NEPALI FM: INDIA BROKERING MAOIST-POLITICAL

S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001192 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/03/2025 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINS IN NP SUBJECT: NEPALI FM: INDIA BROKERING MAOIST-POLITICAL PARTIES AGREEMENT REF: KATHMANDU 1097 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: CHARGE ELISABETH I. MILLARD, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B,D) ¶1. (C) CDA telephoned FM Pandey on June 3 to express concern over reports that security services prevented UML Central Committee member Jhalanath Khanal from boarding a plane for Delhi on June 2. (Note: Khanal had told us on May 30 that he was going to India for medical treatment. According to British Ambassador Bloomfield, the Government of India was also planning to meet with Khanal during his stay in Delhi. End Note). ¶2. (C) Pandey said His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMGN) had allowed a number of other individuals to travel to India, including NC leader G.P. Koirala, for whom he had instructed Nepal's embassy in Delhi to provide transportation and any other required support. ¶3. (C) Turning to Khanal, Pandey said HMGN had received "very credible" reports from three sources in India that the GOI was seeking to bridge the differences between the Maoists and Nepal's political parties, including the UML. Two UML officials were currently in India, former Deputy PM Bam Dev Gautam and Kumar Khanga (NFI). Pandey said the GOI had facilitated meetings between these officials and Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai. According to the information the Nepalis had received, the Maoists and these UML representatives had agreed that a more senior UML presence would be needed to reach an understanding, hence the plan to dispatch Khanal. "We could not let that happen," Pandey asserted. ¶4. (C) Pandey stressed that "there is no going back" on HMGN's commitment to lift restrictions on civil liberties. He pleaded for USG understanding for Kathmandu's compulsion to prevent what it saw as highly dangerous developments in New Delhi. Comment -------------- ¶5. (S) Pandey's allegations are serious and very worrisome. Reports about Maoist activities abound. British Ambassador Bloomfield told CDA on June 2 that an officer in his Embassy has a direct contact with Maoist spokesman Mahara. Bloomfield said Mahara had contacted the Brit three times during the past week and speculated that the Maoists are desperately seeking to increase their international legitimacy. He said the Brits, like us, have strongly discouraged Nepal's political parties from considering entering into some arrangement with the Maoists. MILLARD