Posted on 02/06/2005 9:11:26 AM PST by sagar
[World News]: Kathmandu, Feb 6 : Nepal's army said it would go after the Maoist insurgents in full force, pressuring them to resume peace negotiations with the new government or face the consequences.
The army's mandate is to "disarm the Maoists and bring them to the mainstream", said Brigadier-General Dipak Gurung, Royal Nepalese Army spokesman.
"If they don't do it willingly, we have to do it by force," Gurung told IANS.
The Royal Nepalese Army, constitutionally under the control of a security council consisting of the prime minister, defence minister and army chief, had its curbs removed Tuesday when King Gyanendra dismissed the government of prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and imposed a state of emergency.
"Our resources were diverted. But now with the civil administration and police dealing with the political parties and student unions, we will be more focused," Gurung said.
"Earlier, the army used to get diverted from its mandate due to being called to combat rallies, shutdowns, demonstrations and other forms of agitation," he said.
The army plans to mount pressure on the underground rebels. The Deuba government had approved the recruitment of an additional 7,000 soldiers whose training has already been started. Besides increasing the strength of the army, its headquarters have been decentralised into five divisions, each unit mounting its own operations in each of the five development regions of Nepal independently and one more for Kathmandu valley.
The RNA has also started setting up bases in the remote districts where earlier it had no presence and plans to expand them still more.
Gurung said the army had drawn the sting of the communist guerrillas by shutting down communications countrywide.
"There have been no attacks by the Maoists since Tuesday," he said. "They can't plan operations now since they have no means of communication." The spokesman blamed the media for the fear psychosis created by the underground guerrillas.
"An insignificant publication somewhere would say there's a shutdown called by the rebels and everyone would close in fear," he said. "We can survive without Maoist news. Maybe the media was misguided or was not mature enough. In the past 15 years, there was a lot of press freedom. But what did it achieve? Our ultimate end is a peaceful and prosperous Nepal."
Gurung denied that the army had been violating human rights to crack down on the nine-year-old insurgency.
"Immediately after the royal proclamation, army chief Gen Pyar Jung Thapa issued directives to the troops to respect human rights," he said. "It was no mere lip service. An army can't tolerate indiscipline. We treat human rights violations by soldiers as cases of indiscipline and take action. These are propaganda spread by the Maoists."
As an example of punitive action, Gurung said a major found guilty of breach of discipline was dismissed from the army and sentenced to two years in prison.
Gurung also said India and the US should support Nepal. Both countries have expressed grave concern at the royal takeover and urged for the immediate restoration of multi-party democracy. India also pulled out of the 13th SAARC Summit that was to have been held in Bangladesh on Feb 6-7, citing the development in Nepal and security situation in Bangladesh as the reasons.
"Countries like India and the US should support us because we are fighting against terrorism," he said. "It brought us to the brink of disaster with the country's sovereignty being in question. Terrorism is not just Nepal's concern, it's going to affect all of South Asia. We should all fight it together."
Your profile is well written and very interesting! Thank you for that.
I would love to go to Nepal someday, but would feel strange about it when Maoists are butchering people while tourists sightsee.
Welcome to FR. Can anyone say "Ghurkas"?
Welcome to F.R.
The situation in Nepal is certainly very bad, our two countries have been friendly for sometime (I am British) and it would be terrible if the Maoists were to take power and end that fruitful relationship.
Your profile page is very informative and well written.
OK answer me this - Maoists means peasant revolt - the guerillas from what I have read are not backed by China - does India back them? Is the King pro Chinese or Pro India in his policies? Is this revolt the reson for the King's martial law?
You would be surprised by how many people from South and South-Central Asia are members of this website.
I'm sorry to hear about your mother's brother.
At least you can take some solace-hopefully-from the knowledge that he died in the service of his country, protecting his homeland from a scourge that has murdered, oppressed and violated the human rights of millions of people across the globe.
-Sincerely, G.J.P.(Jr.)
Destro - Nepalese Maoists consider the current Chinese government as infidels who have become capitalist sellouts. China used to be a totalitarian communist nation, but has become a totalitarian capitalist nation. The Chinese aren't too fond of Nepalese communists either.
Post-Mao China backs Nepal's fight against Maoists
Instead, Nepalese Maoists originated and are organized in India. Many Indian political parties, some of which also hold considerable power at the state and the national level, have Maoist ties. Nepalese Maoists operate freely in eastern parts of India. Indian police is powerless to stop them. Nepalese Maoist leaders meet and organize in Indian soil. If they need medical treatment, they go to Indian hospitals.
As for your other question, I don't know whether the king is pro-China or pro-India. He is a typical monarch. He wants to run things. He doesn't trust the corrupt politicians. He put a journalist, not some politician, in power after the takeover. The king, I truly believe, loves the country and the people. He sees corruption and violence everywhere and wants to change things. I just want to give him a chance.
Anyone who kills communists is OK by me.
"Most of the Nepalese are poor, illiterate, and are swayed by outrageous political promises."
Except for the poor and illiterate part, Nepalese sound just like the Democrat Party members.
Are you saying that democratic India supports the communist Maoists and the communist Chinese hate the Maoists? What an upside down world!
Do the Maoists have popular support by the common people? They seem to be on the rise.
Indian democracy is made up of election-contending Communists and Socialists. The Indian State of West Bengal democratically elects the Communist Party by large majority. It has been for almost half a century. So, it isn't as simple as Communist vs Democracy.
Maoists kidnap large number of children and indoctrinate them. They also offer "job" to the poor. The job, of course, is to enlist in the maoist cadre and fight the government. And they are paid rather handsomely. They raise funds in India and in Europe.
I have not followed the turmoil in Nepal as closely as other areas of the world, of late. I am saddened that Nepal is being hit with it's verson of what sounds like "The Shining Path" groups in Peru. Ghurka units in UK service have been very successful in dealing with such threats in other areas. Is the military of Nepal up to the task, as well?
mr. sagar , you are right on in your assessments and statements. they align with everything I have learned
and from having been in Nepal on several occasions both before and after the rise of the Maoist threat.
I have always wondered why the newspapers there (many of them) seemed to act as mouthpieces of these Maoists? Many of my Nepalese friends feel the same way , that they should not trumpet every little Maoist edict and bandha call.
I , like you, put the blame for all of this in the way India soft handles it's own Marxist/Maoists and looks the other way
re: the Nepali ones . Probably to avoid inflaming a 5th column insurgency front in the heart of India when they are busy trying to focue on Pak/Kashmir and the ULFA (et-all)
in the East.
It's a mess ! But now that I am hearing sober Nepalese like you speak up , and hearing the reasoning of the RNA spokesmen also , I am beginning to feel that maybe it's not so bad after all. We shall all stay tuned !
ps: Kunda Dixit commenting to the BBC at that link
But I believe intelligence, more so than weapons, are most effective against the Maoists. If the Maoist leaders' whereabout is traced, they can be eliminated pretty quickly. Killing Maoist foot soldiers, most of whom are poor unemployed bastards, will do nothing to eliminate Maoism.
"The Nepalese army used to be ill equipped with outdated weapons from 100 years ago."
More antiquated than that. The King held a garage/armory sale a few years back. American militaria collectors are still going nuts.
As to intelligence, and education, I agree. A lesson we learned, and relearned, in Vietnam. However, having a viable
military response helps greatly. Small combat victories tend to empower the "bad guys" even more, defeats cut down recruiting.
Sorry, but the US has not supplied Apache (AH-64s) to Nepal. The most capable helo they have is gunship variants of the HIP (Mi-8, Mi-17 Mi-171).
Sorry, I am not too familiar with military hardwares. I read something about some gunships as military aid and assumed they were Apaches.
India has been the largest donor of military aid to the RNA.They have recieved atleast 3 HAL Dhruv choppers(utility choppers like the UH-1 Huey) & a handful of Lancer CAS choppers(armed with rockets & gunpods) & also leased MI-17s.
This is in addition to sending artillery systems & INSAS rifles & opening lines of credit for the RNA.The US is not known to have supplied helos to Nepal-Great Britain provided funding for them to buy 2 Mi-17 Choppers last year.
Apaches & Armed predators are meaningless when fighting a bunch of ill-equipped guerillas,who have no permanent hideouts & mix with the rural populace.
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