NEPAL: SECURITY SOURCES CONFIRM INDIANS HAND OVER

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000280 SIPDIS STATE FOR SA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2014 TAGS: PTER PREL NP IN SUBJECT: NEPAL: SECURITY SOURCES CONFIRM INDIANS HAND OVER TWO MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS REF: A. 03 KATHMANDU 1649 ¶B. 03 KATHMANDU 2298 Classified By: POL PMAHONEY. REASON: 1.5(B,D). ¶1. (C) Police and Army sources have confirmed that on February 8 Indian authorities handed over Maoist Politburo member Matrika Yadav and Maoist Central Advisor Suresh Ale Magar to the Royal Nepal Army (RNA). Unconfirmed reports suggested that the Maoists may were captured in the northern Indian city of Lucknow and were planning to attend a rally to be held in New Delhi on February 15. (Note: An announcement of the rally posted on the Maoist website described its purpose as to "foil the attempt of American imperialism to infiltrate South Asia through Nepal." End note.) Yadav was a member of the five-man Maoist negotiating team during the 2003 ceasefire and was released from detention by the Government of Nepal as a confidence-building measure during the 2001 ceasefire. ¶2. (C) Comment: It is widely assumed by many in Nepal that much of the Maoist leadership spends much of their time in India. The apparent ease with which Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist General Secretary Madhav Nepal held a "secret" (but otherwise quite well-publicized) meeting with Maoist leader Prachanda in Lucknow on November 20 only helped confirm such suspicions (Ref B). That meeting, coupled with the equally well-advertised Maoist rally planned in New Delhi, were likely sources of embarrassment for the Indian government. With these most recent two arrests, the only three Maoist Central Committee members currently in custody have been apprehended by Indian authorities. (Politburo member Chandra Gajurel, arrested in Chennai on August 20, remains in Indian custody.) The Maoist propaganda mill has been in overdrive recently threatening a wide-ranging "shock program" of sabotage, strikes and general mayhem to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the insurgency on February 14. Indian cooperation in arresting this pair--especially so close to this anniversary--is an important sign of progress. MALINOWSKI