of monitors that is deployed in one of the main camps at Jhyaltung Danda of Arunk Khola, Nawalparasi informed that it aims to finish registration of around 1,000 Maoist fighters by Thursday (18 Jan) evening. The team yesterday could register only 200 Maoist army men here.]
Maoist combatants complete paperwork prior to registration with UN registration teams. [also in the photo below]
2100 PLA troops verified
Jan 19 – On the second day of registration of Maoist arms and troops, United Nations monitors Thursday verified 1,550 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel – 1,039 at the Maoist cantonment site at Shaktikhor (Chitwan) and 511 at Jhyaltung Danda (Nawalparasi), according to PLA sources. With this, the number of Maoist combatants registered with the UN has reached 2,122 in the first two days after the process began on Wednesday (17 Jan).
Maoist combatants lining up to register with UN registration teams. [also in the photos below]
Maoist combatants completing photo identification by UN registration teams (standing 2nd left is UN Senior Military Advisor Jan Erik Wilhemsen, next to Deputy Caommander Pasang on right) [also in the photo below]
Maoist Deputy Caommander Pasang (middle), with UN Senior Military Advisor Jan Erik Wilhemsen (right) inside weapons storage container.
UN Senior Military Advisor Jan Erik Wilhemsen shakes hands with Maoist Deputy Caommander Pasang in front of weapons storage container.
United We Blog 
Comments
8 responses to “Nepal in Transition: Photos of First Day of Arms Management”
So my question with this arms management process is:
1. Who says the arms the Maoists have stored are all they have?
2. What prevents them from just breaking in and taking back their weapons if they become dissatisfied with the political developments. Like if they were to loose the election for example.
Why maoist have reservation in revealing their weapons being stored in the container?? They are already in the parliament and equal partner of SPA. They are also invovling in the government very soon what do they want more than this??
But some people from maoist inside parliament will change the nepal’s fate???
May be its my early understanding Nepal may not go towards capitalist way nor socialist way, She will remain in the middle.
PLA is the peoples army in real sense because they are the ones who spent most of the times among the people. I have doubts about the leaders of the Maoists whethere they can be called the peoples leadres. Now the PLA is being kept in confined and isolated places to saperate them from the people. The relationship between people and their Army will be distroyed by this saperation. It will have an impac for sure.
CFNN, get your nose out of the MLM lit, please. The Maoist plan is to have no standing army, and instead have a universal service along the lines of Switzerland. Therefore, at this juncture, the separation of the PLA and “the people” is a mute point.
You may not like it, but the Maoists are betting that they can win in a free and fair election against the Main Stream parties. That requires a demobilizing of the military on both sides. to use the ideology you quite obviously ascribe to, they have managed to upset the usual power relations inherent in the dictatorship of the bourgeoisies, and therefore do not have the same obstacles set against them as in other bourgeois republics. For one thing, they have plenty of media access. Also, they have a tonne of money. Under these conditions, if the CPN(M) cannot win a free and fair election to draft a new constitution… Well, it wasn’t much of a Peoples War then was it?
Well What the Mis conception is been understood by our friends.
the whole question should be seen through the angle of Popular peoples’ demand about a Free & fair election of The Constituent assembly.As Com.Chairman Prachand have said recently in a interview,That PLA is a political army not a aarmy like Royal Nepal army consisted in barracks only.The question of arms management is not a measure but the settlement of political issues is main thing.
So i urge to all friends those who have commented they should think in a correct ways.
in the end One thing i will say , People want alive peace, not a dead one.
in this light i condemn the recent Moriarty’s Statement as the reactionary forces backed by imperialist forces ‘ voice,since they want to impose Iraq model of democracy.
beware friends,otherwise u will be wiped out from the scene.
Interview with C. P. Gajurel (Gaurav)
EKantipur News:
(Interview by Yeshoda Timsina)
Posted on: 22nd January, 2007
************ ********* *********
Excerpts of a recent interview with the CPN-Maoist party’s in-charge of international affairs and politburo member, Chandra Prakash Gajurel (Gaurav).
Q. How did you get arrested in Chennai?
C. P. Gajurel: I was on my way to Europe for some official party business. I was using a fake passport, which belonged to a British individual; the passport had my photograph instead of his. While changing the photo, it was slightly crumpled at the edges. My friends had warned me that it was risky. And eventually the immigration officers questioned me. I was giving my answer when the wife of the British High Commissioner came to drop her husband off who was about to leave for London. As it turned out, she herself was a diplomat too. When my passport was shown to her, she questioned me about London. However, I was unable to answer even her easiest questions and instead, I cross-questioned her, “Who are you to be questioning me?” And although she didn’t apologize, she did say that I had made the airport staff suspicious. The next day, the British High Commissioner himself arrived there. I was interrogated all night. Finally they found out that my passport was fake. I
identified myself before the authorities. The party manifesto itself dictates that high officers, when caught, cannot hide their real identities.
Q. So you were at fault?
Gajurel: Yes. At a time with the “red corner notice” and a price on our heads, it was impossible to travel with our original credentials. But it was extremely necessary to go to Europe to extend the party ranks. Thus, I had to take the risk.
Q. How did the Chennai Police treat you after they realized that you were a Maoist member?
Gajurel: They were curious to know about the technicalities of our party. They questioned me regarding many aspects of our party. How many members are there? How many in the central committee? How is the party structured? When I said that my party ethics do not allow me to divulge any information, they said, “We can kill someone, dump the body somewhere and no will be any the wiser; Tamil Nadu is infamous for such activities.”
They told me that even if they sympathized with me, they could not save me.
Q. How was the treatment inside the jail?
Gajurel: In the beginning the police officer there ordered me to be placed in “solitary confinement” because I was an extremist leader. There was a communication problem as they did not understand English and I did not know Tamil. The food was pathetic and water was so dirty, I got sick as soon as I drank it. After a week, my wife visited me. For the next one and a half months I survived on the water, bread and fruits that she brought me. They started treating me like the other prisoners only after I threatened the authorities to go on a hunger strike.
Q. Was there anyone worth recalling that you met during your jail term?
Gajurel: There was a journalist named Navkiran Gopal. He used to publish a newspaper named “Navkiran” twice a week. At that time the infamous Indian dacoit Veerappan had kidnapped south Indian actor Rajkumar. In order to have Rajkumar released, Gopal was acting as a facilitator. But when Veerappan got killed then Gopal was arrested. While I shared a cell with him, I got to listen to the radio. One day he had to write a letter in English so I wrote it for him. When the authorities saw that, they separated us and sent me back to my initial cell.
Q. Definitely staying in jail is not very fruitful, but what do you think is the advantage you gained because of it?
Gajurel: After my arrest, demonstrations were staged in more than 35 countries all over the world. Everyone was worried that I might be extradited back to Nepal, which is probably why it never happened. Some inmates used to say, “You have become more famous than the chief minister of Chennai.” On my court hearing days there used to be hundreds of people outside the court. Some people were skeptical to the point that they asked me whether I had got myself arrested on purpose. My arrest and the arrest of many of our party members was very helpful in establishing us in South Asia. In my opinion jail is one place where you should learn to take every negative thing positively.
Q. After you had been taken to Jalpaigudi jail you were deemed a political detainee?
Gajurel: No I was labeled a political detainee only in the last two months of imprisonment. During that period, even the facilities given to me in prison were good.
Q. Did you ever think that you would be released this soon?
Gajurel: Considering the charges against me I should have been released even earlier. But the Indian government had plotted to detain me longer under many other false charges. Our early release was a result of the rapidly changing political situation of Nepal in those days.
Q. Moving to another topic, what are the future international policies of the CPN-M?
Gajurel: Our policies will definitely be based on the Panchasheel. We will maintain friendly relations with all other countries. Of course, we will decide what our relations are going to be like with each individual nation. Any agreements and treaties that we will sign in future will be in favour of Nepal and Nepalis.
Q. Do you mean that the treaties and agreements that were signed earlier were not in favour of Nepal?
Gajurel: Yes, they had been signed under unfavourable and different circumstances. We are merely saying that those old treaties like the one signed with India in 1950 should be replaced with new ones.
Q. Haven’t issues of reviewing the past treaties and agreements also arisen?
Gajurel: Why bring up reviewing when two nations are in agreement? This would be like making an amendment all over again. Our focus is on annulment and new formations not on reviewing past actions.
Q. What is the reason behind the 180 degree turn in your attitude towards India?
Gajurel: Earlier, even India was against the Maoist revolution. So naturally, our views weren’t positive towards them at that time. But recently, we have felt a positive change in their attitude towards us. Even when the 12 point agreement was being formulated India did support it indirectly. We don’t dwell on the past. We might have stopped calling India an expansionist state, but our attitude towards them will depend upon their approach to Nepal and Nepalis in future.
Q. How are your relations with America?
Gajurel: America is a typical imperialist. In order to implement its diplomatic policies in India and China, Nepal is a strategically important place for America.
Q. Aren’t you closer to China, in terms of ideology?
Gajurel: China is a communist country only in name’s sake. But the fact is, they are capitalist in nature. But in any case, we treat them like a good neighbour. But, obviously since China is 1600 kilometres further away than India we do not have as much to do with China as with India. Thus, “closeness to India is the need of the hour for the country today.”
Q. What kind of relations will you have with other rebel forces outside Nepal?
Gajurel: They are all good. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we are in a state of complete unanimity.
Q. So, isn’t it that this whole revolution was, after all is said and done, to get in to Parliament with its old and ineffective structure and ideology?
Gajurel: Our revolt was and will always be for Nepal and Nepalis. Our revolt always had the mass as its focal point. Nobody admits that they are hungry for power. The Nepali people will be the judge of whether the 83 MPs that we have selected are worthy or not. We will just have to wait and see.
Q. Your party too must want a share in the important ministries?
Gajurel: That is still left to be seen. We are waiting to see whether there will be a suitable climate in which we can choose portfolios. The way the ministries have been shared at the moment, we will probably get ministries too. We have even heard rumors that government officials are being made ready to prevent us from doing our duties. We are just going to wait and react as and when necessary.
Q. Why has the power-sharing been limited to the Eight Party Alliance? Isn’t there anybody outside the Eight Party Alliance in the country?
Gajurel: Why not? We have the Civil society! We have seen the huge role of civil society during and after the April movement. So, we are always watchful that the civil society members get the respect they deserve. You will see the results of this in the coming days.
Q. You have been given 83 seats in the Interim Legislature; do you think you can maintain the number after the elections?
Gajurel: You talk about maintaining our seats, we are confident that we will form the government.
Q. What are the possibilities of all Left parties coming together?
Gajurel: We urge not only the Left parties but also the Congress to unite. We are even ready to give up Prachandapath if that is what it takes.