Photos from the Revolution in Nepal

[Red Heretic]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2005/12/03/wnepal03.jpg

[WUOrevolt]

http://rwor.org/photos/25years/25years-images/17.jpg

This one below is of Royal Amry of Nepal

http://www.kurakani.tk/upload/rte/captArmy.jpg

[Chicom]

rebels
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1510000/images/_1513133_rebels300.jpg
http://www.thestar.com/images/thestar/img/040509_nepal_rebels_250.jpg
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/17/nepal.rebel.attack/nepal1802.jpg
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40761000/jpg/_40761576_maofeat.jpg
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1005000/images/_1005482_communist300.jpg
-------
http://www.kurakani.tk/upload/rte/nepprotestor4x251.jpg
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2003/09/15/wnepal15.jpeg


Chairman prachanda
http://www.nepalnews.com/ntimes/issue141/images/prachanda.jpg
bookstore
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1970000/images/_1974612_mao_ap_150.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/790000/images/_791927_graffiti150.jpg

" We will win, not just in Nepal, but around the world, no matter what happened to Maoism in China " ~ Comrade Bijaya, Maoist commander

[WUOrevolt]

http://rwor.org/i/nepal/squad2.jpg

http://www.samarmagazine.org/images/16/onesto/N-02_R1.jpg

http://www.usfca.edu/~casten/images/commies.jpeg

[WUOrevolt]

These were from the protests the day after elections in Nepal (not all Maoists).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/1.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/2.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/3.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/4.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/5.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/6.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_demonstration_in_nepal/img/7.jpg

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

...

[Chicom]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3c/Nepal_maoist_valley.jpg/220px-Nepal_maoist_valley.jpg
communist controlled area

[which doctor]

This is a very good flash slideshow & narration. about the maoist revolution done by National Gepgraphic. It is unbiased, but you may sense some pro-maoist elements in it.

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/051...multimedia.html (http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0511/feature3/multimedia.html)

[Red Heretic]

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/2844/39516573rally203ap2qj.jpg

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1489/41079204nepal2203crap6qg.jpg

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/5907/janasarkargosana9qs.jpg

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/4720/khatmandumassrally20thjune2003.jpg

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5750/singhdarbargherao2ee.jpg

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/3658/r23011802780va.jpg

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/123/prachanda33hj.jpg

http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/3204/prachanda4sw.gif

[Enragé]

though i have my doubts *big understatement* about maoists in general, i still hope they win

great pics

[Red Heretic]

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3190/nepal30yz.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8158/nepal47ev.jpg

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/2893/nepal68jh.jpg

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/7800/nepal119ad.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3017/nepal121bi.jpg

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/8779/nepal143ir.jpg


EDIT NOTE: The RCP, Canada's site has gone down, so I have replaced the image links from their site to imageshack, but I am missing 4 of the photos unfortunately (they weren't saved on my comp)..

[Red Heretic]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9996/422220431l0ex.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3836/182006310rs.jpg

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/2497/39965274nepalmaoistsbody12oh.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/1433/1435064reblesap3007yj.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6919/captkat10301121408nepalprotest.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4063/captkat10401121415nepalprotest.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2715/captsgebbs50160106180845photo0.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7117/culturepro1nr.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9352/maoistsnepal27gg.jpg

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1954/maoistsnepal49kn.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/6830/maoistsnepal51mn.jpg

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1042/maoistsnepal60ld.jpg

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2319/maoistsnepal1ci.jpg

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/508/maoistspla3tt.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7213/massmeeting9fs.jpg

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/8922/n05r22sg.jpg

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/1843/nepal28yq.jpg

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3389/nepalese1xk.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/3408/np00080en.jpg

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/9921/pla3yb.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/6904/post411160488199bz.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1551/publicmeeting5ew.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/5176/rolpawomeng7jt.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/7703/singhdarbargherao7kq.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/2593/singinglarge3le.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9492/maoist38rj.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2453/maoistyouthnepal4kn.jpg

Chairman Prachanda (chairman of the communist party of nepal, maoist):
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/605/20060208093901016ja.jpg

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/1444/prachanda28iz.gif

Baburam Bhattarai (head of the Magarat revolutionary government):
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/2933/200306200082061037kc.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7812/baburammaois7hb.jpg

World Wide Solidarity with the Revolution in Nepal (and Turkey) in Berlin:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2230/berlinmay0110rj.jpg

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/709/may102berlin2ph.jpg

World Wide Solidarity with the Revolution in Nepal in Latin America:
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/4513/500052784l8cp.jpg

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/5148/nepalmural1te.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/3515/rim9zh.jpg (the RIM is the world wide union of revolutionary Maoist parties around the world, led by the Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist, and also include the Communist Party of India, Maoist, and the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA)

[Red Heretic]

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/5052/welcometoleaders011gb.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/5526/womenfighter3vu.jpg

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8383/womenguerrillas5aw.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8568/demoktm9zy.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6169/e7c3238ee8568d0nr.jpg

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7521/katmandu2ndapril20045sd.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4204/gatheringrolpa8nz.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1240/guerilla6ml.jpg

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/9317/guerillas4uj.jpg

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/5936/katmandu2ndapril200428tl.jpg

[WUOrevolt]

Red Heretic, its weird that in one picture you posted a guy is wearing a U.S. Army shirt.

[Red Heretic]

Hahaha, yes, I noticed that too. That was one of the photos taken by the RCP, Canada kids who went to visit Nepal. I considered not posting it, but I thought it would be bad to discriminate in which photos I posted.

I suspect the peasant either...

A. Has no idea what his shirt says...

or

B. Doesn't care because he is too poor to afford any clothing.


The US army commonly distributes "free tshirts" in the countries they occupy. That kind of shirt is rampant in the Phillipines for example.

[Red Heretic]

WUOrevolt, would you mind editting out you duplicate photos for the sake of the cleanliness of this thread?

[LoneRed]

great pics comrades. :)

[TC]

a. Most of the civilian protestors in those photos look like they're actually liberal 'pro-democracy' activists from the Nepali Congress Party. Thats what the red and white flag with the four stars is for. They generally oppose the Maoists and want them to disarm but i believe they've somewhat accepted them since the Nepali Communist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist) allied with the Maoists against the monarchy.

b. The kids shirt isn't US army or US airforce its US Army Air Forces, which was a brance of the US military that only existed during the 40s, when they were allied with Soviet Union and Mao's People's Liberation Army...neither the name or the insignia were used during anti-communist wars. So its not inconceivable that he understood the politics of it and didn't find it objectionable (its obviously a retro thing, not printed by the US government).

[WUOrevolt]

Originally posted by Red [email protected] 7 2006, 01:16 AM
WUOrevolt, would you mind editting out you duplicate photos for the sake of the cleanliness of this thread?
I dont know how to, I would, but I seriously dont know how to do that.

[somebodywhowantedtoleaveandnotcomeback]

Originally posted by WUOrevolt+Mar 7 2006, 01:15 AM--> (WUOrevolt @ Mar 7 2006, 01:15 AM)
Red [email protected] 7 2006, 01:16 AM
WUOrevolt, would you mind editting out you duplicate photos for the sake of the cleanliness of this thread?
I dont know how to, I would, but I seriously dont know how to do that. [/b]
For now, just edit 2 of those posts (press the "edit" button between the "report" and "quote" buttons, in the top right corner of your post) and remove the links to the images. Someone (Red Heretic ?) asked an admin to delete your triple posts, but it hasn't been done yet ;)

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2006, 10:41 PM
a. Most of the civilian protestors in those photos look like they're actually liberal 'pro-democracy' activists from the Nepali Congress Party. Thats what the red and white flag with the four stars is for. They generally oppose the Maoists and want them to disarm but i believe they've somewhat accepted them since the Nepali Communist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist) allied with the Maoists against the monarchy.
Many of them are hoisting the flag of the seven-arty alliance in the photos, but from what I can tell, the vast majority of them are hoisting the red flag with the white-hammer sickle which is a symbol of the CPNM and the Revolution. In fact, nearly all of the red banners are Maoist too.

It wasn't just the UML that allied with the Maoists, but rather the entire seven-party alliance, which united under the leadership of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The Nepal Congress Party will remain a progressive force throughout the entire transition of the New Democratic Revolution in Nepal, until the the revolution enters the socialist stage. China too had a new democratic revolution, in which the bourgeoisie played a minor positive role, until it entered into the stage of socialist revolution. That is what is happening in Nepal right now.

[cbm989]

Those are some awesome pictures. Love the one with the banner hanging with the "long live marxism. down with imperialism" etc. good stuff

[WUOrevolt]

http://www.jondabomb.com/email/photos/maoists.jpg

http://www.ehponline.org/members/2004/112-3/moaists.jpg

[WUOrevolt]

Rebel Love!

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/07/04/200_nepal.jpg

[Red Heretic]

shit!! that rocks WUO!

[Red Heretic]

More photos, yo:

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/8211/nepali0mw.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/5467/nepali23nf.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1838/nepali30rb.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/7173/nepali41vy.jpg

http://img472.imageshack.us/img472/4457/nepali53mc.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9621/nepali65xq.jpg

[Goatse]

What kind of rifles are they using? Most of them are bolt-action... are they old guns?

[Red Heretic]

Lee-Enfield Combat Rifles, American rifles from WW2. They're actually really good rifles. Powerful.

They've also got M16's.

[Red Heretic]

http://hrw.org/photos/2005/nepal/images/nepal_0301_0343.jpg

http://hrw.org/photos/2005/nepal/images/nepal_0301_0313.jpg

http://hrw.org/photos/2005/nepal/images/napal_0301_0357.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/5041/14ta.jpg

Maoist Volleyball:

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/6696/851.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9073/844.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/3057/843.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/1383/827.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9923/819.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/6274/817.jpg

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/9623/799.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/3413/captsgengg80210206050559photo0.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8361/nepal20mk.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/7138/npmaofact0206a4kb.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9244/r2250554875zz.jpg

Celebration photo's from the 10th anniversary of the start of the revolution:

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/7467/r11990789154al.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/2600/r15119305108ud.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/6658/r16341518140sr.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/4078/r21752112358rz.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8238/r24946189080mg.jpg

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/32/r41240016704zm.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://static.flickr.com/55/107268350_a9224fd80a.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/46/107267681_cd60ccfb87.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/37/107268048_6dca84a48c.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/43/107267755_90d58411ce.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/39/107267589_2621507fdf.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/13/images/2006021306091201.jpg

[Goatse]

Originally posted by Red [email protected] 11 2006, 06:54 AM
Lee-Enfield Combat Rifles, American rifles from WW2. They're actually really good rifles. Powerful.

They've also got M16's.
Lee-Enfields are British, aren't they? :huh:

And won't they all be in museums now? How come they're still using them?

[Simon]

Yes they are British, many weapons of world war2 still got used in many countries.... mostly in poor countries, like congo etc...


On this photo you see a mp44 (German machine gun) and a lot of other weapons that were used during ww2...

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1586/m445cc.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=m445cc.jpg)

greetz
simon

[Goatse]

Yeah the MP44 is sometimes considered the first ever assault rifle...

But really, if they've still got them in working condition, how come someone hasn't bought them for museums? An MP44 woulld probably be worth two AK-47s.

[Body Count]

^^^ I'm not sure what you're getting at really.

I mean, I don't even know if they display guns in museums (Unless they are really famous ones or something like "Heres Napoleons Pistol", and even if they did, I doubt that anyone is going to be going to these war torn countries to by 60 year old weapons in bulk.

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 12 2006, 10:24 AM
Lee-Enfields are British, aren't they? :huh:

Errr... that's right. Got mixed up.

[Red Heretic]

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/3189/20040219nep002detail7zd.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8860/20040420nep1700detail1hb.jpg

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/7226/20040421nep1870detail9yi.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7681/20040428nep008detail7cs.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9038/20040429nep2689detail7om.jpg

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/9295/20051215nep0457detail3iq.jpg

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/2473/20060121nep2620detail6az.jpg

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/1707/20050624nep055detail5gp.jpg

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/9631/20050624nep058detail5zi.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41112000/jpg/_41112791_maoistrally.jpg

[cbm989]

These are so amazing. Can someone maybe explain the situation going on? Im not very knowledgable in international movements.

[violencia.Proletariat]

Originally posted by Red [email protected] 11 2006, 02:54 AM
Lee-Enfield Combat Rifles, American rifles from WW2. They're actually really good rifles. Powerful.

They've also got M16's.
Although America did make a version of the Enfield, those are the real British versions if I'm not mistaken. Although I have seen pictures of the maoists with American M1 garand rifles, and M 14's too.

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 16 2006, 10:15 PM
These are so amazing. Can someone maybe explain the situation going on? Im not very knowledgable in international movements.
Sure comrade! Nepal is a semi-feudal country, and the third poorest country in the world. In the past, it has had bourgeois democracy, but that was crushed by the fascistic king they have there. The king also murdered his own brother to become king, and has ordered his army to engage in the rape and pillaging of villages that support the revolution (or sometimes just accused of supporting it, to send a message to the other, more armed revolutionary villages).

The people of Nepal are engaged in Protracted People's War, being led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The Communist Party of Nepal has been leading this revolution for 10 years, and last year, it entered the stage of strategic offensive (the military stage where the revolutionary army is stronger than that of the enemy). The people of Nepal are following a new revolutionary strategy called Prachanda Path (being put forward by their chairman, Prachanda).

The new revolutionary strategy advocates surrounding the cities from then countryside, and then simultaneously launching insurrection from within the cities, to create an all encompassing revolution that reaches all of the ranks of both the peasantry and the proletariat.

Currently, the People's Liberation Army controls 80-90% of the countryside. Three days ago, the People's Liberation Army surrounded the capital, and there are plans to launch an indefinate nation-wide general strike (which will hopefully eventually become an insurrection) on April 3rd.

Also, some other cool facts:

The People's Liberation Army has the highest known ratio of female members of any guerilla army (about 30 to 40%).

The revolution has smashed the caste system to pieces.

The revolution in Nepal is being fought in correlation with the Maoist revolution in India. They hope to control a siginificant portion of India within the next 5 years, and also hope to spread the revolution to the Phillipines, and the rest of the world. Among these countries, they have talked of creating a united South Asian Soviet Federation.

[Red Heretic]

http://blog.com.np/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/anti_price_hike_anti_monarchy06.jpg

http://blog.com.np/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/protesting_for_madhav_nepal_03.jpg

[emokid08]

They are very inspiring, not to mention uplifting to see the masses, actually mobilising for thier liberation. A rare sight in bourgeosie US corporate capitalist congolmarate media. which is what I'm used to.

I was beginning to doubt that people actually rallied around MLMism. Could you balme me with some of the rhetoric gushed out of some of the members here?

The pix remind me of a quote- - -
"women hold up half the sky"
-Mao

Today, I stand up with the peasants of Nepal and proclaim:
Hold high the great RED banner of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism :hammer:
Victory to the people!
Long live the People's War & Panchanda Path!

loved the pix, they were enlightening!

[Red Heretic]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/wfsf/high/2006/02.16/images/high1627101.JPG

[The Living Red]

Aww, that last one is cute. Fantastic pix, very inspiring.

You were talking about their guns...does anyone where they get these arms from? Who or what are their main supplier(s)?

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

agreed that last picture is amazing

the girl looks so aged through hardship

[Enragé]

Originally posted by Red Heretic+Mar 17 2006, 05:37 PM--> (Red Heretic @ Mar 17 2006, 05:37 PM)
[email protected] 16 2006, 10:15 PM
These are so amazing. Can someone maybe explain the situation going on? Im not very knowledgable in international movements.
Sure comrade! Nepal is a semi-feudal country, and the third poorest country in the world. In the past, it has had bourgeois democracy, but that was crushed by the fascistic king they have there. The king also murdered his own brother to become king, and has ordered his army to engage in the rape and pillaging of villages that support the revolution (or sometimes just accused of supporting it, to send a message to the other, more armed revolutionary villages).

The people of Nepal are engaged in Protracted People's War, being led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The Communist Party of Nepal has been leading this revolution for 10 years, and last year, it entered the stage of strategic offensive (the military stage where the revolutionary army is stronger than that of the enemy). The people of Nepal are following a new revolutionary strategy called Prachanda Path (being put forward by their chairman, Prachanda).

The new revolutionary strategy advocates surrounding the cities from then countryside, and then simultaneously launching insurrection from within the cities, to create an all encompassing revolution that reaches all of the ranks of both the peasantry and the proletariat.

Currently, the People's Liberation Army controls 80-90% of the countryside. Three days ago, the People's Liberation Army surrounded the capital, and there are plans to launch an indefinate nation-wide general strike (which will hopefully eventually become an insurrection) on April 3rd.

Also, some other cool facts:

The People's Liberation Army has the highest known ratio of female members of any guerilla army (about 30 to 40%).

The revolution has smashed the caste system to pieces.

The revolution in Nepal is being fought in correlation with the Maoist revolution in India. They hope to control a siginificant portion of India within the next 5 years, and also hope to spread the revolution to the Phillipines, and the rest of the world. Among these countries, they have talked of creating a united South Asian Soviet Federation. [/b]
sounds nice

how about demoracy among the maoists/in maoist controlled communities?

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by The Living [email protected] 23 2006, 05:52 PM
You were talking about their guns...does anyone where they get these arms from? Who or what are their main supplier(s)?
All of thier weapons are acquired through Chairman Mao's revolutionary strategy of Protracted People's War...

In other words, they began the revolution with a handful of muskets, and slowly by attacking the weaknesses of the enemy, have siezed the majority of the state's arms... most of which come from the USA and India. So I guess you could make the arguement that the USA is the main supplier of the revolution! :lol:

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24 2006, 12:52 AM
sounds nice

how about demoracy among the maoists/in maoist controlled communities?
The people of Nepal have an excellent form of democracy. Currently, there is already an established socialist republic in the West called the Magarat Autonomous Republic, which is self-governing from the rest of Nepal (because the nationality that resides here was historically oppressed by the majority ethnicitiy in Nepal, so the Communist Party of Nepal gave them their own self-governing republic.)

In Magarat, they have Peasant's Associations where the peasants democratically make the economic decisions of the country. In Magarat, the revolutionary democracy has progressed further than the rest of the country. The majority of the rest of the country is controlled by the revolution, but it hasn't entered into the socialist economic stage yet.

Chairman Prachanda has also outlined a program to allow for multi-party competition inside of a proletarian controlled democracy (with a strictly socialist constitution), as well as the formation of democratic workers' and peasants' comittees throughout the entire country within the next five years.

[Enragé]

sounds pretty cool

got any articles on this...which arent like from the maoist party themselves? (but something more impartial you know)

[Red Heretic]

Sure! Here's an article by an Australian who visited Nepal and did volunteer work in support of the revolution:


[b]NEPAL: Building a New Road in Rolpa

Benjamin Ball, Kathmandu

Since King Gyanendra seized direct power in February 2005, the Nepalese security forces have arrested hundreds of political leaders, trade unionists, student activists, journalists, and human rights defenders.

More journalists are currently incarcerated in Nepal, often without trial, than anywhere else in the world. So it is not surprising that the Maoist-led insurgency in Nepal, which on February 13 celebrated its 10th year, has attracted such little international attention, and the information — or disinformation — that has sieved through to the mainstream media is framed within the diatribe of terrorism.

Nepal's civil war is frequently depicted as a struggle between hardline insurgents and a legitimate state power, but, as Baburam Bhattarai, a top leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), observed in his 2005 book Monarchy Vs. Democracy: The Epic Fight in Nepal, “the real fight in Nepal is not between 'democracy' and 'terrorism', but between completion of the democratic revolution and restoration of monarchical autocracy”.

The celebrated constitution that ushered in a parliamentary system in 1990 was effectively a rubber stamp for continued royal domination. Drafted by a committee nominated by the king, rather than an elected constituent assembly, the king retained command of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA), and reserved the right to dissolve parliament, a measure that has since been taken.

The parliamentary process was from the outset a quagmire of chaos and corruption, with 14 governments in 16 years, none of them able to effect change. It was in this context that the CPN(M) broke away from the Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal), and declared its intention to lead the Nepalese people to take up an armed struggle.

Since then the armed struggle has created a parallel, revolutionary state, with its own army of more than 10,000 men and women equipped with thousands of captured weapons, and its own law and culture. This new state, which is divided into autonomous republics governed by ethnic minorities, is in a life-and-death struggle with the old state of the Nepalese monarchy and its class allies.

The CPN(M)'s liberated base areas now extend over 80% of the national territory, including most rural areas which are home to 85% of the Nepalese people.

Last November, I travelled to the Autonomous Republic of Margarat in the district of Rolpa, to work with the local people and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on the construction of a road through the region. While there I spoke with local peasants, PLA soldiers, members of mass organisations and party cadre, and was able to witness first hand not only what is being destroyed in Nepal, but also — and more importantly — what is being constructed in its place.

The road will traverse 91 kilometres of mountainous terrain to open trade between several small villages that hitherto have been connected by a foot-track. Nepal only has 8000km of roads suitable for motor vehicles. Consequently, distances are measured in the number of hours or days it takes to walk, and the majority of Nepalese are cut off from health facilities, schools, and national trade, despite astronomical amounts of foreign aid that peaked in 2001 to around one-third of the national budget.

By the time of my visit, 80,000 people had been mobilised to volunteer their labour on the road project, and, without machinery, they had enthusiastically dug and carved 35% of the road's total length.

Party cadre point out that such remarkable progress has been made possible by the political awakening of millions of people. “The masses are the base for the people's war”, I am told. “Unless they are politically conscious and actively participating in the revolutionary process, our program will fail.”

More than two million women participate in the All-Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary), which is spearheading many of the drastic changes that are taking place in Nepalese society, mobilising women and men alike around the issues of women's liberation.

Historically, women have had no land or voting rights, may live for up to 13 years less than the average Nepalese man, and have been trafficked to India as prized prostitutes from ages as young as 10. It is estimated that up to 300,000 Nepalese women and girls currently work abroad as prostitutes.

The Maoists' popular support is founded on their proven ability to lead the people in making radical, practical and much needed changes. Historically, the land has not provided enough food for subsistence, and men have had to migrate seasonally or indefinitely to cities in search of work.

Land reform on the basis of “land to the tiller”, the implementation of new agricultural techniques and the creation of people's communes has made agriculture sustainable, and “cottage industries” such as cloth and bag making have sprouted from the extra time created through distribution of labour.

The diffuse presence of solar panels has brought green-power to homes. People can now charge torches and radios, to listen to one of the party's seven radio stations that broadcast programs in many of Nepal's 100-odd ethnic languages.

The official language, Nepalese, is spoken and enforced by the upper caste Hindu elite, who prohibit the use of minority languages in any official capacity, including education. Literacy rates are less than 50% nationally; much less in rural areas and among women. This is being tackled in the liberated areas by the creation of “model schools” that teach mother languages, as well as Nepalese and English, within a curriculum based on the needs of the people, as well as the establishment of adult literacy classes.

A key component in this development is the PLA. Soldiers must seed, plough, dig, sing, dance, teach, learn, and, of course, fight. “Our weapon is our ideology”, I was told. “We are a thinking army.” Their remarkable success in the past ten years has certainly not been through military clout: they began with two rifles, only one of them worked. Forty percent of PLA soldiers are women, 80% are party members, and all of them are volunteers.

In practice, a “thinking army” means that everybody knows whom they are fighting for, and why. They are fighting for the people, and so, they are fighting for themselves.

The CPN(M) defends the right of the working people to use revolutionary violence, so long as lasting peace cannot be reached through political means. What they are fighting for is the abolition of the monarchy, the election of a constituent assembly, the creation of a republic with a multi-party democracy, and the institutionalised right to dissent.

On the occasions that the Maoists have entered into negotiations with the monarchy, it has refused to accede to these democratic demands and instead insisted on limited amendments to the flawed 1990 constitution.

Last November 21, the seven major parliamentary parties aligned themselves with the CPN(M)'s forces on the basis of a 12-point common program, which aims to reinstate parliamentary democracy under a new constitution.

While making formal criticisms of King Gyanendra's suppression of basic liberties, the Western powers continue to support his regime — claiming that the monarchy is a source of “stability” in Nepal. King Gyanendra's regime receives millions of dollars of military support every year from the US, India, Britain and China.

It is commonly stated that 13,000 people have been killed in the civil war, but it is rarely clarified that of these deaths, 10,000 have been at the hands of the RNA and police. Many people are killed in fake “encounters” in which dozens of “Maoists” are killed, but no weapons are captured.

The CPN(M) vows to abide by the Geneva conventions out of “revolutionary principle”, however human rights groups have voiced concerns over some Maoist tactics. These must be monitored, however, in practice. The CPN(M) is not exclusivist on ethnic or religious terms, not anti-education or anti- development.



From Green Left Weekly, March 1, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

and here's another. (http://www.pcr-rcpcanada.org/nepal/report.pdf)

[Enragé]

very interesting!

inspiring even

just hope it doesnt go the way of china

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25 2006, 03:55 PM
very interesting!

inspiring even

just hope it doesnt go the way of china
As in the capitalist coup in China led by the revisionist Deng Xaioping, or do you not support Chinese socialism (from 1949-1976)?

[Enragé]

both actually

Sure some good things undoubtedly happened

but China under Mao was basicly one big Mao-cult, lots of people died, those who thought differently were first encouraged to speak (let a thousand flowers blossom) and then persecuted for what they said, and Mao had lots of stupid ideas. (such as the furnaces for iron in the backyard)

[sisne]

recent pictures from nepal

[sisne]

recent pictures from nepal2

[sisne]

recent pictures from nepal3

[sisne]

recent pictures from nepal4

[sisne]

recent pictures from nepal5

[sisne]

recent pictures from nepal6
details and more pictures:
http://www.blog.com.np/united-we-blog/2006...ttack/#more-299 (http://www.blog.com.np/united-we-blog/2006/03/29/live-from-the-war-zone-thokarpa-aerial-attack/#more-299)

[sisne]

This child’s father and mother are Maoist guerillas who are posted at Lokesh Memorial Brigade that is fighting in the Seti-Mahakali Autonomous Region (far western Nepal).

[Fidelbrand]

Baburam Bhattarai looks tiny bit like Lenin.

[Ultra-Violence]

Great pix all of you guys im seriously regardless what i think about the maoist ideology i really hope these people can triumph. These people are truly fighting a Peoples war *tear just imagine what the rest of the world will look like when the workers UNITE! ....... seruosily these pix made me wanna cry see people fighiting side bye side uhhhhh......

VIVA LA REVUlUCION! :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer: :hammer:

*tears........

[sisne]

some more pictures

[sisne]

road construction in western nepal

[sisne]

march

[sisne]

march2

[sisne]

cultural wing

[sisne]

one of the early pictures of the maoists, probabaly from 1999-2000, listening to the political commisar

[sisne]

maoist leader agni prasad sapkota and his body guard

[sisne]

training in the western nepal

[sisne]

salvo

[sisne]

sentry1

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sentry2

[sisne]

east-west highway blockade in western nepal

[sisne]

in western nepal

[sisne]

also in western nepal

[sisne]

camaraderie

[sisne]

a maoist guerilla

[sisne]

with an ak 47

[sisne]

women guerillas in the bazzar with ak 47s

[sisne]

a formation

[sisne]

Prachanda(in dark dark goggles) in Rolpa, baburam is to the left of him

[sisne]

guarding people's gathering

[sisne]

playing carom during ceasefire

[Red Heretic]

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/7576/cocap59rz.jpg

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/1413/cocap68eq.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/1906/mg68811jg.jpg

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/5535/mg69468sr.jpg

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/8753/mg67819cw.jpg

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/8367/cocap104xi.jpg

Beaten by Royal Nepal Army pigs:

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/8269/mg65864vi.jpg

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/738/41545244nepfive2bx.jpg

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/8567/cocap132fn.jpg

JOURNALISTS beaten by RNA pigs:

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/4150/fnj16mw.jpg

http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/8361/fnj21qh.jpg

[Red Heretic]

CPNM and SPA rally for the disabled:

http://img458.imageshack.us/img458/5922/disableprotest3bx.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/7195/patan019yr.jpg

http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/9549/patan049oh.jpg

http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/2619/patan082ov.jpg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/9154/patan092vl.jpg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/8136/patan105ct.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1729/22ng.jpg

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/8295/34li.jpg

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/480/113yz.jpg

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/8369/128ju.jpg

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1520/178hv.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/3031/47ti.jpg

http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/7232/74wr1.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/9204/insp196hp.jpg

http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/1579/insp155tm.jpg

http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/2672/insp14mm.jpg

http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/6186/insp26ue.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://www.newslinenepal.com/uploaded/images/special%20photo%20edit.jpg

http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/4316/ktmmovement7jt.jpg

[Red Heretic]

http://66.116.151.85/wp-content/Beni2006april.jpg

[Ariev]

Originally posted by Red [email protected] 11 2006, 07:06 AM
Lee-Enfield Combat Rifles, American rifles from WW2. They're actually really good rifles. Powerful.

They've also got M16's.
...And some Ak's and G3's.

But how can they fight with ww2 guns? lee-enfield is used since 1895! Unless the police uses the same, they're underpowered.

[Xiao Banfa]

What does SPA stand for?

[Goatse]

Self Propelled Artillery...

[Red Heretic]

:lol:

It stands for Seven Party Alliance.

Just so you know, the red flag with the hammer & sickle is for the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the red and white striped flag with the red stars is for the Seven Party Alliance..

[Red Heretic]

http://66.116.151.85/wp-content/knifedancebymaoistarmy.jpg

[RNK]

It's funny how many WW2-era weapons are in Nepal. Enfields, Brens...

[Red Heretic]

New photos!

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9112/1564591798af8303721m3mf.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/720/1564591803792f779e5m7wg.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2564/15645918123169f8a43m4fj.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9219/15645918542407cc5abm5xs.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9449/1564591916b2bf6f540m0so.jpg

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/374/1564591921a8e015eabm6wr.jpg

[Marukusu]

It's funny how many WW2-era weapons are in Nepal. Enfields, Brens...

Old weapons still kill... on some of the early pics in this thread, some guerillas used flintlock rifles!

Now that's fucking hardcore!!! :D

Solidarity with our nepalese revolutionary comrades! Hasta la victoria siempre!

[RebelOutcast]

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/8753/mg67819cw.jpg

I have to say massive kudos to the photographer that took this!
It almost looks like the shield says "armed violence" and the shotgun muzzle flash is pretty cool, and hard to capture.

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

Red Heretic are those photos from the recent demonstrations in the capital?

[The Living Red]

Red Heretic are those photos from the recent demonstrations in the capital?

They look like it. The recent Maoist-led protests have been much more disciplined, than the pro-democracy riots earlier this year. There were also cultural demostrations, such as martial arts, so the Maoists can show their diverse range of support.

[The Grey Blur]

*cough*

Indeed

[The Living Red]

*cough*

*pats Permanent Revolution on back*


Indeed

What are you implying?

[The Grey Blur]

That the Maoists are indeed the leaders of this great revolution!

*nervously moves about as LivingRed pokes him with bayonet*

Oh and Bob Avakian is really cool and sexy

[RevMARKSman]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2006, 10:05 AM

http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/8753/mg67819cw.jpg

I have to say massive kudos to the photographer that took this!
It almost looks like the shield says "armed violence" and the shotgun muzzle flash is pretty cool, and hard to capture.
It actually says "armed police." Oh well.

[GoaRedStar]

Another bourgeois revolution big deal.

We have had many of those before. <_<

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2006, 03:22 PM
Red Heretic are those photos from the recent demonstrations in the capital?
They sure are&#33; :D

Here&#39;s a couple more:

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/140/a7ap.png

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5361/a11ko.png

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 6 2006, 12:29 AM
Another bourgeois revolution big deal.

We have had many of those before. <_<

You wanna try to back that point?

The New Democratic stage of the revolution is merely a stage of the proletarian revolution which lays the foundations for the proletarian vanguard party to launch socialist revolution (see China).

[The Living Red]

*nervously moves about as LivingRed pokes him with bayonet*


Oh dear. <_< Too far.

PR, if you have a problem with something I have posted, do go ahead and say so. If not, please take your attempts at cynicism elsewhere.

And by the way, you seem to be simply assuming I&#39;m a Maoist, because I made a vaguely pro-Maoist statement. If this is the case, you are mistaken.


Bob Avakian is really cool and sexy

Agreed ;)

[sisne]

Maoist Mass Meeting Pictures from www. samudaya.org

[sisne]

pic 2

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p3

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p4

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p4

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p5

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p6

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p7

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p8

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p9

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p10

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from www.parewa.com

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[sisne]

From http://www.blog.com.np/

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pics from other sources:

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[sisne]

From www.blog.com.np:
------------------------------
Stories of Horror: From Nepal’s Abu Ghrahib-I
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nepal brings out shocking stories of torturer, killings and human rights abuses from Bhairabnath Batallion, [Royal] Nepal Army’s counterpart to Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghrahib.
(This is the first part. The report continues in next blog)
[UWB Warning: Hold your breath before actually starting to read this horrific detail of torture and abuse.]

Introduction This is a report of OHCHR’s investigations into the arrest, detention, torture and continuing disappearance of individuals arrested by the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA, now the Nepalese Army) and held in Maharajgunj barracks in Kathmandu in 2003 on suspicion of being linked to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M). Most of the hundreds of individuals who were arrested by the RNA in 2003 and detained for varying periods in Maharajgunj barracks were subjected to severe and prolonged ill-treatment and torture, with a principal role played by the Bhairabnath battalion.

Witnesses describe several occasions between approximately February and April 2004 in which they were marched from the Hall and the Garage to what is described as a ‘bunker’, a fifteen or twenty-minute walk from the main detention area. …..Orders to remain absolutely silent were strictly enforced with severe beatings. Handcuffs and blindfolds were tightened. Food was scarce. The Bunker area was described as a low depression in the ground.

To date, OHCHR has confirmed the identity of 49 individuals who were in the custody of Bhairabnath battalion between September and December 2003 but who remain disappeared. OHCHR’s continuing investigation suggests that the actual number in this category is significantly higher. The Government of Nepal has denied any knowledge of their fate or whereabouts. Their names are among those currently listed as unresolved disappearance cases maintained by various agencies, including the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).

The Bhairabnath battalion acknowledges responsibility for the arrest and detention of 137 people during the period concerned and claims that these individuals were released or transferred after short periods of detention. However, absent from this list are at least forty-nine individuals known to OHCHR to have been held in the custody of the Bhairabnath or Yuddha Bhairab battalions.



The OHCHR rejects the RNA’s denial of responsibility on the basis of consistent, credible and corroborated testimony of victims and witnesses that these people were last seen in their custody in Maharajgunj. OHCHR initiated investigations into these serious allegations soon after it set up its office in Nepal in May 2005. It did so after dozens of relatives lodged complaints at its office. After preliminary investigations, OHCHR sent a formal letter of inquiry to the RNA Human Rights Cell on 19 August 2005 requesting that the RNA clarify 19 cases of disappearances which had also been publicly reported at the time. Despite repeated reminders, to date, no response has been received from the RNA. OHCHR has conducted more than fifty interviews with the families of the disappeared, with former detainees and with other witnesses and informants regarding their detention and torture.

OHCHR teams visited Bhairabnath and Yuddha Bhairab battalions on three occasions. It obtained an official list of all people held in detention at the army barracks since 2003. While these lists are relatively complete with regard to individuals who were held in unacknowledged detention during in 2003 and who were later acknowledged to be in RNA detention, transferred into custody elsewhere or released, at least 49 people do not appear on the list and continue to be disappeared. These names are listed in Annex A to this report along with details of their arrests.

Background

The disappearances documented in this report occurred in 2003 following the breakdown of the second of three ceasefires in force during the 10-year-old armed conflict in Nepal. This bilateral ceasefire lasted from 29 January to 27 August 2003. Just before the start of the ceasefire, the CPN-M had killed Armed Police Force (APF) Inspector General Krishna Mohan Shrestha and his wife on 26 January 2003 while they were on a morning walk in the Patan area of the capital, Kathmandu.

The Inspector General is the most senior police or APF officer killed by the CPN-M to date. The ceasefire collapsed partly as a result of the massacre of 17 CPN-M members and two other civilians in Doramba, Ramechap District, on 17 August 2003. On 28 August 2003, Colonel (Col.) Kiran Bahadur Basnet was assassinated in his Kathmandu residence by two masked gunmen. He is one of the highest-ranking RNA officers to have been killed in the conflict.

In the months following the end of the ceasefire, violence increased sharply throughout the country, resulting in over 500 deaths within several weeks and the declaration of bandhs (‘general strikes’) and curfews in many districts by the CPN-M. The CPN-M conducted a number of operations in urban areas, including targeted attacks by small cells. The RNA conducted operations in remote areas, including the Maoist stronghold in Rolpa District. There was heightened international concern regarding increasing violations of international humanitarian law by the CPN-M as well as about increasing reports of unacknowledged detention, torture and ill-treatment by the RNA. By December 2003, on the occasion of a visit by then US Assistant Secretary of State, Christina Rocca, in which she expressed concern regarding alleged human rights abuses, RNA spokesperson Col. Deepak Gurung admitted excesses and stated that 17 soldiers had been jailed or suspended for abuses.

The pattern of RNA activity in the Kathmandu Valley during this period of escalating violence and violations of international humanitarian and human rights law demonstrates a concerted RNA operation to eliminate the CPN-M operational capacity in Kathmandu. Those arrested included, in particular, members of the All Nepal National Free Student Union (Revolutionary) (ANNFSU-R), the student wing of the CPN-M which had been declared illegal by the Government in 2002. They also included individuals not involved any violent activity or without any CPN-M affiliation. According to OHCHR’s findings to date, the 10th Brigade’s Bhairabnath battalion played a central role in this operation, including the arrest, detention and interrogation of CPN-M suspects.

This report focuses on Bhairabnath battalion operations from September through December 2003, at that time under the command of the then Lieutenant Colonel Raju Basnet, brother of assassinated Col. Kiran Basnet.

Arbitrary Arrest and Secret Detention

Hundreds of individuals were arrested in the Kathmandu Valley and held in unacknowledged detention by the Bhairabnath battalion and by the Yuddha Bhairab battalion in Maharajgunj between September and December 2003, and thereafter. These two battalions, together with the Mahabir battalion, form part of the RNA 10th Brigade, headquartered at Balaju, Kathmandu. They shared the Maharajgunj army camp while the Mahabir battalion was based in Chhauni army camp, as they still are today.

In spite of national and international norms governing detentions of suspected insurgents, including in times of internal armed conflict, these hundreds of detentions were consistently denied by the RNA. National and international appeals for information and clarification were ignored. Detainees were hidden from inspection. The fundamental guarantee of judicial control over detentions was denied. The only official documentation available regarding any of these detentions was prepared when some of the detainees were eventually transferred to civilian custody following habeas corpus proceedings, mainly in 2005. According to at least ten relatives of the disappeared interviewed by OHCHR, when they heard about the arrests, they made inquiries with state authorities, including the RNA, the Nepal Police, APF, and Home Ministry.

Many filed habeas corpus petitions and visited various RNA barracks following clues wherever they could be found. They received no official information. One father searched continuously for his three sons, all student members of ANNISU-R, after they were arrested from public places in Kathmandu by individuals in plain clothes between August and December 2003. He immediately informed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Amnesty International, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and local non-governmental organisations after their disappearance and filed habeas corpus petitions. The detention of one of his sons, Birendra Basnet, was finally acknowledged by the RNA after 19 months of secret detention in June 2005. He was released under a Supreme Court order in December 2005. The father’s efforts to find the other two sons, Pushpa and Dhirendra Basnet, have proven fruitless to date.

Multiple witness testimony gathered by OHCHR confirms that all three sons were arrested and detained by the Bhairabnath or Yuddha Bhairab battalions. According to former detainees, officers of the NHRC and the ICRC first visited Maharajgunj in early 2004. During this period, the RNA successfully hid detainees from detection within the Maharajgunj barracks. In one instance, in spite of a notice from the Supreme Court requesting that the NHRC investigate the disappearance of one of many ANNFSU-R student leaders arrested, Krishna KC, the RNA denied the NHRC entry into the barracks on 31 May 2004. NHRC access was finally granted by the RNA on 1 July 2004, when three detainees were identified and interviewed.

OHCHR has confirmed that many others were hidden from the NHRC at this time. Dozens of those held by both battalions during this period were eventually released due to decisions of the Supreme Court in habeas corpus proceedings. A typical case was that of Krishna KC. He was arrested in September 2003 and held in secret detention for 17 months by the Bhairabnath battalion before the RNA finally acknowledged he was in their custody, falsely claiming that he had been arrested on 14 February 2005 in Gorkha. Following a third habeas corpus petition filed by his family, the Supreme Court found that the Government was unable to offer any legal grounds for continuing the detention of Krishna KC. Notwithstanding this decision, immediately upon his release on 22 September 2005 by order of the Supreme Court, Krishna KC was re-arrested on the steps of the apex court by the security forces.

The detention of many other ANNFSU-R members who, like Krishna KC, were arrested and detained by the Bhairabnath battalion, has never been acknowledged by the RNA. Among those OHCHR has concluded were alive and under control of Bhairabnath or Yuddha Bhairab battalions until at least 20 December 2003 are Gyanendra Tripathi, Kaushalya Pokharel and her brother, Arjun Pokharel, Rebakala Tiwari and her husband, Bhawanath Dhamala. In addition to students, many labourers, trade union members, intellectuals, and teachers, were also subject to arbitrary detention and torture and the deliberate denial of judicial supervision.

In some cases, former detainees were simply released, and many of these feature on the Bhairabnath battalion’s list of eventually acknowledged detentions. Some of those released attribute their survival to a combination of three factors: a decision by the RNA regarding their innocence; political and family connections; and domestic and international attention. For instance, Amnesty International issued dozens of urgent appeals on behalf of the detainees thought to have been held in the custody of the Bhairabnath battalion during this period. Many of those on whose behalf these appeals were sent were subsequently released or transferred into civilian custody. Some of these individuals, despite threats against their lives, later gave public accounts of what happened during their unacknowledged detention and torture while held in Maharajgunj barracks.

OHCHR has confirmed through independent testimony that these individuals were indeed arrested and detained by the Bhairabnath battalion. Released individuals received direct threats from the RNA upon their release, as well as the obligation imposed by Bhairabnath battalion that they report every one to four weeks at different locations to battalion members in civilian clothes. Former detainees have been told that they would be killed if they revealed any information about their detention to anyone, particularly human rights organisations. OHCHR is monitoring their ongoing security given these direct threats to their lives and holds the RNA directly responsible for any violations of their physical and psychological integrity.

Improvised Detention Facilities In Maharajgunj RNA Barracks

The Bhairabnath and Yuddha Bhairab battalion barracks in Maharajgunj occupy a large area dominated by a central palace dating from the Rana period in Nepal, now used as RNA offices. Most of the forty-nine detainees listed in Annex ‘A’ were kept by the Bhairabnath battalion in the southwest corner of this compound. The rest of the compound, located to the north and northeast of the Rana palace, was used by the members of these battalions for food storage, accommodation and training.

The Inquiry Tents

On arrival at the Maharajgunj barracks, some detainees were kept temporarily in tents located in a large area directly north of the main entrance to the barracks, under the control of the Bhairabnath battalion. This temporary accommodation was usually followed by longer-term detention in a converted garage (the ‘Garage’) or in a converted squash court (the ‘Hall’). Some detainees would later be transferred from the Garage to the Hall. There was regular movement of new and old detainees in this detention area throughout the period from September through December 2003.

All of these facilities were within fifty metres of the main street. Detainees, continuously blindfolded and handcuffed, could hear the daily sound of traffic and the shouts of bus conductors (‘kalashi’). One recalled peeking from his blindfold at the neon “Himalaya” bank sign towering above the walled barracks compound from the opposite side of the street to the west. All of the witnesses interviewed separately by OHCHR described without any inconsistencies the relative orientation and the use made of these improvised detention places. OHCHR visited the Bhairabnath barracks twice in 2005 and confirmed the location of the squash court (the ‘Hall’) as described by witnesses.

As shown in the diagram in Annex B, the Hall was a large rectangular space with an adjacent toilet and a nearby 500-litre black water tank located at that time within several metres of the Hall, but since removed. The toilet consisted of a broken urinal bowl and a single hole, both of which were located next to a small room also used by a single detainee during one period. The water tank was mounted on a concrete stand with a broken, unused tap at the front. Detainees reached into the tank with a water jug through an opening in the top in order to wash their faces.

The Garage was a rectangular space adjacent to the opposite or east end of the Hall and consisted of a high zinc roof mounted on metal poles with three brick walls, one improvised canvas wall, and a concrete floor. To the south of these three places, several tents of three different sizes were erected and used for temporary detention and inquiry. Next to these tents and to the Hall, a large brass, two-handled container was sunk into the ground and filled with filthy water. This was used for torture and was also an open urinal used by the guards at night. Detainees also consistently recall hearing the sounds of a temple in daily use located southeast of the Hall, in proximity to the inquiry tents. OHCHR confirmed the presence of a Hindu temple in this location. Below follows a more detailed description of the places where the detainees were held.

Mass Detention Area

Some detainees, both men and women, were held in an open area on a surface covered in stones and pieces of glass, with a tin roof held up by metal poles. This area appears to have been separate from the other detention areas described below (the Garage and the Hall). Neither mattresses nor bedding were provided to many of these detainees. Many were forced to sleep only in their underclothes while permanently blindfolded and handcuffed. This large area was backed by an old brick wall and divided into repeated sections of twenty to forty detainees separated by canvas dividers.

When detainees wished to use the single available toilet, some would have to walk blindfolded across a distance of fifty to seventy metres, feeling their way against a long wall but frequently bumping into or accidentally stepping upon fellow detainees. Guards tended to laugh on such occasions. Some of those kept in this area were transferred later to the places described below, without further contact with prisoners from the mass detention area. Others spent their entire detention period in this area. Five or more women were held in this area, some of whom have not been seen alive since 2003, including Nirmala Bhandari and a reported girl younger than 16 whose name has not been confirmed.

The Garage

The Garage was divided into separate sections for male and female detainees by a vertically suspended heavy canvas stretched out across the length of the Garage. Approximately 30 male detainees slept with their heads at the canvas, making it easy to overhear conversations on either side and to communicate from time to time. These detainees exited the Garage through a door in the southwest corner and walked along the outer length of the Hall, blindfolded, in order to use the shared single toilet adjacent to the Hall. It was during this trip to the toilet that detainees from both the Hall and the Garage, as well as other detainees from nearby tents, could have chance encounters and exchange information quickly through whispers.

Some of the detainees held in the Garage were transferred to the Hall in early December 2003, to be removed days later as part of a large group of detainees who remain on the current list of unresolved disappearance cases. Three other former detainees in the Garage, who were seen in custody at Maharajgunj after December 2003, probably died while in custody due to torture (see below). Of eight women who shared one side of the Garage at this time, only four have been seen alive after December 2003. Those who remain disappeared are Kaushalya Pokhrel, Rebkala Tiwari, Durga Bisenke and Renuka Dulal.

The Hall

Witness testimony regarding the period from September to December 2003 consistently refers to a high, rectangular building, with red brick exterior, white interior walls in one single room with a narrow balcony at one end, ventilation windows near a high roof on all sides, and a single narrow exit at one end leading to an outer narrow passageway. The passageway had a staircase to the balcony at one end and an exit at the other end, through which access to the toilet was possible. The adjacent toilet could hold only one person at a time, for which there were regular and long queues. In 2005, OHCHR confirmed the existence of this squash court inside Maharajgunj army camp. According to consistent testimony, from September to mid-December 2003, approximately 70 detainees were being kept in the Hall.

In order to accommodate these numbers and to minimize the chances of communication, detainees were placed with their head and feet in alternating directions. From late November to mid-December 2003, four key detainees occupied the only cots (camp beds) used in the Hall, positioned in the four corners of the Hall: Krishna KC and Himal Sharma, the principal ANNISU-R student leaders, and Bhim Giri and Nischal Nakarmi, students involved in other aspects of CPN-M activity. Their position on cots allowed guards to watch them more closely but also gave these individuals a view, when they risked peeking beneath their blindfolds, of all detainees who came and went. Other detainees also could peek from beneath their blindfolds with relative ease, but at risk of beatings.

The Hall was used for detainees considered by the RNA to be influential members of the CPN-M. They were guarded around the clock by two to four guards on four-hour rotations positioned on an upper balcony of the kind originally designed for the viewing of squash games. At a later stage, in early 2004, a camera was installed to monitor the detainees more closely.

Also located in the Hall, and uniformly described as suffering severe torture, were subordinates of these captured Maoist leaders, as well as intellectuals and labourers who supported the CPN-M in varying ways, members of Maoist-affiliated trade unions, and persons with no apparent involvement with the CPN-M. At least 40 individuals were removed from the Hall in late December 2003, including some individuals transferred several days earlier from the Garage. Those remaining in the Hall after this date recall that they each then had a significantly expanded area to occupy. Over the ensuing weeks, most of those formerly located in the Garage had been transported to the Hall.

The Bunker

Witnesses describe several occasions between approximately February and April 2004 in which they were marched from the Hall and the Garage to what is described as a ‘bunker’, a fifteen or twenty-minute walk from the main detention area. The transfer took place each time at about 3am and detainees were kept there often for an entire day, after which they were returned to the Hall. Orders to remain absolutely silent were strictly enforced with severe beatings. Handcuffs and blindfolds were tightened. Food was scarce. The Bunker area was described as a low depression in the ground. There were speculations that this place was used to hide detainees during visits by the ICRC and later on by the NHRC. Added to this speculation was the fact that the detainees were made to clean up the Hall and take all their belongings when being transferred to this Bunker.

High Security Tents

By April 2004, detainees in the Hall had been moved to tents of varying sizes in a high security area within Maharajgunj at the back of the Yuddha Bhairab facilities, referred to by some former detainees as the ‘PTS’ area due to its proximity to the Parachute Training School. The witnesses describe a large grassy area with a growth of banana trees boxed in by a traditional large white building of Rana architecture. In 2005, OHCHR visited Maharajgunj and confirmed an area fitting this description. In this area, control over movement and communication was strictly enforced while in other respects the treatment improved, especially with more regular medical care. Some speculated that this new detention area was intended to more permanently hide the detainees from visits from outsiders, including the ICRC and the NHRC.

Sivapuri Army Camp (under the command of the Yuddha Bhairab battalion)

In mid-January 2005, approximately 18 detainees were loaded in a truck and taken from the Maharajgunj high security tents to an army camp in Sivapuri forest under the command of the Yuddha Bhairab battalion. Some individuals were left behind, including Kiran Rayamaji, who was extremely ill with an infected eye. He remains disappeared. The others journeyed to a relatively high altitude in Sivapuri forest to a residential compound with a central courtyard and adjoining rooms. This was their last collective detention place before they were eventually transferred to official facilities in acknowledged detention.

(The report continues in next blog)

[sisne]

Stories of Horror: From Nepal’s Abu Ghrahib-II
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nepal brings out shocking stories of torturer, killings and human rights abuses from Bhairabnath Batallion, [Royal] Nepal Army’s counterpart to Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghrahib.
(This is the second part. Here is the first part.
[UWB Warning: Hold your breath before actually starting to read this horrific detail of torture and abuse.]

“They would shove my head underwater maybe twenty or twenty-five times, asking me questions. Sometimes I would become unconscious. Sometimes they would punch me in the stomach when I was underwater or give me electric shocks when they pulled my up. I would feel the shock in my whole body and lose consciousness. One time I asked to urinate. They did not take me to the toilet. They took me to another spot and told me to piss. Below, I could see an electric heater coil.”

-A detainee tortured inside the army barrack

The following report focuses on conditions of detention and allegations of torture during the period from September to December 2003.

Torture and ill-treatment

Torture and ill-treatment of detainees during interrogation at Maharajgunj barracks was routine and systematic, with a special team carrying out the tasks of torture and interrogation. Witness testimony describes a pattern of severe torture during the early days and weeks of an individual’s detention, which extended as long as the RNA believed that the victim could provide useful information. Such torture was also applied later in 2004 in order to induce some detainees to renounce their allegiance to the CPN-M. In addition to this systematic and deliberate torture, former detainees describe how they were subjected to “informal” or “unofficial” torture consisting of regular beatings given either arbitrarily on a whim, sometimes under the influence of alcohol or hashish, or as punishment for disobedience.

This section focuses primarily although not exclusively, on the experience of torture for those held in the Hall, rather than the Garage, since most of the disappeared were held in the Hall, and would have been subjected to such treatment. “Formal” torture “Formal” torture is the term used by detainees to refer to the deliberate and systematic torture to which they were subjected during interrogation. OHCHR has documented a sufficient number of cases to conclude that a significant number of detainees were subjected to various methods of torture, including beating with plastic pipes on the lower back, legs, and soles of the feet, submersion in water (‘submarino’), and electric shocks, during the period from September to December 2003.

In almost all cases, victims of this torture, including women, were made first to remove their clothing, and were subjected to continuous abusive and degrading language. In addition, there were acts of torture involving sexual humiliation of both male and female detainees. A detainee could be a victim of such treatment only once, or repeatedly during several months, sometimes more than once per day. Medical assistance was regularly provided to victims, including intravenous saline drips often following loss of consciousness. Formal torture began with the removal of a detainee from his or her place of detention. This usually occurred at night between 6pm and 10pm.



In the Hall, detainees would hear the single door open, followed by the sound of a voice ordering that whoever is taken should not speak. At other times, particularly in the Garage, a guard would approach the targeted detainee, get his attention with a kick or jab usually with a black plastic pipe, and escort the detainee out of the room. When guards approached in this way, detainees knew they were being taken for a period of interrogation and likely torture in the area of the Inquiry Tents. Those who were not selected at any given moment were subjected on a nightly basis, usually from 6pm to 10pm, to the repeated sound of screaming and pleas as four to five new and old detainees were being tortured in or just outside of the nearby Inquiry Tents.

Sometimes torture and interrogation occurred with groups of two or more detainees present. One former detainee in the Hall recalled that the screaming and the torture would reach a peak and then, “suddenly the sound stopped. Fainting. Unconscious. When we heard that, we were very troubled.” Another former detainee described his constant shaking as he lay handcuffed behind his back and blindfolded in the Hall, forced to listen to what he had already experienced and could anticipate might happen again to him. When the anonymous new victim was returned to the Hall, the detainees quickly learned his or her identity through whispered communication, but often they had been able to identify the person from the sound of his voice shouting or screaming from the area of the Inquiry Tents.

As a result of this daily routine, most of the detainees experienced depression in addition to fluctuating levels of fear, believing that they would eventually be killed. One detainee described a typical torture session: “My hands were tied. I was naked. They asked if I knew about certain killings. ‘Were you there? Did you help anyone? If you don’t say the truth’, they told me, ‘we have SLRs [self-loading rifles]. After a half hour you will go to heaven.’ Two persons, one on my arms, another on my legs, took me and drowned [submerged] me, for half an hour, in the water pond. It was dirty water. Then they pulled me out and asked questions. But I had no answer. I cried and cried. Then they got me outside and started to beat me: fists, legs apart, all privacy [gone]. [They used an] iron rod; how many times, I forget. I became unconscious. [Two days 9
later] I became conscious. Slowly I moved my hands. My whole body was covered in blood. My vest was stuck to my skin. I could not move my legs because of the swelling.”

One former detainee in the Hall described his first experience of torture: ”The door [to the Hall] opened. I heard the sound of boots on the floor. Someone grabbed my arm. I said, “Sir”, but my mouth was covered and they took me outside. We walked about forty or fifty steps from the Hall. They put me in a chair, and I brushed against what felt like a tent. They asked me questions about Maoists, and I kept repeating that I [did not have such information]. Then one said, “let’s kill him.” They took me from the tent and sat me down against a wall for a few minutes. Then they stood me up and walked me several steps. They took off my handcuffs and I heard someone give an order, “get his clothes off”. Then another said to me, “take off your clothes.” I kept on my underwear but someone grabbed it and pulled it off. My head was covered with a black hood tied at the neck. My handcuffs were tightened, “click, click, click,” behind my back, much more tightly than normal.

Then they beat me with plastic pipes and shouted, “Tell us&#33; Tell us&#33; What level of Maoist are you?” [using the lowest form of address, also used for animals]. Two or three kept hitting me with plastic pipes. Since I was blindfolded, I could not protect myself, but I tried to bend over to shield my head. Then they beat me on the back and one guy kicked me really hard [points to the side of his abdomen]. It was extremely painful. I said nothing. Then, while I was lying on the ground, one of them said, “let him go swimming.” Two of them grabbed my arms and took me to a nearby place. Then two people grabbed my legs and held me upside-down. My head was forced underwater in a big drum about one meter wide. I tried to raise my head, but I was held down by their boots against my shoulders. When they lifted me up, I choked and gasped for air. They repeated this.

Then I felt a powerful electric shock. I became rigid and noises came from my mouth. I collapsed. Then they lowered me again into the water. The next thing I remember was waking up in the Hall, with all of my clothes on except for my underwear. I could not move. Another detainee lying next to me was patting me on my back. There was a tube in my arm and a bag of saline hanging on a stand. At about 7 in the morning, this was removed by a medical assistant. My hands were again cuffed in front. I could barely walk, but I managed to make it somehow to the toilet. Inside, I lifted my blindfold and saw that my thighs were black and blue and covered in blisters. A guard later said to me when he saw wounds from the electric shock, “you must have stolen a mango and got bitten by an ant.” I found out later that the guards urinated in the water container.

It was round, made of brass. I saw it about 15 or 20 days later by peeking when I went to the toilet.” Another detainee in the Hall described a similar pattern of questions, beatings, submersion in water, and electric shocks (also referred to as “ant bites”).Unlike the previous victim, this detainee was repeatedly subjected to this torture during a period of two months. He described the different forms of torture as follows: “There was physical torture and mental torture, like when they showed you how they were beating someone else. I was usually taken to the tents in front of the Hall where a hood was put over my head. They would ask questions before and after torture but sometimes just tortured me. They used to beat me with plastic pipes until I fell to the ground.

Then someone would ask, “what sort of ant bite would you like? Japanese or American?” The American ‘bite’ was higher voltage. They jabbed me with the electricity all over my body, but mostly on the soles of my feet and on my back [points to his upper back]. Then they would ask me, “You want to have some daal?” [lentil soup]. They would shove my head into filthy water that filled a big cauldron sunk into the ground. They would shove my head underwater maybe twenty or twenty-five times, asking me questions. Sometimes I would become unconscious. Sometimes they would punch me in the stomach when I was underwater or give me electric shocks when they pulled my up. I would feel the shock in my whole body and lose consciousness. One time I asked to urinate. They did not take me to the toilet. They took me to another spot and told me to piss. Below, I could see an electric heater coil.

When I urinated, I felt the shock enter my body. I woke up much later, lying in the Hall. There was saline in my arm. My genitals were swollen and painful. Later a doctor told me that I could not ever have an erection again. The damage is permanent. I heard that one person died as a result of electric shock. Months later a guard [in Maharajgunj] told me, ‘We’re using ants less now’.”

Four of eight female detainees held in the Garage have not been seen since December 2003: Rebkhala Tiwari, Kaushalya Pokharel, Renuka Dulal, and Durga Bishenke. All were arrested between September and December 2003. Another two female detainees held in a separate location have also not been seen since December 2003: Nirmala Bhandari, arrested on 15 September 2003, and a girl under 16 whose name has not been confirmed. One or more of these women may have been pregnant at the time of arrest. OHCHR received credible and consistent reports that female detainees were subjected to physical and verbal sexual abuse, sometimes by intoxicated officers. Witness testimony indicates that some women had their clothing removed during interrogation.

OHCHR received multiple and consistent testimony regarding the torture of those who subsequently disappeared. For instance, three former detainees have provided testimony about the torture of Budi Lama Tamang, who was arrested by the Bhairabnath battalion together with Kaushalya Pokharel from Dukuchhap VDC, Lalitpur District, on 29 November 2003. The first witness stated: “Budi Lama was so badly tortured that he could not even lie down on a hay-filled carpet that they gave him in the Hall. I gave him my carpet and I helped him once to remove his shirt. It was stuck to his back with blood and pus. I remember his fingernails were infected from pins being forced underneath. It was about Mangsir 2060 [November – December 2003].

I never saw him again after Poush 2060 [December 2003 – January 2004]” A second one stated: “I remember Budi slept near me at one point. He arrived in the Hall in Mangsir 2060. He was tortured a lot. When he came back to the Hall sometimes, I remember his whole body would be shaking. He could not speak without his voice quivering. He was bleeding on different parts of his body. One time I remember there was a saline bag hanging near him, with a tube in his arm.” A third one confirmed: “I remember one time someone was screaming in the tents nearby. I was in the Garage. When someone was being tortured, the other detainees would whisper to each other, trying to identify the person. I remember that people whispered his name: Budi Lama. I remember his screams.”

Former detainees continue to suffer the psychological and physical consequences of ill-treatment. Physical consequences include chronic pain in joints and in the lower back, partial loss of bladder control, and other symptoms. A forensic report made available to OHCHR concludes that “uncountable” scars on one victim’s back are consistent with beating by long objects.

Psychological consequences are largely undiagnosed, but victims interviewed by OHCHR describe insomnia, nightmares, and temporary periods when they are unable to distinguish past and present.

Participation of medical profession in torture

According to several testimonies, members of the medical profession were involved in the torture, ill-treatment and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, in that they resuscitated those who fell unconscious and treated the wounds without apparently questioning the authorities concerned regarding the treatment meted out. Their care appeared to sustain and facilitate ongoing torture and other ill-treatment. RNA officers monitored their work and sometimes intervened to limit the degree of care that they were able to provide: “I could feel nothing. All of my body was uncovered. Then it was early morning. I could hear birds chirping. Someone came with medical instruments. He was starting to nurse me.

‘Sir, you are very damaged. I will help you to dress.’ Then another came and hit me in the backside with his boot and ordered the man not to nurse me. ‘It’s no use treating him. Today we are killing him.’ No person came for the rest of the day.” Witnesses confirmed that medical personnel were aware of the origin of the wounds that they treated and would advise them to confess to being a member of the CPN-M to avoid further torture.

One former detainee remembers a medical assistant’s advice while treating his wounds from torture: “If you were not a Maobadi, maybe you would be earning good money. You would not have been beaten. If you show the other Maobadi, you won’t be beaten”. None of the witnesses accused members of the medical team of directly participating in torture or ill-treatment. Few witnesses, however, described any sympathetic care by medical assistants. The general approach was to provide treatment without questioning, at least not openly, the ill-treatment.

Cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions of detention

All of the witnesses interviewed by OHCHR consistently describe the cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions in which the detainees were held for up to 18 months, permanently handcuffed and blindfolded. These constraints were removed only when the RNA acknowledged a detention and submitted to inspections. Some victims described these general conditions to be cumulatively worse than the formal torture and threat of execution. Particularly in late 2003 and early 2004, these cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions included meagre and unhygienic rations of rice and watery lentil soup, lack of access to clean water for bathing and cleaning clothes, untreated lice infestations, restricted movement, and virtually no medical attention to disease and wounds until individuals were close to death.

OHCHR received credible reports of at least three deaths due to, or aggravated by, these conditions, described in more detail below.

Restricted movement

Apart from for a number of limited activities, detainees spent day and night lying in a prone position on a thin mat on the floor, with their hands handcuffed behind their back or, less commonly, in front, and blindfolded. One detainee, who survived 260 days in this condition, describes this situation as worse than all of the beating and torture combined. Many former detainees echoed this conclusion. The Bhairabnath battalion maintained close 24-hour surveillance of detainees in both the Garage and in the Hall, with the clear rule that there should be no movement of any kind that was not either ordered by the RNA (for purposes of interrogation and punishment) or explicitly permitted, which in practice meant the use of the toilet and eating twice a day.

Visits to the toilet usually involved waiting in a line-up, sometimes for several hours. Meals were consumed sitting up at one’s sleeping place following a shift of handcuffs from back to front. ‘Exercise’ was imposed every morning during certain periods in a cruel and degrading fashion, with beating of those unable to perform jumping on the spot, standing on one’s head, or carrying fellow detainees on one’s back. During some periods in the Garage, detainees were made to stand up every hour for ten or fifteen minutes during the night. Brief access to the water tank for washing one’s face varied over time and between locations.

Detainees were handcuffed permanently except when using the toilet. At night, most detainees were handcuffed behind their backs. During the day, some detainees were permitted to remain handcuffed in front, while all were handcuffed in front during two meal times. Both metal handcuffs and rope were used. Some detainees preferred metal, because it tended to provide more freedom of movement than tightly knotted rope. Others stated that the metal was less desirable because it cut into the skin and bone, but in these cases their rope tended to be tied with sufficient slack to allow some movement. Lying down with hands cuffed behind resulted eventually in skin sores and pain in the upper arms. Some long-term detainees became so completely habituated that, once released, they find themselves still sleeping with their arms behind them, as though handcuffed. A request to use the toilet between the fixed times was not always permitted and detainees were sometimes left no other choice but to soil their bedding.

When this occurred, some guards would use their plastic pipes to lift the bedding up and carry it out of the Hall. More often, however, a co-detainee would remove his shirt and use it to clean the area if there was a sympathetic guard to move the handcuffs from back to front. On other occasions, the bedding was left in that condition for some time. Some guards wore masks against odour and disease.

Prolonged sensory deprivation

All of the detainees were continuously blindfolded during their periods of detention by the Bhairabnath battalion. Most wore a black, red, or brown blindfold made of a nylon or polyester material with two layers and two sets of straps, one tied at the top of the head, the other at the neck. Some blindfolds would cover the whole face, including the mouth, but detainees routinely pushed the bottom up over the nose by rubbing the blindfold against their knee or other surface. Some detainees were forced to wear a full black hood continuously, tied at the neck, for several weeks, particularly in the early stages of their detentions. A hood was compulsory while undergoing interrogation and torture, except when detainees were asked to identify other suspected Maoists.

Peeking along one’s nose through the opening at the bottom of the blindfold was practised by most detainees, frequently at the cost of punishment, but also sometimes acknowledged and tolerated by some guards. Long-term detainees were eventually able to link familiar voices of guards and interrogating officers with their faces and, in most cases, a real name or code name. Blindfolds were regularly checked and tightened by guards, particularly in advance of visits by officers or before interrogation.

In 2005, some detainees developed a way of removing a portion of one of the two polyester layers, discreetly allowing almost complete vision through the remaining thin layer. Detainees lived in a constant state of fear and were desperate to learn the tiniest scraps of information: ‘who just arrived?’ ‘who just left?’ ‘has [this or that co-detainee] returned?’ ‘who is screaming?’ ‘what happened?’. The whispering occurred primarily when lining up for the toilet, while washing, and while lying in their assigned positions.

“Informal torture” relating to detention conditions

The low-ranking soldiers deployed as guards (sipai) regularly beat detainees accused of violating the rules such as the prohibition on movement (see below). Beatings by guards or by officers also occurred arbitrarily and without warning. Hard black plastic pipes were used for this purpose and produced open wounds, bruising, and swelling. Detainees were also regularly subject to kicks at any given moment without warning. A typical offence was slipping one’s legs through one’s arms in order to have the handcuffs in front, as sores and blood blisters were produced by sleeping with arms cuffed behind.

If discovered by guards, such infractions could result in being forced to stand all night, in beatings twenty or thirty times with plastic pipes, or in being thrown fully clothed into a cold pool outside. Beatings led to broken and lost teeth and bleeding from the mouth. In some cases, bleeding from ears was reported by witnesses. Other infractions resulting in similar punishment included speaking, or shifting one’s blindfold. Even without these apparent immediate motives, guards typically entered the Hall quietly and then, without warning, struck the floor or the wall forcefully with a plastic pipe. It was also common for a guard to sit in the passageway at the exit of the Hall and beat with a plastic pipe those detainees leaving the Hall in order to use the toilet.

They would again be beaten upon their return. Certain detainees were often made to stand in the middle of the Hall while they were beaten arbitrarily. This kind of arbitary punishment was not limited to the Hall. In another location inside Maharajgunj barracks, one survivor explained that: “… most of the people kept there [during one period] were beaten three times a day with a pipe. I was beaten twice, in the morning and in the evening, about ten blows. Others received two dozen, right there [in the place of detention], one after the other. Half of them were made to stand on their heads. I did this for two or three days then could not. Sometimes, while standing on the head, a soldier would come without a single word and kick him with his boot. The person would fall down”.

The result of these practices was to maintain detainees in a permanent state of anxiety, combined with varying levels of depression and fear. Some former detainees described their efforts to cope. One individual decided that the outside world could no longer assist him, and made an effort to keep a clear and attentive mind focussed only on the present. Other individuals assumed leadership roles in trying to encourage other detainees. Some were more acquiescent to the guards and officers and attempted to please them, while others were constantly taking risks to speak, to peek beneath blindfolds, to gather information from more sympathetic guards. Some detainees chose to ignore their co-detainees out of fear or on the assumption that their cases were different, that they would be released if only they kept to themselves and obeyed instructions. Some detainees sank into deep depression, exacerbated by illness.

Access to medical treatment

A team of medical assistants in civilian clothes was usually available when detainees were in serious condition. Lesser illnesses or wounds were not treated. A saline drip apparatus was kept in the narrow passageway adjacent to the Hall and was used on several occasions according to witnesses and victims. Because lesser wounds and illnesses were left untreated, it was common for infections to develop. Several survivors interviewed by OHCHR recalled the sight of shirts stuck to wounds with dried blood and pus. It was not unusual to see some individuals coughing up blood. Former detainees also recall that the smell in the Hall became so strong that guards wore masks, although some witnesses speculated that this may also have been a measure to avoid contracting any contagious illnesses. There were periods when colds and fever would affect many detainees.

The detainees themselves became accustomed to the odour of sweat, vomit, urine and suppurating wounds. Until their transfer to the high security tents in Yuddha Bhairab detention facility in March 2004, medical assistance from a doctor only occurred if a detainee was taken to hospital for treatment. Regular RNA health assistants provided resuscitation of detainees and the provision of saline intravenous treatment to those who lost consciousness due to torture. After their transfer to the High Security Tents, medical attention and access to water for washing improved.

The disappeared

Detentions at Maharajgunj barracks continued even after the RNA acknowledged the arrest and detention of certain people, for instance in responses to habeas corpus petitions filed in the Supreme Court. The RNA, however, never acknowledged the arrest of those currently disappeared nor the role played by members of the Bhairabnath and Yuddha Bhairab battalions in their detention during 2003 of those subsequently transferred to prison and/or released. In the course of its investigation to date, OHCHR has gathered 49 names of individuals held in Maharajgunj barracks but who have neither been confirmed released nor acknowledged to be in detention.

It is possible that others also disappeared from Maharajgunj barracks whose names will emerge in the course of ongoing investigations. The list of 49 individuals includes many of those detained in the Hall who were removed and never seen again during the last week of December 2003. Some former co-detainees recall, in particular, the night 20 December 2003 (5 Poush 2060). This date became significant only in hindsight; after they noticed that a large group of detainees who were taken out on that night or within one or two days of this date had not returned. As on many other nights, guards entered the Hall and removed individuals quietly. Some detainees were asleep and did not notice anything unusual. Others, however, observed their co-detainees being escorted outside of the Hall. One former detainee said that he was also taken out of the Hall and loaded into a truck but then finally left behind. Another former detainee said he pretended to need the toilet and observed the loading of individuals into a truck at about 10pm before he was taken back to the Hall and told his turn would come another day.

A third former detainee remembered that RNA soldiers who came that night were wearing boots, unlike the more quiet canvas shoes of the guards. He said that they entered the Hall at about 10:30pm. He said he remembered how Bhim Giri was woken up by a guard and taken away. He could hear the sound of trucks outside. He also heard the sound of radios. In early December 2003, the Garage was being used by the Bhairabnath battalion to detain approximately 40 men and women of less military or political significance. After the removal of between forty and fifty individuals from the Hall in December 2003, many of those still detained in the Garage were gradually transferred to the Hall.

Eighteen months after this date, an officer in Bhairabnath battalion said to one former detainee that he should not think any longer about his “friends”, implying their death. The names of those removed were no longer heard as had been common when an individual was present. During interrogations, officers stopped asking questions related to any of the former detainees in the Hall. Most former detainees interviewed by OHCHR believe that these detainees were executed.

Death in custody

Among those former detainees whose whereabouts are still not clarified are three individuals who were reported very ill when last seen by many former co-detainees in 2004 and in early 2005. Khadka Bahadur Gharti Magar, a middle-aged businessman, Padam Narayan Nakarmi and Kiran Rayamaji, both students, are believed to have died while in custody in early 2004 and in early 2005 as a result of ill-treatment and torture and related health problems that were allowed to worsen without necessary medical treatment.

Detainees recall that by late December 2003, Gharti Magar and Narayan Nakarmi were both suffering from severe swelling of the body and overall weakness. Several detainees recall that both begged guards and officers for more food during a long period. Khadka Bahadur Gharti Magar begged officers to request money from his relatives to buy food. All of the detainees suffered from malnutrition, which made everyone susceptible to illness. Such illness became severe in the case of these two individuals. Padam Narayan Nakarmi eventually could not eat and may have developed tuberculosis. By the month of March 2004, within days of one another, they were separately removed from the Hall on stretchers. It was unclear to witnesses whether they were still alive at that point.

The RNA allegedly returned the body of Khadka Bahadur Gharti Magar to his family. Neither individual is included in the official list of detainees as provided to OHCHR by the Bhairabnath battalion. The whereabouts of these two individuals is still unkown. A third individual, Kiran Rayamaji, developed a serious eye disease of the right eye. Numerous witnesses are able to describe how the eye increasingly protruded, causing immense pain. He was apparently taken to hospital for a week at one point during 2004, but without any apparent improvement following his return to Maharajgunj. He was left behind in Maharajgunj when other detainees were transferred to Sivapuri in January 2005. He remains on the list of disappeared.

Conclusions and recommendations

OHCHR finds that the RNA’s 10th Brigade systematically arrested, held in secret detention, and tortured suspected CPN-M members at its Maharajgunj barracks in 2003. The RNA 10th Brigade consisted of three battalions in 2003, as it still does today: Bhairabnath, Yuddha Bhairab, and Mahabir. The first two battalions shared the Maharajgunj army camp, located in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu. In addition, the Yuddha Bhairab battalion had a camp at Sivapuri, to the northeast of Kathmandu. The Mahabir battalion was and remains located in the Chhauni army camp, which it shares with Jagadal battalion, to the west of Kathmandu. The Bhairabnath battalion, commanded at the relevant time by Lt. Col. Raju Basnet, played a leading role in this RNA operation. The RNA Chief of Army Staff, the Director-General of Military Operations, the Director of Military Intelligence and the Commander of the 10th Brigade also knew or ought to have known about these actions by the battalions under the command of the 10th Brigade.

Detainees were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while permanently blindfolded and handcuffed for up to eighteen months. At least 49 of these detainees were known to have been held by the battalion and to have disappeared on 20 December 2003 or shortly thereafter, never to be seen again since. Notwithstanding the continuing denial by the RNA of knowledge of these 49 disappearances, OHCHR concludes that all were arrested under authority of the 10th Brigade and held principally by its Bhairabnath battalion during the period from September to December 2003.

OHCHR continues to investigate the fate or whereabouts of others currently on lists of disappeared from that period, including the role that may have been played by the 10th Brigade in their arrest and subsequent disappearance. OHCHR recommends that the following steps be taken immediately:

1. Establish a credible, competent, impartial and fully independent investigation into the arrest, detention, torture, and ultimate fate or whereabouts of the people who were held by the 10th Brigade and who are reported as disappeared.

2. Such an investigation might be part of a wider investigation to ascertain the fate or whereabouts of all those who disappeared and the responsibility of other units of the RNA for such violations of human rights.

3. Those potentially implicated directly or through command responsibility for units involved should be suspended from any official duties pending the investigation, and should not be proposed for participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions.

4. The investigation should also examine the role played by members of the medical profession in engaging, actively or passively, in acts which constitute participation or complicity in ill-treatment and torture.

5. All necessary measures should be taken to ensure that witnesses and former detainees will not be subjected to threats or intimidation. The unlawful practice of requiring former detainees to report to the Nepalese Army on a regular basis should be ended immediately.

6. The findings of the investigation should be made public and widely disseminated.

7. Persons against whom there is evidence of criminal responsibility should be brought to justice before a civilian court.

[sisne]

http://www.blog.com.np/united-we-blog/2006...nepal/#more-804 (http://www.blog.com.np/united-we-blog/2006/05/21/meet-the-rebels-maoist-guerilla-of-nepal/#more-804)

[sisne]

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[Red Heretic]

Sisne, you just put a huge smile on my face

thanks.

[undeadsinner]

Glad to see them stand up and Fight for what they believe in-too bad those pics werent from here in America-*raising hand*I&#39;ll lead the Communist Revolution if anybody&#39;s ready...

[sisne]

Red Heretic,
I will continue posting pictures related to the people&#39;s war in Nepal. I want to archive those pictures, which I believe would be a tribute to the people who sacrificed their lives for a better Nepal(because many of them might have been killed since their pictures were taken, this is true especially of the pictures taken before the present truce).

[An archist]

I&#39;m not a big fan of Maoism, but there is one thing that&#39;s positive about the pictures you showed, a lot of women are apparently active in the movement. Yay for feminism.

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 17 2006, 05:43 AM
Red Heretic,
I will continue posting pictures related to the people&#39;s war in Nepal. I want to archive those pictures, which I believe would be a tribute to the people who sacrificed their lives for a better Nepal(because many of them might have been killed since their pictures were taken, this is true especially of the pictures taken before the present truce).
I agree comrade. Once the revolution achieves victory, I will archive all of these photo graphs into some sort of Nepal Revolution slideshow and post it online.

[Red Heretic]

bump

[Red Heretic]

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8086/dscn03052tp.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/5210/dscn03089af.jpg

[Zero]

Red, what is that from?

[razboz]

Looks like he was beaten to me. You can still see where his clothes were printed in from the blows on his shoulder.

[bezdomni]

But how can they fight with ww2 guns? lee-enfield is used since 1895&#33; Unless the police uses the same, they&#39;re underpowered.


The RNA has superior firepower, but the way Protacted People&#39;s War works...the revolutionaries will eventually capture enough of the RNA&#39;s artillery and shit that they will overpower them both in numbers, occupied territory and firepower and will enter the Strategic Offensive part of PPW.

[Resist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 03:57 AM
a1
apparently you can fight a revolution in sandles

[Zero]

Hey, any revolution that forces me to take off my burkenstocks is not something I want to be part of. =D

[Raj Radical]

Maoism is dodgy to say the least, but this is an oppressed peoples struggle and has my support.

Viva la Revolucion&#33; :star:

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2006, 06:57 PM
Red, what is that from?
He is a journalist (if I remember correctly) who was beaten by the Nepalese Army (formerly RNA) which supposedly doesn&#39;t commit human rights abuses anymore.

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2006, 08:46 PM
apparently you can fight a revolution in sandles
Ironically, the peoples war in Nepal was started with muskets, and the people war in India was started with bows and arrows, so I don&#39;t see anything wrong with starting with sandals as well&#33; :lol:

[Red Heretic]

New Photo of Prachanda at Press Conference: http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5996/prachanda4wu.jpg

Some Photos from April and May:

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4601/nepalprotest9oc.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/5281/nepalprotestdemocracy15wm.jpg

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/3046/nepal2hf.jpg

(Note: This last two were from the protests against the SPA capitulating to the King&#39;s "restoration of parliament")

[Red Heretic]

Oh shit&#33; I just realized I forgot to post my favorite photo&#33;

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/5286/2994vl.jpg

[Honggweilo]

http://www.verspers.nl/bestanden/35_original.jpg
:lol: kind of a controversial site. But the parlement apperently uses the swastika from a hindu background

[Red Heretic]

The swastika in Asia represents "eternity" and "peace"

[Red Heretic]

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/8028/28ga1.jpg

[Black Dagger]

Excellent photos Comrades, please keep them coming&#33; :hammer:

[Zero]

Wait, isn&#39;t the origional Swastika pointing left, and Hitler turned it around to point right?

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 06:46 AM
Wait, isn&#39;t the origional Swastika pointing left, and Hitler turned it around to point right?
I believe the one spinning left represents eternity, while the one spinning right represents peace. I could be wrong.

I remember when I was in China I saw many of them spinning both directions.

Wikipedia Swastika Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika)

[working_class_warrior]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 03:57 AM
a1
The fighters in this picture are violating the first rule of gun safty.

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by working_class_warrior+Jul 19 2006, 06:16 AM--> (working_class_warrior @ Jul 19 2006, 06:16 AM)
[email protected] 9 2006, 03:57 AM
a1
The fighters in this picture are violating the first rule of gun safty. [/b]
I can&#39;t see the photo, what are they doing?

[working_class_warrior]

http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php...ic=46231&st=150 (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=46231&st=150)

start from bottom of page never point a gun a somthing you do not intend to shoot.

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 20 2006, 05:11 AM
http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php...ic=46231&st=150 (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=46231&st=150)

start from bottom of page never point a gun a somthing you do not intend to shoot.
pffft, oh, boo hoo&#33; :lol:

[sisne]

Maoist Video from Nepal

http://sajha.com/sajha/html/OpenThread.cfm?forum=2&ThreadID=33238


The video shows maoists training in the western Nepal, and attacking a military barrack in Gaam(or Gam) Village in Rolpa district, near to the border with Pyuthan district(in western Nepal) in May 2002.

Here&#39;s how the media(Nepalnews.com) reported the battle at that time(Note: The media was under strict censorship in the 9 month long state of emergency during which the attack occurred)


A tale of Tuesday night horror in Gam

Khim Ghale and Kashi Ram Dangi


LIBANG (Rolpa), May 11: Military personnel, who survived the grisly Maoist attack at Rolpa’s Gam VDC narrate their horrific experience of the fateful Tuesday night, that left 81 security men dead and several injured.

A total of ten security men who had been deployed on an Integrated Development Security Programme (ISDP) at Asaujey Dada, Rolpa, were sleeping peacefully in their tents. Around 62 security men under the command of their Captain had already gone for patrolling the nearby village. None of them had even the faintest imagination that the Maoists would make a comeback that night. But they came in hundreds and thousands holding grenades and sophisticated guns and fired at them.

"We were sleeping peacefully. They set fire to our camp. We knew of late that the fire had already raged through our godown. After that we heard gun shots but we could not tell where it came from nor who was firing," narrates Basudev Shrestha, an army personnel, who survived the attack.

"Let’s not get scared and run. Everyone block them from entering our barrack." Shrestha quoted his Major Nilakantha Karki as saying after the firing began. "The Major was instructing each one of them to take positions when there was an explosion nearby that awoke all the security personnel from their deep slumber."

"By then the exchange of fire had already begun and the fire set by Maoists had already ripped through the sentry…" Shrestha goes on. "The officials inside the sentry crawled into the bunkers to take out their guns. Maoists were already advancing ferociously and were closing in inch-by-inch."

Bullets from modern guns like GPMG, LMG, SMG, SLR began to be fired from either sides. Meanwhile, a bullet ripped the right hand of Raj Kumar Khadka, an army personnel trying to hold the rapidly advancing Maoists. Shrestha took out his handkerchief and tied it round his bleeding hand. But that proved a futile exercise. The night was chilly, the weather condition was unfavourable. Hukum Bahadur Bhandary, an assistant forest officer helping him, tore his pant and tied it around his hand, it did not work. A minute later, Khadka’s hand fell on the ground.

"He was still struggling to fire the GPMG, but he was sensing defeat closing in as his hand could no more hold the gun." Bhandary goes on narrating the incident in Rolpa’s Gam village.

"I fired until the last minute," Bhuwan, a police constable, one of the few survivors of the deadly attack says. "An army personal beside me was hit. He handed his SLR to me and asked me to fire." He recalls how he and his friends remained hopeful until the dying hours that additional forces were coming to assist them. "Neither a single person nor a bullet came."

"We were in a very small number and proved matchless against thousands of Maoists, most carrying grenades and armed to the teeth. They were Terai-based people, Tharus and Khar Magars. These people put before them mostly untrained commoners, who held grenades and hand-bombs as they advanced forward."

"These terrorists came in three groups. At first, there were those who hurled grenades and at their back, there were those who held guns in their hands. And after those gunmen, there were those who were trained in carrying the dead and the wounded. Among them were also groups of medics." These security men say they even saw the rebels throwing their wounded friends into the raging fire, let alone the dead.

They admit that Maoists were well armed but said they were not well trained. "They were burying alive their friends as they fled the spot. We saw them burying at least 250 of them while we were paraded through the village after the firing ended." Shrestha claims.

"The firing went on for about four and half hours. By then 8-10 of us were still alive. Due to bad weather, wounded security men and our Major were captured and killed. We could no longer defend them."

[sisne]

Some recent pictures from Nepal

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[CCCPneubauten]

Can some one inform me who was on the red shirts? The guy in the white out line...

[Red Heretic]

Originally posted by [email protected] 31 2006, 03:19 AM
Can some one inform me who was on the red shirts? The guy in the white out line...
I assume you&#39;re referring to this shirt:

http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/uploads/post-32-1149831235.jpg

That&#39;s Prachanda, Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). He&#39;s also in my avatar...

Oh, and thanks again Sisne for all of these photos. They&#39;re great.

[Red Heretic]

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9749/imga9263vj2.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/7977/imga9287af4.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1610/imga9462ev0.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1141/imga9295bn0.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/7185/imga9386wl4.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/5748/imga9459ec0.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9586/imga9432kl5.jpg

[mlm]

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