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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000135 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE 
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PTER CASC PGOV NP IN
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, JAN 18-24 
 
REFERENCE:  (A) KATHMANDU 0089 
 
            (B) KATHMANDU 0087 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  Peace talks remain elusive with conflicting reports 
about backchannel Government-Maoist communications.  The 
Government of Nepal has said it will not send a formal 
invitation to the Maoists until they stop their violence, 
while Maoists have warned of severe consequences if talks 
are not held and their student leaders not released.  The 
National Human Rights Commission claimed that the Maoists 
are in regular contact and desire to hold a peace dialogue, 
but only with an all-party interim government.  Maoists are 
taking advantage of isolated areas along the Nepali-India 
border to smuggle contraband into Nepal, while the local 
press has reported that India pledged to set up military 
stations along the border to cope with both Nepali and 
Indian militants.  Victims of the insurgency are planning to 
stage a protest against the Government for its failure to 
provide assistance.  Several human rights groups have 
approached the Government, under fire for refusing a Supreme 
Court order to release several detainees, to improve the 
human rights situation and admit past mistakes. 
 
¶2.  Summary continued.  Maoists killed three Armed Police 
Force (APF) personnel in the mid-west, one police officer 
and one Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldier.  The insurgents 
continued their assaults on civilians, killing six people, 
including an 8-year-old and an 11-year-old child.  Seventeen 
women were abducted by the Maoists in Salyan District for 
"volunteer service," and the Maoists also kidnapped a 
teacher, a Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist 
(CPN-UML) activist, a local social activist, a soldier and a 
female police officer.  Maoists have disrupted postal 
service in Pyuthan District.  People are abandoning their 
jobs and homes in Baglung District because of increased 
pressure from the Maoists.  Schools in the Doti, Accham and 
Bajura Districts are on the verge of closure because 
students and teachers have fled to other parts of Nepal and 
India to avoid the Maoists.  End Summary. 
 
NO PEACE TALKS FORTHCOMING; MIXED MESSAGES ALL AROUND 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶3.  Kuber Sharma, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil 
Aviation, told reporters on January 17 that the committee 
formed to facilitate peace talks between the Government of 
Nepal (GON) and the Maoists has failed to bring about any 
positive results.  Members of the committee, however, claim 
that the committee is in a "progressive phase," and that 
peace talks are at a "confidence building" stage.  Committee 
members refused to elaborate on the new developments, and 
said a deadline could not be placed on when talks would take 
place. Sharma reiterated that the GON would not issue a 
formal invitation to the Maoists unless the Maoists stop 
their violence. 
 
¶4.  The Maoists, meanwhile, issued a warning to the GON, 
conveyed by a former abductee, to hold talks soon or face 
severe consequences.  The insurgents also warned the GON to 
release its student leaders, threatening to send thousands 
of armed students to the capital if the GON did not comply. 
 
¶5.  Press reports claim that the Maoists are in regular 
contact with members of the National Human Rights Commission 
(NHRC), who said the Maoists are interested in holding peace 
talks, but only with an all-party interim government. 
Conflicting reports, however, cite the Maoists as saying 
they would talk only with the King.  In addition to demands 
for an interim government, the Maoists want assurance that 
they will not be arrested at peace talks.  Nayan Bahadur 
Khatri, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, 
said the Maoists are to blame for the failed progress in 
peace dialogue.  Khatri cited their lack of sincerity and 
failure to respect human rights as hindrances to the 
resolution of the current crisis. 
 
SMUGGLING ACROSS THE NEPAL-INDIA BORDER 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Isolated areas along the Nepal-India border are 
reportedly becoming hot spots for Maoists, who use the 
terrain to smuggle contraband.  According to local reports, 
gunpowder, explosives, arms and even tobacco and liquor from 
India are being smuggled into Nepal. The post at Koilabus, 
which is only 34 kilometers from the Maoists' Dang District 
training center, is difficult to reach by vehicle and no 
security personnel have been posted there. 
 
¶7.  George Fernandes, India's Defence Minister, was quoted 
in the local press stating that India would soon set up two 
military stations along the Bihar-Nepal border.  Fernandes 
said the stations were being set up in response to the 
increasing activities of "Nepal's Maoist extremists" and 
reports of smuggling.  Fernandes offered that the 
checkpoints would help cope with enemies from the outside as 
well as internal insurgencies. 
 
MURDER AND MAYHEM BY MAOISTS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8.  Three Armed Police Force (APF) personnel were killed and 
eighteen others were injured by a landmine blast in Surkhet 
District on January 23.  The police were on routine patrol 
when the landmine, reportedly planted by Maoists, exploded 
near a bridge.  A two-hour clash between the APF and the 
Maoists followed.  One policeman was killed and several 
others injured when Maoists ambushed a patrol group of 35 
officers in northwestern Jumla District on January 22.  On 
January 20 a soldier from the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) was 
killed when Maoists detonated a landmine in northeastern 
Solukhumbu District.  In Rupandihi District, two policemen 
were seriously wounded on January 17 when their jeep hit a 
landmine. 
 
¶9.  Two children, age 8 and 11, were killed in Jumla 
District after playing with a bomb left by Maoists.  Maoists 
reportedly chopped off a student's hand before releasing him 
from captivity.  The boy had been abducted from Dang 
District while playing football.  Insurgents severely beat a 
villager in Nuwakot District whom they accused of being a 
polygamist, and also killed two civilians in Khotang 
District, claiming that they had been spying for security 
forces.  A Nepali Congress supporter was beaten to death in 
Dang District on January 23 by a group of Maoists.  The 
insurgents shot and seriously wounded a civilian in 
Sindhupalchowk District on January 17.  The insurgents also 
shot and killed a man on January 15 in Rauthat District 
while he was taking part in a wedding procession. 
 
¶10.  The insurgency continues to cause hardship in the far 
western hills of Bajura District.  Residents have been left 
without telephone lines after Maoists destroyed 
communication towers.  According to the District Agriculture 
Office, not only has rice output in the district decreased, 
but Maoists are demanding a contribution from families as 
well, leaving limited supplies for families.  Supplies of 
rice from outside areas have been unable to make it into the 
district because of lack of security and looting by Maoists. 
 
MAOISTS CONTINUE ABDUCTIONS OF CIVILIANS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  In Dolakha District, Maoists abducted a soldier 
guarding the Khimti Hydro project on January 17.  A female 
police officer was also abducted by the Maoists from her 
residence on January 19, but was released, unharmed, twenty 
hours later. Seventeen women in Salyan District were taken 
by the Maoists for "volunteer service."  Maoists reportedly 
took one woman from each household and did not tell the 
families where they were being taken.  A high school 
teacher, affiliated with the Nepal National Teachers' 
Organization, was abducted from his home outside of 
Sankhuwasabha District on January 21 by a group of Maoists. 
 
¶12.  Maoists, once again, targeted associates of the 
Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), 
kidnapping one member in Baglung District on January 21 and 
another District Committee Member in Dhankuta District.  A 
locally prominent, social activist of Nuwakot District was 
taken by Maoists after they stormed into a meeting and 
grabbed him.  His whereabouts are still unknown.  Maoists 
have released the four Communist Party of Nepal-United 
Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) workers abducted a week ago in 
Bhojpur District (ref A).  According to press reports, the 
CPN-UML members were abducted for organizing meetings 
without getting permission from the Maoists. 
 
¶13.  Maoists still have not released the five people they 
abducted from the Food For Work Programme (FWP) in Mugu 
District in the far northwest.  Human rights activists have 
demanded their release, saying that the kidnappings are a 
violation of international human rights law. The five have 
been held since December 23. 
 
¶14.  Eighty students abducted from Salyan District last week 
have been released.  The Maoists had kidnapped the students, 
ages 15 and 16, to train them in guerilla warfare. 
 
INSURGENCY CAUSING JOB AND SCHOOL ABANDONMENT 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶15.  Villagers are fleeing from Baglung District out of fear 
for their safety.  Maoist threats of violence have forced 
almost 100 people to leave their homes and, according to the 
District Administration Office (DAO), the numbers are 
increasing.  Escalating Maoist violence in other districts 
such as Dang, Nepalgunj and Jumla has also caused government 
and non-government workers, teachers and security personnel 
to abandon their jobs as well as their homes.  The Maoists 
have stepped up their campaign of violence against the 
workers for what they see as a lack of assistance.  Many 
have quit their jobs and are fleeing to India. 
 
¶16.  Government schools in mid-western Nepal are at risk of 
being closed down because of dwindling attendance by 
students and the fleeing of teachers due to the Maoist 
insurgency.  Schools in the Doti, Achham, and Bajura 
Districts have been abandoned by teachers and students. 
Teachers have fled the schools to avoid Maoists who force 
the teachers to donate a percentage of their salary and also 
for safer working conditions.  Maoists have also been 
forcing students to participate in weekly Maoist programs. 
According to reports, over fifty percent of the students 
have also fled to India and other parts of Nepal to avoid 
forced recruitment by the Maoists and harassment by security 
forces. 
 
¶17.  Postal service is almost non-existent in Pyuthan 
District.  Maoists are harassing postal carriers and have 
destroyed most of the post offices.  Now the insurgents have 
stopped delivery of mail to security personnel as well as 
the local villagers. No one has complained about active 
Maoist censorship of personal mail for fear of retaliation 
by the Maoists. 
 
CHALLENGE TO IMPROVE HUMAN RIGHTS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶18.  The Government of Nepal is under fire for its refusal 
to release several detainees, even after being ordered to do 
so by the Supreme Court of Nepal.  The National Human Rights 
Commission (NHRC) has urged the GON to comply with the order 
and respect basic human rights, declaring in a letter sent 
to Prime Minister Lokendra Chand that it would be 
"ridiculous" if the GON does not obey the order and thus 
encourage "gross violations of human rights."  The four 
detainees are being held under the Terrorist and Destructive 
Activities Act, on suspicions of being Maoists. 
 
¶19.  Krishna Pahadi, Chairman of the Human Rights and Peace 
Society Nepal, wants the GON to admit human rights abuses in 
other cases and compensate the families who have suffered 
because of the violations.  The request follows the 
admission by the government that the five youths killed by 
the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) Nuwakot on November 27 were 
innocent civilians (ref B). 
 
¶20.  The Government announced that a human rights cell has 
been established within the Armed Police Force (APF).  The 
cell is headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police and 
consists of senior police officers.  A similar cell is also 
being formed in the civilian police force. 
 
¶21.  The National Assembly Social Justice Committee, a 
division of the Upper House of Parliament, called for an 
immediate stop to human rights violations, and has also 
questioned the government over the insufficient supply of 
passports in districts throughout Nepal.  The Committee is 
also seeking clarification pertaining to news reports which 
allege that people injured as a result of operations carried 
out by security forces are being denied medical treatment. 
 
VICTIMS OF MAOIST INSURGENCY PROTEST GOVERNMENT 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶22.  Victims of Maoist atrocities are planning a mass rally 
to protest the Government of Nepal's (GON) lack of 
assistance.  The Maoist-Affected Victim's Association (MAVA) 
announced that it would stage protests beginning on January 
24 and ending February 12.  MAVA is also planning a sit-in 
in front of Singha Durbar on February 4, hoping to bring 
traffic to a standstill for an hour.  MAVA claims that the 
government has not honored the assistance program promised 
by the Deuba government.  MAVA is demanding an increase in 
financial assistance, medical care, pensions for the widows 
of murdered schoolteachers, and scholarships for the 
children of victims.  Under Prime Minister Chand, MAVA 
claims that financial allowances for the displaced have been 
terminated, medical treatment is limited to only three 
months, and the financial compensation is inadequate. 
 
MALINOWSKI