NEPAL: UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, DEC 27-JAN 3

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SUBJECT: NEPAL: UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, DEC 27-JAN 3

REF: A. Kathmandu 2492

B. Kathmandu 2490

SUMMARY
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1. The GON said it is receptive to and ready to create an
environment for peace talks with the Maoists. Prime
Minister Lokendra Chand said the GON will accede to the
Maoists' demand for information on imprisoned rebels.
Despite the GON's conciliatory gestures, the Maoists have
called another two-day bandh for February to protest King
Gyanendra's dismissal of the elected government and
continued their campaign of violence. Maoists killed six
civilians, including two children and a young widow whom
they hacked to death, and injured seven others in separate
bombing incidents. The rebels also killed three policemen
and injured seven members of the Armed Police Force (APF) in
separate attacks. Two policemen are still missing from an
attack on a police post. Six students were abducted at
gunpoint by the Maoists and their whereabouts are still
unknown. Maoists set off several bombs in the downtown
Kathmandu area, bombed several Village Development Committee
(VDC) buildings, set fire to a large residence, and looted
rice, cotton and fertilizer from a Cotton Development
Office. India reportedly arrested three Maoists from Nepal.
Nepali human rights groups continued to decry the human
rights violations by both the GON and the Maoists, invoking
the Geneva Convention and opposing the purchase of weapons
by the GON.

GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO MAOIST DEMANDS
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2. Speaking at a tribute to the late King Birendra, Prime
Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said the GON is ready to
reveal the locations and names of Maoist rebels currently
imprisoned throughout the country. Maoist leaders have
demanded the information as one of their preconditions for a
peace dialogue. Chand said the only way to achieve peace is
through dialogue and the GON will do its part, but the
Maoists will have to take positive steps as well. Chand
called for an end to the violence and murder of innocent
people, saying that such acts are not an acceptable means to
fulfill political ambitions, but only serve to deprive
Nepali people of their rights.

MAOISTS CALL ANOTHER TWO-DAY STRIKE
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3. Maoists have called for another nationwide two-day
strike on February 13-14. The strike ostensibly is being
called to protest King Gyanendra's dismissal of the elected
government and to express their anger at what Maoist leader
Prachanda says is the "suspension of the people's sovereign
rights."


4. The two-day bandh called by the Maoists on December 29-
30 for the Bagmati and Narayani districts, including the
Kathmandu Valley, passed largely without incident (ref A).
However, most businesses and schools were shut down and few
vehicles were on the streets. Nepal saw an unprecedented
number of bandhs in 2002, particularly educational bandhs.
According to press reports, there were a total of 39 bandh
days, of which 17 were educational bandhs.

NO END IN SIGHT TO MAOIST BRUTALITY AND DESTRUCTION
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5. On December 29 Maoist rebels forcibly entered a home in
Gulariya, southern Bardiga District, and brutally killed a
twenty-five year old mother by chopping off her legs and
driving nails into her palms. On December 28 Maoists threw
a grenade into a home in southern Dang District, killing
four members of a family, including a two year-old child.
Maoists also killed a fourteen-year-old child and injured
seven others in neighboring Salyan District by throwing a
bomb into a tea shop. On December 27 Maoists bombed a
school dormitory in Kathmandu, injuring five children, a
teacher and a principal (ref B).


6. Maoist assaults on policemen and police posts continued
throughout Nepal. On January 2 seven members of the Armed
Police Force (APF),including the superintendent, were
injured by a Maoist landmine in the Dang District. Two
policemen were killed at a temporary police post in southern
Bara District on December 28 when rebels ambushed the post
and then blew it up. Two policemen from the post are still
missing. In the Kailali District, armed Maoists surrounded
a police officer's home and kidnapped him. His mutilated
body was discovered on December 29.


7. On December 27 Maoists set fire to a large residence in
central Nuwakot District, causing damage of over one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. The Maoists also looted gold
and money from the building before destroying it. Maoists
also bombed a statue of the late King Mahendra in the Bara
District, totally destroying it. Several bombs went off in
the Kathmandu Valley on December 28, including one at a
central shopping area (New Road),and Gongabu Village
Development Committee (VDC) facilities. No injuries were
reported. Police in eastern Siraha District were able to
diffuse three pressure cooker bombs that were planted near a
main road. Maoist rebels bombed and destroyed a Cotton
Development Office in southern Bardia District on December
25 and looted rice, cotton and fertilizer. Two VDC office
buildings in southern Parsa District were destroyed after
being bombed by Maoists on December 27.


8. Maoists entered a high school in eastern Bhojpur
District and abducted six students at gunpoint. The
students, all boys, were taken to an unknown location and
have yet to be released.

GLUTTONOUS MAOISTS CLEAN OUT HOMES
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9. Villagers already in fear for their lives now have to
worry about Maoists depleting their personal food supplies.
It is becoming common for Maoists to enter a home and stay
until they have consumed all the food supplies. The rebels,
locally known as "Maobadis" or Maoist fanatics, have become
so greedy that villagers have started calling them
"khaobadis" or eating fanatics. Villagers, already
struggling to feed themselves and their families, now worry
that they will be forced to feed the "khaobadis."

INDIA ARRESTS NEPALI MAOISTS
--------------


10. Three Maoist rebels, including a senior leader of the
All-Nepal National Free Students Union--Revolutionary
(ANNFSU-R),were reportedly arrested on December 29 outside
Siliguri, near Darjeeling. Police officials said the rebels
were heading to Patna to attend a meeting with the People's
War Group and the Maoist Communist Center, two Indian Maoist
groups. The arrests came after India recently increased
security along the India-Nepal border.


11. L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister of India, voiced
concern that Maoists from Nepal have increased their efforts
to infiltrate India and step up their campaign of violence.

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WANT GENEVA PACT IMPLEMENTED
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12. Representatives from the Human Rights and Alternative
Development Academy and the Indigenous Human Rights and
Concern Society filed a writ petition in Nepal's Supreme
Court, demanding that GON be ordered, under the Geneva
Convention, to protect human rights. The petition claims
that the Geneva Convention can be invoked because of Nepal's
current internal conflict.

13. Kapil Shrestha, member of the National Human Rights
Commission, called for zero tolerance of human rights
violations by both the Maoists and the GON and demanded that
the Maoists immediately declare a cease-fire. The Human
Rights and Peace Society (HURPES),a non-governmental
organization in Kathmandu, released its own paper on
December 28 accusing the GON of gross human rights
violations and the Maoists of violating international
humanitarian laws.


14. Lakshmi Rai, of the National Women's Commission,
expressed anger that the identities of the rape victims in
Amnesty International's recent human rights report were made
public. Rai expressed concern over the revelations and
airing of video footage of the alleged rape victims, saying
that it will only serve to ostracize the girls and subject
them to further victimization. The Royal Nepal Army (RNA)
has publicly denied the rape charges.


15. A local human rights group decried the purchase of
weapons by the GON, saying the arrival of the Belgian arms
was not conducive to peace talks. Radha Krishna Mainali,
committee member of the Communist Party of Nepal-United
Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML),questioned the purchase by the
GON, saying the deal made it hard to hope for peace.