Posted on 08/19/2004 2:45:50 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
KATHMANDU : The blockade declared by Nepal's Maoist rebels of the ancient capital, Kathmandu, echoes the tactics of Peru's shadowy Shining Path militants -- the ruthless movement upon which they model themselves.
Like the Shining Path rebels, who waged an over decade-long battle to forge a peasant revolution in the South American nation, Nepal's Maoists seek to rule the countryside and now are boldly attacking big towns and even the capital.
The group launched their struggle in 1996 to overthrow the monarchy and feudal caste-ridden system, and to turn the Himalayan country of 26 million, one of the world's 10 poorest, into a communist "People's Republic."
Their leader, Prachanda or the Fierce One, has promised an agrarian takeover in Nepal, nestled among the world's most breathtaking mountains, and has said the red flag will one day fly over Kathmandu.
Analysts see the uprising as the biggest threat to the world's only Hindu kingdom, sandwiched between China and India, since it became a democracy 14 years ago.
New Delhi also fears the revolt could spill over into India where security forces are battling ultra-leftists in the states of Bihar, Jharkand and Andhra Pradesh, creating a "red corridor" from Nepal.
Nepal's rebels get their inspiration from Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong's struggle against landowners that began in the countryside.
But they draw their strategy from the Maoist Shining Path, largely dormant since the arrest in 1992 of their leader Abimael Guzman.
Guzman said the "taking of the cities" in Peru would mark the last chapter of the Shining Path's insurrection.
Nepalese officials say the uprising has claimed at least 10,000 lives, but the toll could be much higher as the Maoists carry off their dead and wounded.
The movement took root in Nepal's remote feudal western valleys and spread as the Maoists, crying, "War, war and war! From the beginning till the end!" began raiding police posts, snatching weapons to build an arsenal.
Now the Maoists say they control 70 percent of the countryside, including the plains and lowlands of the Terai, known as Nepal's breadbasket -- claims contested by the government.
The Maoists run parallel governments in many areas and have set up people's courts to deliver justice. Officials say they have a network of sympathisers in Kathmandu and elsewhere who stage attacks.
Successive revolving-door governments that have earned a reputation for corruption have been unable to suppress the revolt.
Even though Prachanda, a former agricultural sciences student, belongs to the same high castes who govern Nepal and are dubbed "parasite classes" by the Maoists, his support base is among the lowest castes.
Money comes from taxation in the villages and contributions from sympathisers in urban areas.
Nepal has been a fertile ground for unrest. While Kathmandu boasts casinos and packed shops, most Nepalis live in rural areas on an average incomes of around 60 cents a day.
Land ownership is seen as a means to prosperity in Nepal but feudal ownership of land excludes many Nepalis from owning property.
But human rights activists say the Maoists' support has been eroded by merciless killings, intimidation and torture. They round up students in their hundreds to "re-educate" them. Some are freed but others are drafted into their ranks and used as human shields in battle.
"Day by day it's worsening, the Maoists are becoming more and more violent," said Sushil Pyakurel, a member of the National Human Rights Commission. "But the government is also ignoring due process.
Human rights groups say government security forces are guilty of torture and custodial killings.
The revolt intensified after the 2001 palace massacre in which then Crown Prince Dipendra killed popular King Birendra and other royals in a drunken rage before killing himself. The king's successor, Gyanendra, has been unable to command the same wide support, analysts say.
Concerned about the unrest, the United States, Britain and India have been putting their money on the king, increasing aid to the 50,000-strong army that officials say needs everything from boots to helicopters.
Some analysts say observance of the Maoists' frequent strike calls now is more due to fear of retribution than backing for the cause.
This has been seen in the indefinite blockade of the city announced by the rebels that began Wednesday. Witnesses have said the rebels have not set up any physical barricades but few are brave enough to challenge it.
"Security forces may protect vehicles for one or two days but after some time the Maoists take punitive action for defying their orders," said Hira Udas, chief of the Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs Federation.
Peace talks collapsed last year and Pyakurel said he was increasingly worried about the country's fate.
"It (the blockade) may be a Maoist pressure tactic. We hear the government is in contact with Maoist leaders about sitting at the peace table," he said.
"If that's happening, it's good. If not, I don't know about Nepal's future."
ping
May they get the same fate as the Shining Path.
The same as Pol Pot promised to Cambodia...
http://www.hbgraphics.com/nepal/index.html
I don't know how to post the above web site as a link, but you can copy it to get to the site of his pics from the trip. At the bottom of the first page of the web site is a link to a virtual tour - definitely worth seeing.
A country as poor as this one doesn't need this kind of trouble.
If Nepal can find a Fujimori, they can count themselves as blessed. Fuji was a flawed man, but he was prepared to fight when everyone else thought the game was lost.
Thanks to him Shining Path is either dead, in jail, or hiding out in the remotest part of the jungle.
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