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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001572 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2017 
TAGS: PTER PHUM KDEM KSEC NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST LETTER TO AMBASSADOR CALLS FOR NEW 
RELATIONSHIP 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Nancy J. Powell.  Reasons 1.4 (b/d). 
 
Maoist Letter to Ambassador Powell 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶1. (C) On August 20, the Ambassador received a letter from 
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) leader Krishna 
Mahara in his capacity as a Central Committee member.  Mahara 
also serves as Nepal's Minister of Information and 
Communications, but wrote only in his party capacity.  The 
two-page letter, which a Nepali pastor provided to the 
Political-Economic Chief, attempted to explain why the 
Maoists launched the "People's War," and addressed a number 
of specific issues regarding the United States.  These 
included the attack by the Maoist Young Communist League on 
Ambassador Moriarty's vehicle in May 2007, the killing during 
the insurgency of two Nepali guards employed by the U.S., and 
the allegation in March 2007 by the Maoists of a royalist 
threat to kill U.S. officials.  Mahara acknowledged the 
Maoist failure to meet U.S. "expectations" and listed the 
party's goals as "multiparty democracy, human rights and full 
religious freedom."  He concluded by indicating that the 
Maoists were "always willing to talk to U.S. government 
officials at any level and in any place." 
 
Origin of the Letter 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) While the immediate reason for the letter's production 
is the Ambassador's arrival, it has been several months in 
the making.  It was transmitted via Dr. K.B. Rokaya, a 
Pol/Econ contact, who is a long-time friend of Maoist no. 2 
Baburam Bhattarai.  Rokaya has served as a channel for 
earlier contacts with the Maoists on security issues. 
 
Text of the Letter 
------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) Begin Text 
 
Ambassador Nancy Powell 
U.S. Embassy 
Kathmandu, Nepal 
 
August 14, 2007 
 
Dear Ambassador Powell, 
 
Namaste, and welcome to Nepal. 
 
It is our sincere desire that your tenure in Nepal will be 
satisfying and productive.  We hope that during your time of 
service here you will see substantial changes towards peace 
and justice across our land. 
 
We are very hopeful that with your arrival there will be a 
new beginning in the relationship between the U.S. Government 
and CPN-M.  We feel that it was unfortunate that a dialogue 
between us was not obtained with your predecessor. 
 
As for the past, on February 13, 1996 after we had exhausted 
every avenue we knew of to bring about a substantial change 
to the Nepal Government, we organized a revolution against a 
corrupt Monarchy.  The Brahmin Hindu politicians and 
government leaders had been uncaring of the plight of the 
common people.  An understanding of the fate of the common 
Nepali people has been clearly pointed out by Professor Dor 
Bahadur Bista in his book "Fatalism & Development".  He shows 
how Nepal has little future while it is ruled by Brahmin 
Hindu teaching.  Incidentally, for writing and saying such 
things, he paid for it when in 1995 he disappeared from a bus 
coming from West Nepal in the middle of the night. 
 
I would like to point out, that even though the revolution is 
substantially over, still the Congress Party and others 
refused to change the constitution to allow individuals to 
freely choose their own religion.  This is just one point 
 
KATHMANDU 00001572  002 OF 003 
 
 
that indicates that we must continue to be vigilant and 
strong.  Our goal is to see the Monarchy completely removed 
from Nepal.  Otherwise, our country will continue to be 
governed by corrupt politicians, who according to their Hindu 
teaching, are deserving of all the fruits of the land. 
 
May I mention that we are aware that we have not been able to 
meet all of the expectations that your predecessor had. 
However, after 10 years of warfare to change everything and 
everyone in such a diverse and widespread organization is not 
easy and takes time. 
 
(The paragraph beginning "May I" is repeated.) 
 
For instance, not long ago, a few YCL cadres took it upon 
themselves to pelt Ambassador Moriarty's vehicle with rocks. 
This was an embarrassing event for our organization.  These 
cadres were neither instructed to do so, nor did we expect 
this action to come from our people.  Nevertheless, it did. 
Please accept our apologies. 
 
During the Revolution we found ourselves faced with many 
difficult situations.  One of them was when we discovered 
that two U.S. Embassy employees were seeking to collect 
information about the CPN-M leadership.  Whether they were 
doing this of their own accord, or whether it was at the 
instigation of pro-Monarchy forces we do not know.  However, 
since we were at war, the situation seemed to be very 
serious.  At the time, we felt that their spying on the 
Maoist leadership had to be curtailed and they were killed by 
the CPNM cadres. 
 
Perhaps this incident was seen to be an attack on the U.S. 
Government, but that was not the case.  We are sorry that you 
lost two of your employees in such a manner and I wanted to 
enlighten you on the circumstances that led to it.  Let me 
assure you that such an incident will not be repeated in the 
future.  We have very strictly instructed out cadres that 
under no circumstances are any U.S. citizens or Nepalese 
working at the U.S. Embassy to be targeted. 
 
Consequently, I was greatly alarmed this Spring when our 
party received information from a reliable intelligence 
source.  We were informed of a Palace plan to kill high level 
U.S. Embassy officials and have it blamed on CPN-M cadres. 
The Palace is adept at disseminating false stories about 
CPN-M and I knew that if this plot were successfully carried 
out it would be impossible for us (to) prove that we were not 
involved.  Such an event would have greatly strengthened the 
pro-Monarchy forces and, not to mention the tragic loss of 
life, could have been a great set-back for the revolution. 
It is difficult for us to give more precise information about 
the incident without disclosing the identity of our 
intelligence source.  To doubly insure that such a tragedy 
did not occur, we immediately gave strict instructions to our 
cadres not to harm any U.S. citizens or U.S. Embassy 
officials. 
 
In closing, may I say that the CPN-M Party goals remain 
committed to multiparty democracy, human rights and full 
religious freedom.  As we proceed towards that goal, we want 
to develop a good diplomatic relationship with the US.  In 
that regards, the CPN-M is always willing to talk to U.S. 
government officials at any level and in any place. 
 
Again, Ambassador Powell, a warm welcome to Nepal. 
 
Sincerely Yours, 
 
Mr. Krishna Bahadur Mahara 
Member of Central Committee, CPN-M 
Kathmandu, Nepal 
 
End Text 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
KATHMANDU 00001572  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) The Mahara letter represents the first formal 
communication by the Maoists with the U.S. Embassy in several 
years.  It appears to be largely motivated by a Maoist desire 
to take advantage of the Ambassador's arrival to make a new 
beginning in the U.S.-Maoist relationship.  Post will review 
August 21 and provide recommendations for a response. 
POWELL