NEPAL: KILLERS OF TWO MAOIST STUDENTS REMAIN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000853

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS AND DRL
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PTER PGOV NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: KILLERS OF TWO MAOIST STUDENTS REMAIN
UNIDENTIFIED

REF: A. KATHMANDU 0795

B. KATHMANDU 0770

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Although the Maoist-affiliated student union
continues to blame the security forces for the killings of
two of its members in April, most human rights groups and
mainstream politicians from the area believe that the pair
were likely murdered by others in the insurgents' student
wing. Some senior police officials, on the other hand, have
suggested that the two may have been killed because of local
anti-Maoist vigilantism. End summary.

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DECAPITATED STUDENT BODIES
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2. (U) The leadership of the Maoist-affiliated All-Nepal
National Independent Student Union - Revolutionary (ANNISU-R)
has accused the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) of killing ANNISU-R
members Bhupendra Timilsena and Prit Kumar Moktan in the city
of Hetauda in the south-central district of Makwanpur. The
decapitated body of Timilsena was found in Hetauda on April
20, while the headless and mutilated corpse of Moktan was
discovered one week later (Ref A). The two had been reported
missing on April 20 after having been arrested, the ANNISU-R
alleged, by RNA soldiers. A third student who had
disappeared at the same time, Ramesh Sapkota, remains
missing. The ANNISU-R called an April 29 general strike, or
bandh, to protest the killings (Ref B). Findings from an
investigation into the incidents, conducted under Home
Ministry auspices, were forwarded to the Home Minister on May
8, according to Ministry Joint Secretary Naranjan Baral. He
declined to disclose the results of the investigation until
after the Minister has had a chance to review it.

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INTRA-PARTY STRIFE, LOCAL REVENGE
SUGGESTED AS POSSIBLE MOTIVES
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3. (SBU) Human rights groups, local polticians, and police
cast doubt on the ANNISU-R version of events. Krishna Gautam
of national human rights NGO INSEC (affiliated with the
Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist, the
largest political party) questioned ANNISU-R allegations that
the pair had been arrested by the RNA. Instead, Gautam said,
local residents believe that the two had more likely been
detained and killed by villagers angered by the insurgent
students' past behavior. (Note: Senior police officials in
Kathmandu have offered the same theory. End note.) A local
reporter based in Hetauda said that none of the villagers
reported having seen the students with the RNA. Hiranya Lal
Shrestha, a member of the Communist Party of Nepal - Marxist
Leninist and former Member of Parliament from Makwanpur,
speculated that the two may have been killed because of
internal rivalries within the Maoist camp. Alternatively, he
suggested that the students could have been killed by gangs
involved in smuggling marijuana from Makwanpur to India who
were angered at the Maoist tax on contraband marijuana.
Chief District Officer Pashupati Karmacharya said he was "100
percent sure" that the Maoists themselves killed the two
students, alleging the two had a dispute about "money
matters" with their fellow cadres before their
disappearances. He added that the RNA would have been more
likely to shoot the students than to take the trouble of
decapitating them. Superintendent of Police Narayan Prasad
Bastakoti of the District Police Office stated that an
investigation into the two murders is ongoing. The general
public now realizes that neither the police nor the RNA was
involved in the killings, he asserted, echoing others'
speculation that the two were either killed by other Maoists
or by members of a criminal gang. The local chapter of
Amnesty International said it had no information on the
incident, while the National Human Rights Commission said it
had not received any complaints regarding the killings and
had thus not begun an investigation.

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COMMENT
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4. (SBU) The ANNISU-R, which had initially tried to exploit
the grisly killings as an example of RNA brutality, has been
uncharacteristically silent since the beginning of May,
likely put off by widespread public skepticism--if not
outright hostility. We find it particularly telling that
local residents, who presumably knew the murder victims best,
do not appear particularly sympathetic to the ANNISU-R
version of events. While we doubt that the just-concluded
inquiry by the Home Ministry will turn up much reliable
information either to implicate or exonerate any of the
alleged killers, the Maoists' sensationalist charges against
the RNA appear to have died a natural death.
MALINOWSKI