Posted on 08/12/2006 9:32:46 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
KATHMANDU: The top two leaders of Nepal's Maoist party are currently in eastern India, media reports in Kathmandu said.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist as well as supreme commander of the rebels' guerrilla army, the People's Liberation Army, and his deputy, architect-turned rebel Baburam Bhattarai, arrived in Siliguri town in West Bengal Friday evening, Nepali newspapers said on Saturday.
After a brief halt in Jhapa district in eastern Nepal, on the India-Nepal border, where they held consultations with party leaders, the rebel leaders headed for Siliguri.
Accompanying them are senior leader of the formerly outlawed party, Gauri Shankar Khadka, as well as Prachanda's son Prakash, and wife Sita.
The Maoist leaders could meet a senior party leader Mohan Vaidya, who is currently imprisoned in Siliguri, Nepal's official media said.
Vaidya was arrested in Siliguri about two years ago when he had gone for an eye operation.
Reports said that the rebel leaders could be heading for India to meet Sitaram Yechuri, politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Till last year, Maoist leaders had to travel under secrecy in India since they were considered a terrorist organisation by the Indian government.
However, the viewpoint changed last year, after King Gyanendra seized power by force, leading to escalation in violence due to the political turmoil there.
India is widely perceived as having brokered an agreement between the Maoists and the opposition parties, resulting in a united movement against the king that forced him to step down this year.
Since then, the new government of Nepal has withdrawn the terrorist tag on the Maoists and begun peace negotiations with them. The rebels could be joining an interim government.
Recently, the Maoists stepped up a diplomatic lobbying, meeting the Indian ambassador to Nepal Shiv Shankar Mukherjee and other diplomats in Kathmandu.
Motto: "We will liberate everything the people own, or kill them trying!"
Second motto: "Liberation isn't cheap...we charge you an arm & a leg".
India should have them killed in an accident. MAoists are known to waste away without "leaders". An arrest might be a bad idea because it gives them a sense of purose in trying to get them released.
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