This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000446 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DRL/BA 
 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEGEL 
 
E.O. 12958:    N/A 
TAGS: PHUM NP
SUBJECT: TALES FROM TRIBHUVAN HOSPITAL:  MAOIST VICTIMS 
TELL THEIR STORIES 
 
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CIVILIAN SUFFERING 
-------------------- 
 
¶1. (U) In addition to the 650 policemen and 90 Royal 
Nepal Army soldiers they have killed, Maoists have 
beaten, stabbed, shot or burned to death nearly 400 
civilians since the insurgency began in 1996--more than 
50 of those victims in just the three months since the 
insurgents unilaterally broke off the ceasefire November 
¶23.  Most of the Maoists' civilian targets are local 
government officials, teachers, or supporters of the 
governing Nepali Congress Party.  The number of 
civilians injured, maimed, or assaulted by the 
insurgents is unknown, but each day the government-owned 
Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu 
admits and treats victims of such attacks.  On Feb. 26 
Tribhuvan staff reported treating 25 patients (including 
7 Armed Police victims of a landmine) for injuries 
sustained from Maoist attacks.  Poloff visited and 
interviewed some of the victims; highlights of their 
stories follow below. 
 
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KHAGENDRA RAJ REGMI 
--------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On the night of Feb. 9 three armed Maoists 
knocked on the door of Khagendra Raj Regmi, District 
Committee Chairman of the Nepali Congress Party and 
brother of Prime Minister Deuba's Chief Secretary, in 
Syangja District in western Nepal.  Regmi said when he 
came out, he observed an additional 30 or so Maoists had 
surrounded his house.  The Maoists asked Regmi to come 
with them to an undisclosed location, but he refused. 
The assailants then shot him three times (twice in the 
chest; one bullet grazed his head and hit his hand) and 
fled.  Regmi's entire family has left their home in the 
district and relocated to Kathmandu. 
 
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PADAM PRASAD SILWAL 
--------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  On the morning of Feb. 18, a group of five 
Maoists, armed with pistols, guns, and khukuri knives, 
approached Padam Prasad Silwal, a Nepali Congress 
supporter and small shopowner, as he sat on the porch of 
his home in Chitwan District in south-central Nepal. 
According to Silwal, the armed men suddenly began to 
stab him in the head, back and hands, completely 
chopping off one of his fingers.  A son who tried to 
shield his father was shot and wounded.  Silwal said he 
had frequently been approached by Maoists in the past 
for "donations," especially fuel from his small gas 
pump, and had always complied with their demands.  He 
has no idea why he was targeted and did not recognize 
any of his attackers.  He, his wife, and three sons (one 
of whom is recovering in another hospital) have fled 
their village, leaving all their belongings behind them, 
and are afraid to return.  They have no way to support 
themselves while in Kathmandu.  One son bitterly 
described the family as "refugees." 
 
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CHATTRA RAJ BHANDARI 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Chattra Raj Bhandari said he was attacked by 
a band of about 35 Maoists at his home the night of 
December 23.  The group forced him out of his house, 
tied his hands behind his back, and beat him on the 
head, hands, and legs with an iron rod.  A farmer from 
Phrkot Village in Tanahu District, Bhandari said he 
suspects he was targeted because he supports (but is not 
an organizer for) the Nepali Congress Party. 
 
-------------------------- 
KURMI DAGAURA CHAUDHARI 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  About midnight on January 25, Kurmi Dagaura 
Chaudhari of Banskati, Kailali, was forced out of his 
house, along with his cousin, by a group of 12 
insurgents.   Both men were severely beaten, dragged 
more than a kilometer from their home, dumped into a 
ditch and left for dead.  Chaudhari regained 
consciousness by early morning, however, climbed out of 
the ditch, and made it back home (despite his broken 
arms and legs).  His cousin did not survive the attack. 
Chaudhari, the village postman, said he is not 
affiliated with any political party but used to urge 
young people in his neighborhood, which is heavily 
affected by the insurgency, not to join the Maoists. 
His village is about 70 km from the nearest sizable 
presence of Government security forces .  He said he did 
not recognize any of his attackers. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶6.  (SBU) Since the beginning of the insurgency, the 
Maoists have attacked civilians they consider class 
enemies, but as the state of emergency and subsequent 
Army mobilization limit the range of military targets 
available, the volume of attacks against civilians seems 
to be sharply increasing.  In the early days of the 
conflict, the Maoists sought to popularize a romantic 
notion of themselves as champions of the common man or 
woman against Government oppression. But none of the 
victims interviewed at Tribhuvan was powerful, 
prosperous, or (with the possible exception of Regmi's 
family connections) even influential.  While Maoist 
brutality may succeed in spreading fear, it can only 
undermine rural popular support for the insurgency. 
 
Malinowski