Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03KATHMANDU1649
2003-08-28 10:16:00
SECRET
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: FURTHER INFORMATION ON MAOIST LEADER

Tags:  PTER PREL IN UK NP 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001649 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY
NEW DELHI FOR POL AND LEGATT
NSC FOR MILLARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2013
TAGS: PTER PREL IN UK NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: FURTHER INFORMATION ON MAOIST LEADER
CAPTURED IN INDIA

REF: KATHMANDU 1638

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001649

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY
NEW DELHI FOR POL AND LEGATT
NSC FOR MILLARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2013
TAGS: PTER PREL IN UK NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: FURTHER INFORMATION ON MAOIST LEADER
CAPTURED IN INDIA

REF: KATHMANDU 1638

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).


1. (C) In an informal discussion with the Ambassador on
August 27, Indian Ambassador Shyam Saran and British
Ambassador Keith Bloomfield provided further details on the
August 20 arrest of Nepali Maoist Chandra Gajurel in Chennai.
According to Ambassador Bloomfield, Gajurel was traveling on
a fraudulent British passport that had been issued in Paris.
Indian immigration officials were suspicious of the
authenticity of the passport. (Their suspicions were also
piqued by Gajurel's statement that he had never been to
Paris.) Gajurel told Indian immigration officials that he
was traveling to the UK to meet British political parties and
members of the expatriate Nepali community. Also found in
Gajurel's possession was the return half of a round-trip
ticket from London to the Gulf to Dhaka. By chance, a
British consular official happened to be at the airport at
the time and verified that the passport was fraudulent.


2. (S) The Indian Ambassador reported that Indian
authorities had been keeping Gajurel under surveillance for
some time before his arrest. Both the British and Indian
Ambassadors speculated that Gajurel might be going to London
in order to collect money from Maoist extortion rings and
from sympathizers. The Indian Ambassador also suggested that
he might have been planning to attend a Revolutionary
International Movement (RIM) meeting in London. Neither
Ambassador reported any evidence that Gajurel may have been
attempting to meet King Gyanendra (currently visiting London)
or a member of his entourage, although the Indian Ambassador
referred several times to "rumors" that that might be the
case. Noting the rumored presence of Maoist leader
Prachanda's brother in the UK, Saran alluded to reports
suggesting that Mohan Vaidya, another top-ranking Politburo
member, is also currently in London.


3. (C) In an August 28 meeting with the Ambassador, Palace
confidant Prabhakar Rana claimed that there was no substance
to rumors that Gajurel was to meet either the King or a
member of his party. Rana said that he would be making the
same point to the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi later
in the week.


4. (S) Comment: We expect that despite denials from both
the Palace and the British, rumors will continue to
reverberate that the Palace, perhaps abetted by the British
government, was moving to arrange a surreptitious meeting--or
that perhaps the British government was independently
attempting to arrange or contrive such a meeting--between the
King or a member of his party and senior Maoist leaders.
Unfortunately, such rumors will only reinforce unwarranted
suspicions among some political parties that the Palace and
the Maoists are in collusion. If it is true that Mohan
Vaidya, who is among the top four in the Maoist Politburo,
and/or Prachanda's brother is in the UK, we would hope that
they would soon be secured by British authorities.
MALINOWSKI