Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KATHMANDU2204
2006-08-15 11:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:
NEPAL GOVERNMENT'S TEMERITY PUTS INDIAN CONSULATE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 002204
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL GOVERNMENT'S TEMERITY PUTS INDIAN CONSULATE
SECURITY AT RISK
Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).
SUMMARY
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 002204
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL GOVERNMENT'S TEMERITY PUTS INDIAN CONSULATE
SECURITY AT RISK
Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (C) Indian Ambassador Mukherjee told the Ambassador August
14 that government forces had done little earlier that day to
protect the Indian Consulate in Birgunj against a group of
hostile demonstrators. Not until Mukherjee threatened to
cancel India's assistance program did the police attempt to
remove the demonstrators away from the Consulate. The mob,
enraged over the death of a Nepali bus driver on August 13 at
the hands of Indian rioters, succeeded in planting a Maoist
flag on the Consulate gate. The Indian Ambassador had
previously authorized Indian security forces attached to the
Consulate to take "whatever steps are necessary," in the face
of weak and contradictory actions on the part of the Home
Minister. The incident did little to reassure Mukherjee,
already concerned about the GON's passivity in the face of
Maoist abuses against Indian business people in Nepal. End
Summary.
TROUBLE ERUPTS IN BIRGUNJ; INDIAN CONSULATE THREATENED
-------------- --------------
2. (C) On August 14, Indian Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee
told the Ambassador about the GON's mishandling of a serious
threat earlier that day to the Indian consulate in the Nepali
border city of Birgunj. The trouble began on August 13 after
a Nepali bus driver carrying pilgrims across the border ran
into a bike or motorcycle and injured the Indian cyclist. A
mob of angry Indians pulled the bus driver from the bus and
beat him up. Indian police intervened, and the driver and
the bus made it back across the border to Nepal, where the
bus driver had dinner and promptly died. On the morning of
the 14th, after a post-mortem, a large group of people
believed to be Maoists, took the body to the Indian consulate
in Birgunj and began to chant anti-Indian slogans and hurl
rocks. Nepal police pushed them back for a time, but the mob
returned and planted a Maoist flag on the gate of the
Consulate. Mukherjee told the Ambassador that at that point
he instructed the Consulate's Indian security personnel to
take "whatever steps are necessary" to protect the Consulate
staff.
GOVERNMENT OF NEPAL DITHERS
--------------
3. (C) Mukherjee was particularly troubled by Home Minister
Krishna Prasad Sitaula's failure, despite repeated
entreaties, to provide clear instructions to the Nepali
police to secure the Consulate. The Indian Ambassador said
it was not until he called Nepali Finance Minister Ram Sharan
Mahat and threatened to cancel the signing by Mukherjee and
Mahat of nearly USD 22 million in direct Indian budgetary
assistance to Nepal that he got action. Only then did local
law enforcement remove the body and disperse the protesters.
According to press reports, the GON has announced that it
will pay compensation to the bus driver's family and "will
punish the (Indian) culprits."
MAOISTS THREATEN INDIAN BUSINESSES
--------------
4. (C) The Indian Ambassador also voiced his anxiety
regarding continued Maoist extortion and coercion of Indian
businesses in Nepal. Mukherjee stressed that the Nepal
Police should be acting firmly to ensure law and order,
including preventing Maoist abuses. His complaints, even at
the highest levels, however, seemed to go unheard. The
Ambassador suggested that Mukherjee should inform the Maoist
leadership that the Government of India would hold them
accountable for their cadres' actions.
COMMENT
--------------
5. (C) The trouble in Birgunj appears now to be over, but the
poor showing by the GON in protecting a foreign diplomatic
mission underscored the lack of direction on the part of
Nepal's police. Sitaula's failure to take a hard line with
the Maoists in his dual capacity as Home Minister and the
Government's peace negotiator is undermining confidence in
the GON by India, an indispensable ally for Prime Minister
Koirala. We will remind the GON that its temerity in
addressing Maoist threats could end up putting foreign
missions at some risk.
MORIARTY
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL GOVERNMENT'S TEMERITY PUTS INDIAN CONSULATE
SECURITY AT RISK
Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).
SUMMARY
--------------
1. (C) Indian Ambassador Mukherjee told the Ambassador August
14 that government forces had done little earlier that day to
protect the Indian Consulate in Birgunj against a group of
hostile demonstrators. Not until Mukherjee threatened to
cancel India's assistance program did the police attempt to
remove the demonstrators away from the Consulate. The mob,
enraged over the death of a Nepali bus driver on August 13 at
the hands of Indian rioters, succeeded in planting a Maoist
flag on the Consulate gate. The Indian Ambassador had
previously authorized Indian security forces attached to the
Consulate to take "whatever steps are necessary," in the face
of weak and contradictory actions on the part of the Home
Minister. The incident did little to reassure Mukherjee,
already concerned about the GON's passivity in the face of
Maoist abuses against Indian business people in Nepal. End
Summary.
TROUBLE ERUPTS IN BIRGUNJ; INDIAN CONSULATE THREATENED
-------------- --------------
2. (C) On August 14, Indian Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee
told the Ambassador about the GON's mishandling of a serious
threat earlier that day to the Indian consulate in the Nepali
border city of Birgunj. The trouble began on August 13 after
a Nepali bus driver carrying pilgrims across the border ran
into a bike or motorcycle and injured the Indian cyclist. A
mob of angry Indians pulled the bus driver from the bus and
beat him up. Indian police intervened, and the driver and
the bus made it back across the border to Nepal, where the
bus driver had dinner and promptly died. On the morning of
the 14th, after a post-mortem, a large group of people
believed to be Maoists, took the body to the Indian consulate
in Birgunj and began to chant anti-Indian slogans and hurl
rocks. Nepal police pushed them back for a time, but the mob
returned and planted a Maoist flag on the gate of the
Consulate. Mukherjee told the Ambassador that at that point
he instructed the Consulate's Indian security personnel to
take "whatever steps are necessary" to protect the Consulate
staff.
GOVERNMENT OF NEPAL DITHERS
--------------
3. (C) Mukherjee was particularly troubled by Home Minister
Krishna Prasad Sitaula's failure, despite repeated
entreaties, to provide clear instructions to the Nepali
police to secure the Consulate. The Indian Ambassador said
it was not until he called Nepali Finance Minister Ram Sharan
Mahat and threatened to cancel the signing by Mukherjee and
Mahat of nearly USD 22 million in direct Indian budgetary
assistance to Nepal that he got action. Only then did local
law enforcement remove the body and disperse the protesters.
According to press reports, the GON has announced that it
will pay compensation to the bus driver's family and "will
punish the (Indian) culprits."
MAOISTS THREATEN INDIAN BUSINESSES
--------------
4. (C) The Indian Ambassador also voiced his anxiety
regarding continued Maoist extortion and coercion of Indian
businesses in Nepal. Mukherjee stressed that the Nepal
Police should be acting firmly to ensure law and order,
including preventing Maoist abuses. His complaints, even at
the highest levels, however, seemed to go unheard. The
Ambassador suggested that Mukherjee should inform the Maoist
leadership that the Government of India would hold them
accountable for their cadres' actions.
COMMENT
--------------
5. (C) The trouble in Birgunj appears now to be over, but the
poor showing by the GON in protecting a foreign diplomatic
mission underscored the lack of direction on the part of
Nepal's police. Sitaula's failure to take a hard line with
the Maoists in his dual capacity as Home Minister and the
Government's peace negotiator is undermining confidence in
the GON by India, an indispensable ally for Prime Minister
Koirala. We will remind the GON that its temerity in
addressing Maoist threats could end up putting foreign
missions at some risk.
MORIARTY