Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03KATHMANDU440
2003-03-11 11:30:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: MAOIST STUDENTS LOCK OUT UNIVERSITY

Tags:  PTER SOCI PGOV NP 
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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 000440 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/SA
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL
NSC FOR MILLARD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER SOCI PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST STUDENTS LOCK OUT UNIVERSITY
ADMINISTRATORS

REF: KATHMANDU 0217

-------
SUMMARY
--------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000440

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/SA
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL
NSC FOR MILLARD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER SOCI PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST STUDENTS LOCK OUT UNIVERSITY
ADMINISTRATORS

REF: KATHMANDU 0217

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (SBU) On March 9 members of the Maoist-affiliated All
Nepal National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary
(ANNISU-R) padlocked administrative offices at 25 branches of
Tribhuvan University. Maoist student leaders threaten that
the lock-out will continue until the Government of Nepal
(GON) meets their five demands, including the release of all
Maoist student detainees in GON custody. University
officials, fearing violent retaliation, so far have not dared
to defy the lock-out. Student leaders aligned with
mainstream parties have speculated that the lock-out is a
ploy to disrupt campus elections that the ANNISU-R knows it
cannot win. The Maoists may be using their student wing as a
way to increase direct pressure on the GON without
"violating" the ceasefire. End summary.

--------------
INDEFINITE LOCK-OUT
--------------


2. (U) On March 9 members of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal
National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R)
padlocked administrative offices at 25 branches of the
government-run Tribhuvan University (TU) across the country,
including in Kathmandu. (Note: There are a total of 195 TU
campuses nationwide. End note.) The lock-out has not yet
affected instruction, according to the Ministry of Education,
and classes are proceeding as usual. ANNISU-R threatened to
continue the lock-out until the University and/or the
Government of Nepal (GON) fulfills five demands: a)
off-cycle applications for admission for ANNISU-R members
previously barred from enrolling; b) the postponement of
student elections from February to April; c) medical
treatment for all Maoist students injured in the insurgency;
d) release of all Maoist student detainees; and e)
publication of the names of Maoist students killed or
detained during the insurgency.


3. (SBU) According to Laba Tripathee, Joint Secretary for
Educational Administration at the Education Ministry, TU
officials had been in negotiations with ANNISU-R
representatives throughout the last week of February in an
effort to avert a strike. In fact, he reported, university
administrators had acquiesced in granting the first two

demands (which fall under TU's purview),agreeing to special
applications for admission from ANNISU-R activists, who had
been "underground" during the regular application season, and
postponing student body elections, originally scheduled for
late February, until April 23 to allow ANNISU-R candidates
time to prepare their campaigns. The remaining three demands
TU officials had referred to the GON. While the GON had not
yet committed to fulfilling those demands, Tripathee said, it
is maintaining a "positive" and "flexible" outlook. (Note:
Since most Maoist fighters are believed to be under the age
of 30, virtually any insurgent who had been injured,
detained, or killed during the insurgency could qualify as
one of the "Maoist students" cited by the ANNISU-R, making
these demands especially burdensome to meet. End note.) TU
officials had believed the negotiations were going well and
were therefore perplexed, according to Tripathee, at the
lock-out. Fearing violent retaliation, no University
administratiors so far have tried to break the locks and
enter their offices, he said. The GON, anxious that nothing
undermine the January 29 ceasefire with Maoist insurgents, is
trying hard to address the crisis, he said, adding that
Narayan Singh Pun, Minister for Physical Planning and
GON-appointed interlocutor with the Maoists, had offered to
meet with ANNISU-R representatives.

--------------
OTHER STUDENTS' REACTIONS
--------------


4. (SBU) Student leaders aligned with most mainstream
political parties do not support the lock-out. Rajendra Rai,
President of the All Nepal National Free Student Union, which
is affiliated with the mainstream Communist Party of Nepal -
United Marxist Leninist (UML),told us that while he
sympathizes with the ANNISU-R's demands, he disagrees with
their disruptive tactics. Lock-outs interfere with students'
education, he stated, and noted ANNISU-R's injustice in
holding TU officials responsible for fulfilling demands that
only the GON can meet. Gururaj Ghimire, President of the
Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students' Union, complained
that his organization had been planning its own strike for
March 13 to pressure university authorities to satisfy its
own separate (seven-point) list of demands, but had been
pre-empted by the ANNISU-R lock-out. He claimed this
suspicious coincidence is "evidence" that the ANNISU-R, the
GON, and TU officials are in collusion to prevent student
body elections. Both student leaders reported that the
ANNISU-R, despite lobbying to postpone elections to allow its
participation, had done little serious campaigning so far and
had scant popular support. They speculated that the ANNISU-R
may have calculated that it could not win. Rather than face
defeat, the Maoist-affiliated union staged an indefinite
lock-out as a way to postpone elections indefinitely.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


5. (SBU) Meeting the ANNISU-R's blanket demands--especially
its insistence that all "student" detainees be released--will
be difficult for the GON, despite its desire to be
"flexible." The five-week ceasefire so far has been
generally well observed--a fact cited by some observers as
proof of the Maoists' sincerity this time in seeking a
negotiated resolution. The Maoist students' lock-out thus
far has been peaceful and, since it has not yet disrupted
classes, does not constitute a full-fledged strike. Thus,
according to some interpretations, the lock-out does not
constitute a violation of the ceasefire. Nonetheless, the
action could be an attempt by the Maoist leadership, via its
student surrogates, to maintain pressure on the GON by
imposing on it an ever-expanding, constantly changing list of
unrealistic demands.

MALINOWSKI