| NEW YORK | RUPEE NEWS | July 30th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | The Indian intelligence forces are active in Nepal and have been constantly active in Nepal. Nepal view: RAW’s Machination In South Asia

Nepal: Who Is Supporting Maoists?

RAW’s support to Nepali terrorists

The Maoists have fantastic intelligence support. In Pili, RNA intelligence was conspicuous by its absence. The officers had no inkling about the imminent attack. Above all, their mobility is legendary, which more than compensates their inferior numbers and less sophisticated weapons. The RNA can in no way match this ability to move freely and quickly. Thus, in spite of intensive follow-up and mopping-up operations, the terrorists have disappeared into thin air.

The Maoists have imposed a kind of guessing game on the RNA: speculate when and where we’ll strike next. It is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. The various directorates at Army HQ, it seems, are not very effective in coordinating – among themselves and the regional divisional commands. Grave logistical mistakes are, therefore, programmed. To the exoneration of the RNA, it must be said that it has been without a civilian leader/manager for very long. Without a minister to guide it and take responsibility, the ministry of defence cannot function properly and has, in fact, been reduced to a mute spectator.

Then there is the unquestionable fact that HMG/N and RNA have been unable to penetrate and disrupt the Maoists’ superlative command and communications network (the HQ of which is located in India), which seems to operate like clockwork. Closely linked with this decisive factor is the use of threats to extort sizable sums of money. With the beginning of the tourist trekking season in September, the Maoists will be able to blackmail thousands of our valuable foreign guests in ‘contributing’ huge amounts to the Maoist cause: e.g. USD 100/Euro 100 per person in the Annapurna and Jiri-Phaplu circuits and even USD 200 p.p. from Simikot to the Tibetan-Chinese border.

There are reports that even in Khumbu proper (Lukla to Everest Base Camp), which is supposed to be non-Maoist infested, the terrorists have succeeded in exacting protection money from the locals. Why the RNA has been unable to stop this Maoist rapacity which directly fuels their insurgency is anybody’s guess. Moreover, this definitely acts as a debilitating factor in a sector of the economy earning badly required foreign exchange and providing hard to come by jobs. The minister of tourism, of course doesn’t loose any sleep over this. It’s said that he is busy cleaning-up temples!

In the meantime, the seven-party agitation, supported by radical students and unethical professional bodies, unable to mobilize substantial public support, are looking at innovative ways and means to discredit the royal regime. They and the so-called ‘civic society’ – a band of rabble-rousers (it would not be appropriate to name and elevate them to prominence) – have now called on the American ambassador to deny the King and the royal entourage US-visas to participate in the forthcoming crucial session of the UN world summit and General Assembly. This is not only a very naïve and half-witted proposal, it also illustrates most transparently how low these political and civic ‘leaders’ can stoop. Needlessly to say, the Americans would not provoke such a diplomatic incident, since Nepal still rates as a friendly country.

These political dons are also threatening the King with the specter of an imminent ‘republic’ (in the vanguard Koirala and his jaded daughter), as if such a decision was theirs, and theirs alone. If they are virulently shying away from parliamentary elections, how do they expect to establish a constituent assembly to discuss the issue, or even to organize a referendum? After all these demagogues have been clamouring for ‘total democracy’ and people’s sovereignty, and in such an important subject as the form of state, the people should inevitably be consulted, or not? Are these leaders and their advisers, beyond the shadow of a doubt, not dimwits? That they are, so far, off from the pulse of the people is clearly reflected in their cowardly wall of silence regarding the Pili massacre and consequent gross violation of human rights.

The double-standards and machinations of the national and international human rights groups–long suspected now tragic reality—have come to the fore with regard to the atrocities of the Maoists in Pili. The butchering and mutilation of non-combatant pioneers is a crying shame. Reactions, if any, are too lukewarm and slow. All these INGOs with high-sounding names like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, are just dragging their heels and the western-funded NGOs are cravenly silent.

Unfortunately, the royal regime is also at its wits’ end. One government minister, Badri Prasad Mandal, has idiotically warned that the agitating parties will also be classified as ‘terrorists’, should the Maoists be welcomed into their infamous campaign. What will the royal regime undertake, if there is a joint demonstration in the streets of Kathmandu? Call out the army to shoot at the people and provoke further international sanctions? Then there is the minister for propaganda, Tanka Dhakal, incessantly extolling the state of the nation and how vastly improved the security situation has become after 02/01 – in the Valley or the countryside? Except for Kathmandu, the Maoists still impose general strikes, road-blocks and closures, murder gruesomely and extort money – all with impunity. Having nothing better to do, the regime sent the King on a public relations exercise to the eastern provinces — the very region where Maoist oppression still continues unabated.

In the international sphere, the royal regime finds itself in the doldrums. The UK and USA have definitely written off Nepal as belonging to India’s sphere of influence (or dominance?) – the emerging and shining regional power and US American strategic global partner of choice. Our political dons have also tacitly accepted this fact — the willing slaves of their Indian masters. India’s flagrant support of the Nepalese Maoists is of no consequence to Bush in his world-wide war on terror (or euphemistically in neo Bush-speak: ‘global struggle against violent extremism’) and the strategic policy of containing China in the long-run.

There was lingering hope that PR China would be a countervailing force, but this has been dashed to the ground. The Chinese leadership is in no mood to challenge US supremacy at the present juncture, since its security concerns are concentrated in the eastern Pacific seaboard. The south-western flank is considered stable, the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile only minor irritants and India not perceived as a threat.

Sikkim has finally been recognized as part and parcel of the Indian Union and there has even been a secret Sino-Indian agreement with regard to Nepal’s Kalapani area. China is concentrating — in her own national interests — on economic development, raising the living standard of the people and intensifying international trade, above all with India, Western Europe and the USA. China will, therefore, avoid foreign adventures which would jeopardize its economic bandwagon. Foreign minister Pandey will, besides ‘window-dressing diplomacy’, basically return empty-handed in our existential concerns.

What is to be done in our miserable situation? We can only hope and pray that the King will ignore his unproductive and self-serving advisers for once, dismiss the comatose royal regime and pave the way for a representative and clean-image government willing and able to shoulder responsibility and face accountability and above all to give life to the royal statement of 02/01.

(The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com)