MAOISTS PURSUING PARALLEL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001615 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016 TAGS: PTER PGOV NP SUBJECT: MAOISTS PURSUING PARALLEL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). People's Courts in Kathmandu... -------------- ¶1. (C) Media recently reported that Maoists have established "People's Courts" in the Kathmandu Valley. A local businessman told Emboff that Maoist People's Courts in Kathmandu had been issuing instructions to businessmen on behalf of workers. In one case, the businessman's friend had paid his workers and closed his factory for a planned temporary period due to low production. Several days later, one worker returned with a judgment from the Maoist People's Court instructing him to reopen his factory and permanently hire his temporary workers. The Maoist Labor Union is also actively ordering businesses to follow their orders. According to Rohini Thapaliya, President of the Nepal German Chamber of Commerce, many of these demands are unusual and strict, but eventually he has had to give in to most of them in order to keep his industries running. ¶2. (C) Sandra Beidas, Protection Officer at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that OHCHR-Nepal had received two reports of people being "arrested" by Maoist security forces in Kathmandu and held for trial in the "People's Court." OHCHR had sent a letter to Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara requesting information on these courts, but had not yet received a response. Maoists Building Parallel Bureaucracy? -------------- ¶3. (C) Nischal Pandey, former head of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and son of former Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey, told Emboff today that Maoists were ordering Nepal government offices (Customs, Royal Nepal Airlines, Land Management, Tax Offices) to copy all their files and turn them over to them. He stated that since these offices had been left without leadership, they were following Maoist orders and photocopying all their old files. Pandey speculated that the Maoists were preparing to be ready to open their own offices parallel to these bureaucratic offices, or to be ready to jump into positions in these important offices when and if they came into the government. Defense Attache contacts reported that the Maoists were demanding 50 positions in the Customs office, a notoriously corrupt office, to earn money for their cause and to see what is coming into the country. Comment -------------- ¶4. (C) The Maoists continue to attempt to gain legitimacy for their parallel government by setting up institutions that give them a semblance of a legitimate government. The international community needs to continue to support the Government of Nepal and to avoid any actions that might give legitimacy to the Maoists' parallel government. MORIARTY