Maoist supporters rallied against the government on Saturday

There’s been so much news from Nepal in the past 48 hours I barely know where to begin! Since there’s so much of it it’s possible that I’ll give an incomplete view of some developments, but that’s probably unavoidable. Either way, there’s been a hell of a lot happening and it’s worth keeping up with it.

To start things off, Maoist cadres attacked Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, hurling stones at his car as he attended a function which they disrupted, raising black flags as a sign of protest. The attack was in response to remarks he made earlier in the day at the UML’s party convention. Apparently, he claimed that the Maoists will be unable to destabilise the government as it has earned the support of it’s coalition partners by making all the Madhesi party leaders government ministers, and he was reported as saying “Leave the issue of toppling the government. Homework is being carried out to make all the 26 parties participate in the government”. Considering how unstable a government made up of that many parties inevitably must be, and also considering the new developments in the internal struggle within the UML party (more on that later), this government is a weak and insecure one regardless of how many times it expands it cabinet.

The Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Student’s Union – Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) has declared an indefinite shutdown of all private “higher secondary” schools in Nepal. The ANNISU – R organises students in high schools as well as universities, and it’s candidates were elected to the leadership of student unions across Nepal recently. It is demanding an increased number of teachers be allocated to public schools rather than private ones, the domain of a privileged few.

The Maoists continue to alternate demands for a national government to be formed under the leadership of their party with threats of revolt if this does not happen (as well as assurances that even the formation of a new national government will only be a means for them to move towards full blown popular revolt). Vice-Chair of the party (which has recently adopted a system of multiple vice-chairs and a more collective form of leadership) Baburam Bhattarai stated that there is “no alternative” to a Maoist-led government. He said that if this does not happen, it will be impossible to move forward with the peace process and the drafting of a new constitution. However, he also stressed that the formation of such a government will be impossible unless President Yadav is “corrected” for blocking the previous Maoist-led government’s move to fire General Katawal, head of the army, which the Maoists have described as unconstitutional and anti-people, and which led to them resigning from government.

It’s worth going into this seemingly simple demand a bit deeper. Since the President blocked the firing back in April this year, General Katawal has actually retired anyway and been replaced by someone else. The Maoists have so far been hazy on the details of how this action by the President can concretely be “corrected”, although they have been consistent in raising the demand that the issues of civilian supremacy this decision raised be debated in the house. So far the government has refused to allow such a debate to take place, and the Maoists have taken to the streets and prevented the sitting of parliament with increasingly militant rhetoric under the general slogan of “civilian supremacy”. Since Katawal has already resigned, the Maoists are obviously not calling for their original move to be carried out – the results it sought have already been achieved. So the question is, why the focus on President Yadav? Why the constant return to this issue? I don’t have any definitive answers, but perhaps the Maoists are using this as part of their strategy to convince the masses that change cannot be achieved solely through the halls of parliament. By focusing on this event, where the President went beyond his mandate to block a move by a democratically elected civilian government that the army disagreed with, the Maoists are trying to convince the masses that under the current form of government and form of society that exists in Nepal, “civilian supremacy” will not be possible. Revolutions do not take place when the leaders of a party just make theoretical demands for “the dictatorship of the proletariat” etc. They happen when a concrete, practical set of demands is put forward which the masses identify with and see for themselves cannot be achieved without revolution. In Russia it was “land, bread, peace”, and in Nepal it may be “civilian supremacy”. Considering the abuses the Nepali people have suffered at the hands of the military, this is a demand with real significance to them.

Maoist supporters lean to have a closer look as Prachanda arrives at a rally in Kathmandu on Friday, September 11, 2009.

Bhattarai referred to the President’s move in his speech as a “coup”, and said that the “People’s movement will intensify if the regression is not corrected.” He also condemned the governments moves to import weapons from India, a move he denounced as being against the peace process. He also made some interesting remarks about freedom of the press, saying that “”the press is free when journalists control the press, however, such is not the condition in Nepal.” This is in contrast to the widely held view in the capitalist West that a privately owned press is a free one, as compared to a state controlled and therefore unfree press. Bhattarai is saying that a press owned by wealthy corporations and individuals is not free, as it’s content is determined by and reflects the class interests of it’s owners.

Similar comments were made by Prachanda in a widely reported speech to a Maoist mass gathering on Saturday. Telegraph Nepal wrote that “Prachanda has said that the stage is set for the Maoists’ led uprising to come to an end,” and reported him as saying that “We are marching along cautiously to bring an end to the Peoples’ Revolution, the stage is set for the final showdown… People are less hopeful that the Constitution will be drafted on time, it is the wish of the people that forced us to take to the streets”.

Kantipur Online reported on the same speech, claiming that Prachanda said “it is high time for a decisive revolution… “Several revolutions done in the past have only resulted in compromise due to the status quoits ideology of some leaders… The protests this time around will successfully conclude the people-oriented revolution.”

Nepalnews also published an article on the speech, writing that Prachanda said the time is ripe for “new communist revolution”. The UCPN (M) Chairman reportedly warned the ruling feudalist and bourgeois parties that the current protest movement the Maoists are leading could turn into a “decisive communist revolution if the parties tried to block the country’s political transformation.” Prachanda went on to say that the Maoists “will create a storm of revolt,” and the current agitation is just a “prelude” to this.

Chairman Prachanda

Bhattarai made two other speeches worth taking a look at. During a press conference, he reportedly echoed Prachanda and said that the current protest movement is merely “a preliminary exercise towards yet another revolt.” The Maoist leader stated “this is just the rehearsal of the blizzard that awaits the country”, and claimed “the incumbent government is in a mood to impose war on us, we want things settle amicably, however, they want just the otherwise… they want to declare emergency and rule the country ad infinitum”.

In a seperate speech given to a Maoist mass gathering, he slammed the leaders of Nepal’s parliament as “criminals”, accusing President Yadav of being the “new avatar of [former king] Gyanendra”, and warning that Yadav will have a “fate similar to Gyanendra”.

The Maoists have recently issued the government with a set of 45 demands, in a move echoing the Maoist’s issuing of 40 demands shortly before they launched the People’s War in 1996. So far there do not appear to be any concrete details about what these demands are, but the very fact that they have been issued is significant. In his speech to the mass gathering, Bhattarai reportedly followed his denunciations of President Yadav with a threatening statement reminding the current government that when the Maoist’s original 40 demands were ignored, the People’s War began and the monarchy was destroyed,  and therefore “If they ignore our fresh 45 point demands it is certain that the fate of the parties will be akin to the institution of monarchy.”

He also claimed that the government is “conspiring to dissolve the Constituent Assembly”, which when coupled with the declaration a few days ago by another senior Maoist leader called Gajurel that if the CA was dissolved the Maoist would “capture the state” is a big call to make.

A major political struggle is also beginning in Nepal over how the judiciary will be organised once the constitution is written. The Maoists have successfully sought the support of the Madhesi parties to win a majority vote in a committee set up to put together a document proposing how the judicial system should operate in the New Nepal. In their proposal, My Republic reports that they have put forward “parliament as the final interpreter of the constitution besides also proposing appointment of the chief justice by parliament from outside the judicial service.” Various reactionary parties are aghast at this, claiming that an “independent” judiciary is necessary and that this would open up the judiciary to political manipulation. However, this is a move to ensure democracy. In a nation of extreme poverty very few people are able to attain the education and experience necessary to qualify as a lawyer, let alone a judge, and therefore the judiciary is overwhelmingly made up of people from a privileged, upper class background. By allowing for the elected representatives of the people to appoint (and presumably force from their position) judges, the Maoists are struggling to ensure that the nations laws and the application of these laws will reflect the will and class interests of the working masses, not the privileged few.

I’ve published some reports on the internal struggle taking place in the UML party (a reformist, revisionist CP) over the past few weeks. It should be kept in mind that what knowledge I have of this struggle has been gained through scattered, unclear reports translated into English and filtered through the bourgeois media, but from what I can gather, the struggle appears to be between, on the one hand, a current gathered around party Chairman Khanal and Vice-Chair Gautam, who both are seen as being relatively friendly to the Maoists, and senior party leader Oli, who is closer to the Nepal Congress and bitterly hostile to the Maoists. There has been a round of purges and reorganisations as Khanal tries to undermine Oli’s faction, and there is the possibility of a split.

In this recent news article, Gautam has come out saying that right wing elements have penetrated the UML and are diluting it’s communist ideology (this is kinda old news and has been the case for years, but for the vice Chair of the Party to say it is a big development). Gautam reportedly denied that he is “Maoist friendly”, but made a series of statements which are worth taking note of anyway. Telegraph Nepal wrote in the article that “[Gautam] favoured Communist Unity, saying the new constitution must be a pro-poor one, for which there is the urgent need to unite with the Communists but not with the Rightists.” Gautam was reported as saying that in order to defeat the “Rightist trend” in the UML, an “inner party struggle was necessary to restore pro-proletariat and workers friendly ideology in the party.”

He stated that “continued wrangling between the parties will make sure that the country will not get the Constitution on time, the responsibility for the failure will be that of the UML as it is currently leading the government”, and added that “In that eventuality, the country will be ruled by the Feudal, Rightists and the Imperialists.” He concluded by warning the UML cadres that if the constitution was not drafted on time it would make possible the restoration of the monarchy, and said that the Maoists must be brought back into the “politics of consensus” in order to avoid another civil war.

UML Vice-Chair Bam Dev Gautam

I’m always wary of making too many comparisons between situations today and Russia in 1917, but I’ll make a tentative comparison here. In Russia at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, there was a group called the Socialist Revolutionary Party. It split between it’s left wing elements, the Left SRs, who for a time formed a coalition government with the Bolsheviks and cooperated in the revolution, and the right-wing SRs who joined the White Armies and fought to crush the revolution. The UML is similar in many ways to the SRs – it’s a party with many grassroots cadre who do genuinely believe in socialist revolution, despite the petit-bourgeois nature of its leadership and political line. If the UML splits down Left/Right lines, it would have a big impact on the political landscape in Nepal, and could make the Maoist’s task a whole lot easier. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens.

Last but not least, senior Maoist leader Kiran has been reported as saying his party is fundamentally opposed to the parliamentary system and will ensure that the new constitution does not adopt it. Kiran was quoted as saying “Parliamentary democracy is merely the platform for people to chat… We won’t accept the system and will write the constitution to establish the people’s federal republic instead.” He apparently went on to say that the Maoists will write the constitution by “incorporating the best practices of both the democratic and the communist countries”, and concluded by saying that  “Maoists are for establishing the rights of the oppressed rather than those of the ruling class. Our model of constitution will include revolutionary land reforms, national economic management and state restructuring on the basis of ethnicity with right to self-determination.”

All in all, an eventful and exciting 48 hours. The fiery rhetoric of the Maoist leadership continues, a parallel state has been revived, a set of 45 demands have been presented mirroring the ones on the basis of which the People’s War was launched… Things just keep getting hotter in Nepal.

Prachanda gave a speech at a book launching ceremony yesterday which from all accounts was pretty damn fiery. According to Telegraph Nepal, he stressed that the “The Constituent Assembly and the Peace Process are the offspring of the decade long revolt undertaken by the Maoists’ Party”, and stated that “if the constitution drafting process and the peace process were blocked, there will be yet another fierce revolt.”

The TN article was entitled “Fresh Nepal revolt may take toll of One Million”, a rather suspect move on their part. They obviously lifted a single line from his speech (quoted in the article) in which he noted that a revolutionary seizure of power by the masses would result in many deaths. The way the title is worded implies that Prachanda is callously playing with the lives of people and indeed delights in their possible deaths, but his actual words tell a different story.

What he actually said was “If there is another revolt at least one million people may lose their precious lives”, and therefore “we need to be very careful at this juncture, to stop the casualties”. However, this should not be read as displaying an unwillingness to go ahead with a people’s revolt in the future – he went on to say, according to Telegraph Nepal, that “people want peace not war however, there is the limit to everything, people go at war when their limit of tolerance is broken… when the people revolt they obliterate everything” and that “if the mandate of the Constituent Assembly election is further ridiculed we will declare war”.

Interestingly, TN claims that he also said “this time the war will be a peaceful one.” A strange remark considering how he supposedly also mentioned that the revolt could easily result in a million deaths. Most likely this remark was made with the intention of stressing the Maoist’s commitment to the peace process, and trying to make it harder for the reactionary forces to make out that the UCPN (M) forced their hand if they move against the revolutionaries.

Kantipur Online reported on the same speech, saying that Prachanda blamed current President Yadav and his actions past and present for the “precarious situation”. Apparently he stated that “a land mine from the President’s office has already ambushed the constitution drafting and peace process”.

According to this report, Prachanda said that only under the leadership of him and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) can a constitution be written and the peace process taken to it’s conclusion. He charged the government with “trying to invite a war”, and reminded them that “peace-seeking people will not tolerate any oppression” and “none can prevent people from revolting.”

Some pretty heavy rhetoric! The past few weeks have been red hot in Nepal, and it just keeps getting hotter.

The reports were accurate, and in fact the Maoists now appear to have gone well beyond just forming a “Shadow Cabinet” that mimics the form of the government. If this report is accurate, they have explicitly and openly begun to reform the parallel government and reestablish (openly, it’s naive to think it ever totally stopped) revolutionary participatory democracy throughout the country.

The background to this is the failure of both the Maoist-led government and the current government to set up local administrative councils in Nepal. This marks a clearly identifiable point at which the UCPN (M) and it’s leaders have decided to take an action that does appear (to my admittedly far from expert eye) to be in violation of the peace accords. The peace accords are already in tatters of course, and have been broken several times by the military before this, notably with their recruitment of new soldiers, and therefore nobody can accuse the Maoists of “starting it”, but it’s a very significant development nonetheless.

Things are getting exciting in Nepal!

Maoists to revive parallel Govt Structure: Dr.Bhattarai

// TGW

The Nepal Communist Party-Unified Maoists’ has decided to speedily revive the party’s local parallel government.

The fresh decision taken by the Maoists’ Party is against the broader peace agreement signed between the State and the then Maoists’ rebels, claim sources.

The Unified Maoists’ steering committee meeting held in the party headquarters Kathmandu had decided to revive the parallel structure.

“The process of revival of the local parallel government will be accomplished with the support of the Unified Uprising Committee”, said Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai, the Maoists party vice chairman.

Dr. Bhattarai was of the opinion that since the United Marxist Leninists and the Nepali Congress have ignored the Maoists’ proposal to establish local administration on the basis of the votes garnered by each parties in the proportional voting system, the Maoists’ party have decided to appoint local government on its own.

2009-09-04 08:13:54

An office of the old United People's Revolutionary Council, the original parallel state of the CPN (M)

The exact details of this are not clear as of yet, but it now appears that once agin there are not just two armies in Nepal, but two governments as well. Big development!

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/1191-maoists-form-parallel-govt-.html

Maoists form ‘Shadow Cabinet’

After Deputy Prime-Minister of the country, Mr. Bijaya Kumar Gacchedhar categorically blamed the political parties of Nepal for the failure of the 1990 Constitution, now the Vice chiarman of the Unified Maoists Party, Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai claims that bids were afoot to revive the 1990 Constitution that provided constitutional status to the now sidelined 240 Years old Monarchy.

“How can we expect that those involved in the making of the 1990 Constitution could act well in the making of the new constitution for the country”, Dr. Bhattarai questioned.

Dr. Bhatttarai’s remarks were aimed at the election of Mr. Nilambar Acharya as the Constitution Drafting Committee Head defeating the Maoists candidate Mr. Narayan Kaji Shrestha.

Acharya was the member of the 1990 Constitution Drafting Committee.

Dr. Bhattarai also claimed that conspiracies were on to make the Constituent Assembly a summary failure.

Dr. Bhattarai acknowledged that roots of the now sidelined monarchy are present in each and every village of the country.

He however, stressed that the timely drafting of the new constitution will uproot the remnants of monarchy from the country.

Dr. Bhattarai while predicting future conflict said, “The reactionaries and the status-quoists preferred conflict as per the instructions from their foreign masters.”

Dr. Bhattarai made these remarks at a program organized by the Human Rights’ Concern Forum in Kathmandu, Saturday August 29, 2009.

2009-08-30 09:10:01

http://telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=6154&PHPSESSID=bbe531119dd637adacd09f4c57348779

I just had to post this. It’s the most beautiful, moving thing I’ve read in a long time, and I hope other people can take the same hope and faith in humanity from it as I did. Make sure you check out Kasama were it originally appeared.

Watts: Learning Among the Flames of Revolt

Posted by Mike E on August 29, 2009

Watts Rebellion, August 1965

by Mike Ely

I have  been grappling with theories that blame racism on the privilege of white people. In a post exploring complicity, I asked the question:

“Are people fixed by relative privilege and their specific history, locked into a structure that inexorably commands their minds and loyalties — or can even the deeply complacent  be shaken awake and radically transformed — by both sudden conjunctural events and long-term political work?”

Someone wrote and asked me for an example. There are many examples — perhaps you  have a story to share. For now, here is one. I was sitting with political friends years ago. Different people were describing how they got involved in radical politics.

One brother said he had been a typical, middle-class, unaware teenager living in LA when the 1965 Watts rebellion broke out. His father was an Asian-American minister at an LA community church.

When the rebellion broke out, sections of the city were out of government control  for four intense days and nights. People gathered in crowds to confront and fight the hated police. Fires lit the night sky as people targeted local businesses and expropriated movable goods. It was August, and Watts was the opening of that decade’s long hot summers.

The authorities reached out to non-white ministers (Black, Asian, Mexican…) to go down into the Black community and help calm things down. This teenager insisted on accompanying his father on this mission to Watts — which they both understood would be dangerous.

The two were picked up by an LAPD squad car — the cops rode in front, and the  Asian father-and-son team sat in the back. Once in Watts, the plan was to find an area where black youth were gathering, and for the minister to step out and talk with them, to calm them down and disperse them. However they hadn’t gotten far into the Black community when, at one street corner, they were suddenly surrounded by black youth. The cop car couldn’t proceed. The crowd closed in and grew as people seemed to come out of everywhere.

Dozens of hands grabbed onto the cop car and started rocking it. People were grabbing onto the car doors and trying to wrench them open. Sitting in the back the minister and his son looked at each other, truly afraid of what would come next.

Suddenly the doors were wrenched open. Hands reached in and grabbed them, pulling them out of the cop car into the street. And in joyous voices, the crowd started shouting, “You are free! You are free, brothers!”

At that moment, for the communist telling this story, a young teenage Asian man from the middle classes suddenly realized what had really been going on in Watts, and what side he belonged on.

Well, surprise surprise, leading figures in the reactionary Nepal Army have come out with a clear statement saying they will not allow army integration to happen. A major part of the peace accords between the Nepali state and the Maoists was the integration of the People’s Liberation Army and the reactionary army. The Maoist’s intention with doing this is to “democratise” the Nepal Army, and “professionalise” the PLA. This is a bold proposal that carries both great dangers and great potential benefits – if the Nepal Army is flooded with passionate, commited revolutionary fighters it will at the very least make it extremely difficult for the military to move against the Maoist Party and could conceivably split the army or take it over entirely. History shows that the army of a reactionary state tends to split during a time of revolutionary crisis.

The state is a structure set up with one purpose – oppression. Whether covert or overt, the state’s role is to maintain, uphold and defend the power and privilige of the ruling class and keep the exploited classes from challenging this. The state is fundamentally made up of bodies of armed men -  the military, the police, the courts, the prisons, the immigration services and so on. If the army, probably the key component of the state, is politicised or at least neutralised, this deals a serious blow to the security of the ruling class. This is why the commanders of the Nepal Army and the rich minority whose interests it serves are so strongly opposed to army integration.

Army-Militia Integration Impossible: Nepal Army Official

// TGW

One of the high ranking officers of the Nepal Army has said that the Maoists’ Militia integration into the Nepal Army was an impossible proposition.

Addressing a seminar in Kathmandu, Thursday August 27, 2009, Lt. General Pawan Jung Pandey, Chief of the Directorate of the Military Intelligence of the Nepal Army had made these remarks.

“The Nepal Army will not accept the South African model of Army Integration”, said General Pandey adding, “The image of the South African Army is at the lowest because of the integration with the rebels.”

Similarly, Retd Lt. General Chitra Bahadur Gurung told point blank that the Nepal Army even do not want to listen to the talk of integration with the maoist militias.

Gurung’s fiery remark came in reply to the idea raised by Barsa Man Pun alias Ananta, in-charge of the Maoists’ party Military wing, that Nepal should adopt the South African model  to carry out the integration between the State and the rebel armies.

Said Gurung, the entire world was behind Nelson Mandela while the integration process was being carried out there whereas Nepali situation stands at an entirely different plane.

Revealed the Peace Minister, Rakam Chemjong, addressing the program that the government will soon oust the four thousand disqualified militias from the cantonments. Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat told that in case the integration takes place, the country will not get the constitution.

The seminar was organized by Nepal Policy Study Center.

2009-08-28 09:04:06

http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=6137

Well, the UN Mssion in Nepal is denying it gave the PLA fighters permission to leave the cantonments, and has instead called them a breach of the peace accords. The Maoists have claimed and as far as I’m aware continue to claim they had the UNMIN’s permission to leave the cantonments, so the situation’s obviously a tad messy.

Meanwhile Prachanda has expressed “bewilderment” over the issue.

Chairman Dahal said some parties are concocting plots to drive the Maoists out of the peace process.

Claiming the detention of Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Kapilvastu with weapons being an example of the conspiracy, Dahal argued that the UN body said nothing when he was travelling from the east in a vehicle belonging to the cantonment.

“I don’t understood where the gap is this time around?” Dahal expressed his bewilderment at the UNMIN’s criticism of the Kapilvastu incident.

A deputy commander in the PLA called Shakti has also come out with a statement on the incident. “We had gone out of the camps as per the party’s order. We’re told to escort Prachanda, who arrived in Nepalgunj yesterday. Later, the plan was changed. We left Bhalubang once we came to know that our chairman has left for the capital by flight.”

The Chief of the PLA, Pasang, has said that the arrests indicate  a “conspiracy of the reactionaries to provoke the PLA and invite confrontation.”

The Nepal Congress party has condemned the incident, and alleged that it reveals the incompetence of the UNMIN, a more and more commonly heard refrain in Nepal.

Prachanda faces down the Indian bull, while the army commander and President Yadav prepare to murder the infant republic

In the past few days I’ve mentioned a UML leader called Khanal, currently Chairman of the party. The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), a revisionist group, is currently going through major internal turmoil that may lead to a split. Khanal is seen by many as being friendlier towards the Maoists than the other big name in the UML, a man named Oli, who is seen as being more friendly towards India than Khanal. The Prime Minister of Nepal’s precarious government coalition, Madhav Nepal, is also from the UML, but has recieved little mention in the reports of these struggles.

Now Khanal has come out with some sensational statements. He claims that Indian officials advised him last week to “take repressive measures against the Maoists”, telling him “we are ready to supply weapons, you go ahead with the plan”. Khanal went on to say that “they have been advising leaders of other parties to take repressive measures against the Maoists”. Khanal said he “did not accept their advice”.

It’s commonly held that India was behind the collapse of the Maoist-led government. Nepal is extremely vulnerable to Indian pressure, and has for a very long time essentially been under the control of India. The hand of Indian interference can be seen throughout Nepal’s history right back into the early and mid 20th century. Nepal’s people are intensely nationalistic, and this nationalism has in recent years in particular taken on a very anti-Indian tone.

A major political issue in Nepal recently has been whether or not the government should accept India’s offer to resume selling heavily subsidised weapons to Nepal for it’s army, police and armed police force. India stopped these sales in 2005 when the King dissolved parliament. The Maoists oppose this move, various reactionary forces are pushing for it.

If India is pushing the political parties in Nepal to move against the Maoists, it’s a serious threat. Threats are flying every which way in Nepal atm, with Nepal Congress leader Koirala responding to Prachanda’s talk of revolt by saying that the “Nepal Army could come forward if the President was atatcked”.

India has it’s own problems that are influencing these moves. The People’s War in India, led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist), continues to grow in strength, and a “red corridor” of Maoist influence and activity extends from northeast India right down into the deep south. The Nepali and Indian Maoists are fraternal organisations, both belonging the Co-ordinating Committee of Maoist Parties of South Asia (CCOMPOSA). A succesful seizure of state power by the masses in Nepal, led by the Maoists, would have groundshaking impact on the region and indeed the world, and India is not too keen on the idea of anyone hoisting red flags just across it’s northern border.

Threats of revolt are flying, PLA fighters have been caught outside of the cantonments, use of the Nepal Army is being threatened, and India is urging the reactionary political parties to crush the Maoists. Things are heating up like nothing else.

India advised me to crush Nepal Maoist: Khanal

// TGW

Jhala Nath Khanal, the Chairman of the United Marxist Leninists Party, in an interaction with a select group of journalists, August 24, 2009, revealed that the Indian High officials had advised him to take stringent actions against the Unified Maoists’ Party, if they don’t behave.

“The Indian high officials virtually see the Maoists’ as the main obstacle to the peace process”, Khanal quoted the Indian officials adding “They advised us to take repressive measures against the Maoists”.

“We are ready to supply weapons, you go ahead with the plan”, Khanal quoted the Indian officials as saying.

Khanal in his meet with the UML tilted Journalists on Monday also said that the advice came when he met the Indian officials last week. However, Khanal did not name those Indian high officials whom he met and where?

Chairman Khanal added, “They have been also advising leaders of other political parties to take repressive measures against the Maoists.”

“I did not accept their advise”, Khanal clarified.

Mr. Khanal added that it was only the UML that can pressurize the Maoists to change…the UML has been doing all possible to bring the Maoists on the right track.

The UML General Secretary Mr. Ishwor Pokharel was also present at the interaction with the journalists.

2009-08-25 08:36:27

http://telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=6111