Red Heretic
21st September 2005, 02:13
19 September 2005. A World to Win News Service. Nepalese news media reported
recently that the Indian border security police, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB),
closed the Nepal-India border near Bardiya district indefinitely except for one
border opening that joins Rajapur and Katharaniyaghat in India. The Bardiya district
in western Nepal is one of the gateways to the liberated zone.
The stated reason for this border closing is to stop the trafficking of illegal
exports and imports. Since exposure has just come out about the involvement of three
ministers of King Gyanendra Shah’s cabinet in a fertiliser scam recently, using
illegal business dealings as a pretext for closing the border makes no sense. What
would make sense is if this closure of the Indian border is aimed at building a
pretext for military intervention against Nepal.
The Indian government closed the frontier unilaterally, without even informing the
Nepalese authorities. Nepalese news reports quoted Deputy Superintendent of Police
Bharat Pradhan in the district, who said, “The Indian authorities have not given us
any information regarding this.” This is yet another Indian state violation of the
so-called Indo-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950. Once again, it has been
shown that this treaty has nothing to do with peace and friendship but only with the
interests of the reactionary Indian state. But the action gives reason to wonder
whether India might be trying to build a case that the Maoist-led revolution has
turned Nepal into a “failed state”.
The unilateral cease-fire by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has put the
imperialists and Indian expansionists in an extremely difficult situation, in which
they may be examining military intervention options in order to safeguard the dying
feudal monarchy in Nepal. Of course the reactionaries never cared whether
monarchical Nepal was a failed state during many decades of semi-feudal,
semi-colonial rule. But now Nepalese media have reported that the UN has been
working secretly with the US and India to “solve” Nepal’s revolutionary civil war.
“In an exclusive interview with BBC Nepali Service on Wednesday, deputy executive
director of UNICEF [Kul Chandra] Gautam disclosed that Lakhder Brahimi, special
advisor to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is currently holding discussions
with India and the US with a view to mobilise their support to resolve the Nepal
conflict,” wrote Nepalnews on 15 September.
The official position of the US is that Maoist revolutionaries should not be allowed
to seize political power at any cost. The Indian regime’s official line is that
Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system are two pillars of
democracy. These two pillars that the imperialist and expansionist forces seek to
shore up are what the many-million strong Nepali revolutionary movement seeks to
overthrow.
Contrary to the wishes of the reactionaries at home and aboard, the Communist Party
of Nepal (Maoist) has been mobilising the Nepalese people not only to defend the
sovereign rights of the people but also to make revolution to ensure victory. The
Royal Army, which has suffered several major defeats, is continuing to conduct
atrocities in the countryside. Within ten days of the ceasefire, the Royal Army
arrested and killed or “disappeared” more than three dozen people, including local
Maoist cadre, a Maoist trade union leader and a number of school children.
Taking advantage of the ceasefire proclaimed by the CPN(M), the Royal Army has also
begun trying to reach into areas under revolutionary rule by the people in western,
central and eastern Nepal where they have not been able to penetrate for a long
time. For instance, the Royal Army attacked Dhuseni village in Ilam district,
eastern Nepal. Since the RNA failed to heed the People’s Liberation Army warning to
turn back, the PLA counterattacked. The RNA retreated. A similar incident occurred
in Atlampa, also in Ilam district. On 10 September CPN(M) Chairman Prachanda
repeated an earlier warning that the Maoists were prepared to call off the ceasefire
and return to the offensive “at any time” if forced to by Royal Army aggression.
In another reactionary tactic, the Royal Army has mobilised some hooligans and sent
them out to steal from the people in the name of donations for the Maoists. On 9
September revolutionaries in Kathmandu arrested two youths who had falsely extorted
quite a lot of money from people in the name of the Maoists. The Royal Army itself
looted passengers of 14 buses at Sagarnagchock of Sarlahi district, eastern Nepal in
the name of the Maoists.
In another development, on 14 September the People’s Liberation Army released 60
Royal Army soldiers captured as the prisoners of war during the assault on the RNA’s
Pili base camp in Kalikot last month. The RNA men were handed over to the
representatives of the International Red Cross at a programme organised by the party
in Jajarkot district, western Nepal.
- end item-
recently that the Indian border security police, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB),
closed the Nepal-India border near Bardiya district indefinitely except for one
border opening that joins Rajapur and Katharaniyaghat in India. The Bardiya district
in western Nepal is one of the gateways to the liberated zone.
The stated reason for this border closing is to stop the trafficking of illegal
exports and imports. Since exposure has just come out about the involvement of three
ministers of King Gyanendra Shah’s cabinet in a fertiliser scam recently, using
illegal business dealings as a pretext for closing the border makes no sense. What
would make sense is if this closure of the Indian border is aimed at building a
pretext for military intervention against Nepal.
The Indian government closed the frontier unilaterally, without even informing the
Nepalese authorities. Nepalese news reports quoted Deputy Superintendent of Police
Bharat Pradhan in the district, who said, “The Indian authorities have not given us
any information regarding this.” This is yet another Indian state violation of the
so-called Indo-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950. Once again, it has been
shown that this treaty has nothing to do with peace and friendship but only with the
interests of the reactionary Indian state. But the action gives reason to wonder
whether India might be trying to build a case that the Maoist-led revolution has
turned Nepal into a “failed state”.
The unilateral cease-fire by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has put the
imperialists and Indian expansionists in an extremely difficult situation, in which
they may be examining military intervention options in order to safeguard the dying
feudal monarchy in Nepal. Of course the reactionaries never cared whether
monarchical Nepal was a failed state during many decades of semi-feudal,
semi-colonial rule. But now Nepalese media have reported that the UN has been
working secretly with the US and India to “solve” Nepal’s revolutionary civil war.
“In an exclusive interview with BBC Nepali Service on Wednesday, deputy executive
director of UNICEF [Kul Chandra] Gautam disclosed that Lakhder Brahimi, special
advisor to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is currently holding discussions
with India and the US with a view to mobilise their support to resolve the Nepal
conflict,” wrote Nepalnews on 15 September.
The official position of the US is that Maoist revolutionaries should not be allowed
to seize political power at any cost. The Indian regime’s official line is that
Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system are two pillars of
democracy. These two pillars that the imperialist and expansionist forces seek to
shore up are what the many-million strong Nepali revolutionary movement seeks to
overthrow.
Contrary to the wishes of the reactionaries at home and aboard, the Communist Party
of Nepal (Maoist) has been mobilising the Nepalese people not only to defend the
sovereign rights of the people but also to make revolution to ensure victory. The
Royal Army, which has suffered several major defeats, is continuing to conduct
atrocities in the countryside. Within ten days of the ceasefire, the Royal Army
arrested and killed or “disappeared” more than three dozen people, including local
Maoist cadre, a Maoist trade union leader and a number of school children.
Taking advantage of the ceasefire proclaimed by the CPN(M), the Royal Army has also
begun trying to reach into areas under revolutionary rule by the people in western,
central and eastern Nepal where they have not been able to penetrate for a long
time. For instance, the Royal Army attacked Dhuseni village in Ilam district,
eastern Nepal. Since the RNA failed to heed the People’s Liberation Army warning to
turn back, the PLA counterattacked. The RNA retreated. A similar incident occurred
in Atlampa, also in Ilam district. On 10 September CPN(M) Chairman Prachanda
repeated an earlier warning that the Maoists were prepared to call off the ceasefire
and return to the offensive “at any time” if forced to by Royal Army aggression.
In another reactionary tactic, the Royal Army has mobilised some hooligans and sent
them out to steal from the people in the name of donations for the Maoists. On 9
September revolutionaries in Kathmandu arrested two youths who had falsely extorted
quite a lot of money from people in the name of the Maoists. The Royal Army itself
looted passengers of 14 buses at Sagarnagchock of Sarlahi district, eastern Nepal in
the name of the Maoists.
In another development, on 14 September the People’s Liberation Army released 60
Royal Army soldiers captured as the prisoners of war during the assault on the RNA’s
Pili base camp in Kalikot last month. The RNA men were handed over to the
representatives of the International Red Cross at a programme organised by the party
in Jajarkot district, western Nepal.
- end item-