NEPAL: MAOIST YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE ACTIVE, STRONG

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001154

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR KDEM NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE ACTIVE, STRONG

Classified By: Charge d' Affaires, a.i. Randy Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: With more than 700,000 members, the
Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) is the
country's largest, best-organized youth paramilitary
organization. The Maoist leadership uses the YCL to enforce
general strikes, intimidate voters, and raise funds, mostly
through mafia-like criminal activities, such as smuggling,
extortion, manipulation of government tenders, and protection
demands, bringing in an estimated USD 36-40 million per year,
according to police. In meetings with YCL and Maoist
leaders, Post continually presses for the reform of the YCL
and end to its criminal activities. While most YCL leaders
are little more than criminal gang leaders, some appear
genuinely interested in improving the lives of Nepali youth
and resent being used solely as the "muscle" for the Maoist
party. END SUMMARY.

Communists, Comrades, and Commissars: Who Are the YCL?
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2. (C) Formed in the Rolpa district of Western Nepal in 1991
as an association of small, leftist and communist youth
groups, the YCL initially participated in mass protest
movements. When the Maoists started the insurgency in 1996,
the YCL disbanded and its members largely joined the People's
Liberation Army (PLA). Following the end of the civil
conflict in 2006, the YCL was formally reestablished as the
de facto Maoist paramilitary organization. Many PLA cadres
joined the YCL, despite the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
requirement that all PLA combatants move to UN-monitored
cantonments. From 2006-2008, the YCL operated between 15-20
"re-education camps" where prostitutes, drug addicts, and
those accused of being anti-Maoist were tried in YCL courts
and held in detention. Under significant international
pressure, these camps were closed in 2008. According the
UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR),the YCL engaged in widespread human rights abuses,
torture, abductions, extrajudicial killings, and
disappearances throughout late 2006 and well into 2007. YCL
violence is down considerably this year according to ICRC and
the UN. Several analysts suggest that the Maoist leadership
ordered the YCL to tone down its violent activities, in part
because of growing international and domestic pressure.


3. (C) A 45-member central executive committee, headed by
chairman Ganesh Man Pun, leads the organization. Pun, an
ethnic Magur who was Commissar of the Parivarthan Memorial
Ninth Brigade of the PLA, is sharp, articulate and
inquisitive. During a meeting December 1 meeting with
EmbOffs, Pun said there were at least 700,000 YCL cadres. At
the village, state, district, and regional level, the YCL
leadership structures maintain control for mass mobilization.
According to Pun, potential YCL leaders are first vetted,
then nominated at a conference, and finally put forward for
elections. At the district level, YCL elections are held
yearly and at the national level elections are held every
two-three years. Additional Inspector General of Police
(AIGP) Prakash Kunwar told PolOff on November 27 that at
least 90 percent of YCL members are ex-combatants and the
senior leadership includes former battalion or deputy
battalion commanders who, like Pun, have chosen not to be
cloistered in the UN-monitored cantonments.

Little Red Book Trumps the Prachanda Path?
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4. (C) The YCL's declared objective is to "uphold, apply, and
develop the revolutionary ideas of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
and the Prachanda Path and to organize and mobilize youth to
implement propaganda among the masses." (Note: the
"Prachanda Path," named for Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal
"Prachanda," purports to adopt principles of communism to
Nepal's rural circumstances. End Note.) Pun, in his
discussion with PolOffs, reiterated the Marxist-Leninist
mantra but downplayed the "Prachanda Path" as an ideological
beacon, noting it was "under discussion." According to Pun,
the YCL is as committed to pragmatic action as it is to
ideology. Pressed by EmbOffs on the YCL's continuing land

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seizures and use of violence, Pun said that "other
organizations" sometimes commit illegal acts using the YCL
name. Job creation, economic expansion, and empowering youth
in the political process are the main short-term goals of the
YCL, Pun claimed, sounding more like a mainstream political
elite than a Maoist comrade.


5. (C) According to the Nepal Police's Kunwar, few YCL
members are politically motivated -- the bulk are purely
opportunistic in a country with poor job prospects and a
rigid caste system that still alienates and marginalizes
entire cross-sections of society based solely on birth.
Contacts who track YCL activities believe the organization is
not nearly as ideological as it professes. A Kathmandu-based
Norwegian diplomat with an extensive on-going relationship
with the YCL and other political youth wings says that the
YCL is as pragmatic as any other political group in Nepal.
During his 40 plus meetings with the YCL over the past two
years, he has seen a highly organized institution that is
looking for creative ways to break out of its muscular
diplomacy and emerge as a recognized political entity that
can make meaningful contributions to the "mother" Maoist
party.


6. (C) The Norwegian diplomat said the YCL leadership,
particularly Pun and Secretary R.C. Sharma (the "thinker and
brains of the YCL"),are adept at including ethnic minorities
and Dalits in leadership roles in the organization in a way
the central Maoist party has not done, despite its
egalitarian rhetoric. The YCL through its engagement with
the Norwegian Embassy requested support for internal capacity
building -- specifically, project development, communications
skills, and financial management training. Through the
Norwegian engagement project, the YCL (and other youth
groups) drafted and presented youth policy documents to the
Ministry of Youth and emerged from the endeavor feeling
proud. Elements within the YCL feel like they are pawns of
the Maoist party with some showing resentment.

Great Leap Forward: Reinvestment from Criminal Enterprises
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7. (C) With the Maoists no longer in government and unable to
reap the financial rewards of controlling ministries, the
burden of party income generation has largely fallen on the
YCL. Intelligence and police sources believe that YCL
criminal activity has increased over the past six months.
The Embassy's Senior Law Enforcement Advisor reported that
the luxury hotels in Kathmandu pay protection money and offer
in-kind services -- free rooms, alcohol, and dinners -- to
the YCL and Maoists. According to the police, the YCL
protects those smuggling sandalwood, common firewood, and
wood for construction from China, and then takes a cut of the
profits. Ammunition smuggling from India has become so
commonplace that the Nepal Police are now searching people
carrying the ubiquitous backpacks that have become associated
with YCL smugglers. YCL smugglers carry and traffic single
shot, cheap (1,000 rupees or about USD 13) locally-made
pistols. The YCL also skims money off the top of government
and private tenders. According to Kunwar, the YCL demands 7
percent of a tender's value and 10 percent for protection.
Police sources estimate the YCL generates illegal revenue of
between 270-300 billion rupees per year (USD 36-40 million).
The YCL cadres have seized at least 300 acres of land in the
Kathmandu Valley alone since 2006, according to the Land
Registration Office.


8. (C) YCL members have invested or laundered their money
through legitimate commercial enterprises. They are buying
land, restaurants, hotels, and hospitals. Sudip Pathak,
president of the Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON),
told PolOff on November 27 that the YCL operates more than
500 taxis and 200 buses in the Kathmandu valley and is
expanding their network through control of key transport
unions. Pathak has served as an informal negotiator between
the YCL and business and landowners whose properties were
seized by the YCL. Based on his experiences with the YCL
across Nepal, more than 70 percent of the YCL membership are

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juvenile delinquents and criminals who are solely in the
movement for the money. Organizationally, local YCL leaders
are given permission to allow their members to commit petty
crimes and extortion. If the mischief gets out of hand,
however, the central leadership will reel them in and repair
the damage if necessary. It is unclear how much money is
passed up in the organization, but leaders solicit internal
donations, which facilitate upward mobility.

Red Storm Rising: Government Unable to Contain YCL
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9. (S/NF) Police and intelligence sources are generally aware
of YCL criminal activities, but have little ability and
political backing to crackdown beyond high profile cases or
egregious crimes. Ashok Dev Bhati, Chief Investigation
Director of the National Investigation Department (NID)
(Nepal's main intelligence agency),told PolOff that NID "has
a dangerously low level of resources" and its ability to
monitor YCL communications is limited due to lack of modern
intercept technology. Kunwar of the Nepal Police said YCL
members are aware that police monitor their phone calls, so
get friends or even strangers (through coercion) to register
SIM cards in their names so YCL members have no cell phone
records. Bhati described the YCL as extremely well organized
with "a high level command system with vast capability."
According to Kunwar, the YCL maintain 45 "safe houses" in
Kathmandu alone; these are usually properties which have been
illegally seized -- owners fear retaliation and often do not
report home seizures -- and are used by the YCL to plan
activities; an estimated 8,000 YCL members are staying in
these safe houses.


10. (C) Kunwar lamented the relatively free rein given to the
YCL. "The government's policy is peace at any cost," he noted
with regret. The police have only a few water cannons for
crowd control, and all of them are here in Kathmandu. More
troubling though is the "the nexus local police have made
with the YCL." Police make plenty of routine arrests but the
arrests do not stick. The YCL takes a tactical view of its
operations and its members; those accused of kidnapping,
murder, or other grave crimes either get full backing of the
YCL or they are disowned and expelled. Both Kunwar and Bhati
downplayed the YCL as a law enforcement problem, and instead
attributed the problem to political parties which have failed
to hold the Maoists accountable and oversee the disbandment
of the YCL.

Comment:
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11. (C) The YCL has shown remarkable tenacity, discipline,
and organizational skill, both as a movement and as an
institution, functioning more like an army than political
organization. With extensive networking abilities and
experience organizing general strikes that can paralyze
Nepal, the YCL is better organized than Nepal's mainstream
political parties. The organization could play a larger,
destabilizing role in Nepal if the peace process falters and
the Maoists resort to violence to further their political
agenda. Should the peace process take hold and mature, there
are encouraging signs the YCL has at least some elements in
its senior leadership that seem committed to butter and not
solely guns. The key now is for the peace process to reach a
conclusion, allowing a stable government to establish
security and rule of law that narrows the space for YCL
criminal activities.
BERRY