Posted on 02/18/2002 11:18:14 PM PST by JohnHuang2
KATHMANDU, Nepal – In the wake of Maoist rebels killing 141 people in terrorist strikes here last weekend, this remote Himalayan kingdom is getting more attention on the international stage, gaining prominence in the area as a strategic ally of the West.Indeed, Nepal, home to Mt. Everest, is no longer just some dot on a map like Tierra del Fuego or Djibouti. It is an important buffer between Chinese-controlled Tibet and India. The Himalayas of the nation run westward towards Kashmir, an area of controversy between India and Pakistan for decades. U. S. Secretary of State Colin Powell paid a visit to Kathmandu recently, promising Western aid in the hopes of staving off the Maoist rebellion – an uprising that has the nation in a "state of emergency."
"The Maoists receive arms and training from Kashmir and communist China," a French worker with a non-governmental organization in Kathmandu told WorldNetDaily.
"There is so much corruption in the government of Nepal. The communists in China are digging wells and providing infrastructure to the poorest Nepalese in the rural areas of the nation. I say, 'more power to them.'"
Roger du Monde, a military trainer with the Legion Entrangere currently working with the Nepal army said that the Maoists are "winning the hearts and minds of the rural poor. This is what Powell told the Nepalese elites. It's not enough to crush the Maoists. The youth of the nation must see some kind of future for themselves.
"China has moved nuclear missiles into Tibet. They are aimed at many cities in India. This is common knowledge. Neither the West nor India wants to see China gain influence in Nepal, for obvious geo-strategic reasons."
Nepal, which made international headlines last year with the bloody slaying of the royal family, is an extremely poor Hindu nation. It has no natural resources, and its primary source of income is providing the West with tourism and mercenaries.
From 1816 through the early 1950s, Nepal's borders were virtually closed to the outside world. As a British colony, the nation's primary export consisted of human beings – namely the Ghurkas, elite mercenary soldiers who fought for the British Crown.
With the Ghurkas serving overseas in the British army in places like the Falkland Islands and the Balkans, the Maoists inside Nepal are having a field day attacking the police and setting up Maoist cells in the rural regions.
Maoists and poverty
A morning walk around Kathmandu provides the interloper with a personal view of Nepal's poverty.
The scene is almost medieval. The sun tries to break out, like a flashlight submerged in a bowl of thick soup, but it seems less than successful battling the clouds and smog in the valley beneath the Himalayas. On this winter day, the people wake and begin building outdoor fires with scarce wood. The chilly air is thick and smoky, like Phoenix in the midst of a winter temperature inversion. The glory of the Himalayas remains hidden.
A cow wanders aimlessly along a pothole-ridden road. Horns blare away, like annoying trumpets.
"There's my god," an old Nepalese man points out to WorldNetDaily with great sincerity. He then asks, "Where's your god?"
Families wash themselves and their clothes and dishes in small tubs of water. Men receive haircuts and shaves out in the open, sitting on a barber's chair on the side of the city's main highway. Striking women huddle together in teams of three, wrapped in colorful shawls and trying to negotiate the teeming traffic on foot. Tiny cyclo taxis ferry workers about; the signs on the outside of these miniature vehicles promote products like Close Up toothpaste and Coca Cola. Young school girls with their hair in braids head for class, sporting red sweaters and gray skirts, while unemployed men eye them along the narrow, winding streets.
Visiting the Tibetan border near Pokhara, WND found that the Maoists had gained significant inroads into the psyche of the people. The Nepal army, minus their Ghurkas special operations forces, is armed with World War II-era rifles, lacking mobility and counter-insurgency expertise.
An assistant to the European Union's military attaché in Bangkok commented, "The Maoists in Nepal cannot overthrow the monarchy in Kathmandu, but they can create a significant nuisance by hurting tourism."
Tourism in Nepal has declined since the December 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines Airbus by suspected Kashmiri militants. The ensuing Maoist rebellion points to collaboration between the Maoists and radical Islamist movement in the region.
Said Du Monde, "The Maoists practice the tactics endorsed by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. If your enemy is superior, evade and agitate him."
Last weekend's attack was the Maoists' most significant accomplishment in recent months. They have killed a number of Nepal's policemen and forced the army to mobilize against them. Also, they have cut into tourism and forced Western trekkers to provide "protection money."
Steven Knoble, a Western medical assistant based in Nepal told WND, "The Maoists have not, so far, killed any Western tourists. The local people depend on foreign tourism dollars."
Few Western visitors to Nepal seem to have any fear of the Maoist rebellion. Silvia Kuipers, a Dutch English teacher, said, "The 'Ms,' as I call them, well, I don't worry about things I can't control." Kuipers is a part of a dedicated corps of Western volunteers braving harsh elements to help Nepal and its people.
"We live without hot showers, and we teach in circumstances that are less than ideal. I was a child minder in Holland, and sometimes people look down on my job. But I think it is an important job. The children of Nepal are the future of the nation," she said.
The most intriguing question in Nepal remains: Can the ideals of the Maoists be confined to the past, or will their propensity to pester the kingdom's rulers continue to inhibit the nation's development?
It truly is among the most impoverished nations I've seen. In Kathmandu, you can get diseases like meningitis or cholera if you're not careful with the water (for example, while taking a shower). The description of the morning haze and the woodsmoke is more than accurate. It took weeks to get that smell out of my craw after leaving Nepal. The constant smokey smell is actually worse in the countryside, which is truly medieval. Many of the villages actually are more primitive than those you might have seen in Braveheart, but the resemblance is there.
Pokhara, about 250 miles west of Kathmandu, is the heart of the Maoist uprising. It's also a very nice tourist town at the bottom of the Annapurna range of the Himalaya. When I was there again in 1996, just as the Maoists were getting into gear, I was speaking with the hotel desk clerk and he became pretty defensive of the movement: "Nepal is a very poor country, so we have to start with communism." There were two other Nepali staff at the desk, and the atmosphere started to get a bit strange. I had the distinct impression I was talking with three Maoists. And I heard the same defense of the Maoists several more times while in country.
Also interesting is the comment about Maoists demanding protection money from trekkers. This would certainly make sense in the Annapurna/Pokhara region, which supports the Maoist movement. I'd be surprised if is true of the region near Everest, which of course is the most popular trekking area. In any event, it would make sense that there have been no attacks on trekkers. The Maoists want the support of the locals, and the trekkers inject a huge amount of business into the outlying village economies. Also, I have the sense (but no particular proof) that in this odd Nepali manifestation of Maoism, they really don't have any interest in hurting trekkers, only representatives of the existing (extremely corrupt and brutal) Nepali government.
Nepal gets quite a bit of UN and other aid. So when you look at all the half-built roads and bridges, or the immense poverty throughout the country, you have to wonder where all of that aid money is going. Most Nepalis believe its being skimmed, and that's probably true. The political and commercial upper class of Nepal are well-schooled in a post-colonial, caste-based social system, and they really don't care too much about the pervasive and unbelievable poverty that is everywhere in Kathmandu and even more so in the outlying regions.
Nepal's Maoism is not the Maoism of China, but it is a response to the extensive poverty of the country. I can't imagine what the solution might be.
Interesting response angkor. I too have spent time in Nepal.
I disagree about the Maoism in Nepal being home grown. It is coming from China and I think this article makes a valid point about Nepal being strategically located for the West. It's strategic location can be a key to the Maoist problem and the poverty problem. The West can pump much needed aid into Nepal which would not only supress the Maoist uprising but would also filter down to help the poverty of the masses. NGO's have been caring a large share of the burden for the country for many years, but are seriously under funded and under maned.
India already has a large influence on much of Nepal and it would seem to me to be in their best interest to facilitate a project like this.
What I meant is this: because this particular brand of Maoism is being exercised by Nepalis, it also comes with Nepali characteristics. One of those characteristics is that the Nepali Maoists try to explain their position (to Westerners at any rate) with sincerity and politeness. It is my impression that they have gone the route of Maoism because they see no other alternative.
I'll also note that in seven years, no Western trekkers have been injured or kidnapped by the Nepali Maoists. This is remarkable given that trekkers are often isolated in the countryside and the mountains, and in particular in the Annapurna region.
So I agree with you that this is a salvagable Maoist "uprising." The main obstacle isn't the Maoists, its the ridiculous, corrupt, and brutal Nepali government. US aid would be a great help in Nepal, if it could be kept from the greedy fingers of Nepali officials.
This is exactly why the Non Government Organizations (NGO'S) came into existance. They (NGO's) are the ones who see to it foreign aid is directly or indirectly distributed to the Nepelase people themselves. Up to now the largest component of this aid has been educational, health and hygiene related.
The bulk of the aid not only has to be kept out of the hands of the government officials, but also out of the hands of the industrial upper class who, eventhough they are responsible for the meger economy, are not answerable to the people.
Of course not. They're pals, relatives, cronies of the government officials and police/army. They exercise their industrial and commerical power through the gun by virtue of their friendships..
Which is exactly and solely why there is this Maoist uprising in Nepal.
I'm not defending Maoism. But it is so perfectly obvious why it is happening in this case.
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