Nepal: ‘Disqualified’ PLA combatants lay siege to UCPN-M headquarters

[Revolutionary soldiers of the now-disbanded–(mission not accomplished)– People’s Liberation Army, continue to loudly refuse to quietly go away and disappear. — Frontlines ed.]

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HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

Say they will stay put until party addresses their woes

KATHMANDU, 29 November 2012: Hundreds of ‘disqualified’ PLA fighters have been laying siege to Unified CPN-Maoist headquarters in Paris Danda, Koteshwor, since yesterday, demanding that the party address their concerns at the earliest. Security personnel in huge numbers have been deployed to avert any confrontation and damage to the party office.

The ‘disqualified’ fighters, who prefer to call themselves ‘unverified’, today claimed that they have taken the party headquarters under their control. Lenin Bista, who is leading the ‘disqualified’ fighters, said the combatants were ‘not verified in a proper way’ and that they were forced to leave cantonments with only bus fares in their pockets.

The move is the latest one in their series of protests the disqualified fighters have organised in the past. They said the party turned a blind eye to their plight and concerns despite their pressure campaigns several times.

UCPN-M Vice-chairman Baburam Bhattarai-led government, after several rounds of talks with them, had decided to allocate Rs 600 million in order to give Rs 2 lakh to each of the disqualified fighters. The move was challenged in the Supreme Court and the court in the first week of November issued a stay order, forcing the government to hold back.

Bista claimed that as many as 200 former combatants have been staying put outside the party headquarters while some 150 are on the office premises (inside the gate). The fighters had yesterday padlocked the party office but unlocked it at 3:00pm today following a mutual understanding with party leadership. “We have pitched tents outside the headquarters and surviving on beaten rice and dalmoth (a ready made snack made of golden gram or red lentils). This is the survival technique the party taught us during the time of war,” said Bista.

The incredible shrinking numbers of PLA enlistees in the national Nepal Army

REPUBLICA, April 20, 2012 3,129 for integration

KATHMANDU, April 20: Only 3,129 Maoist combatants have chosen integration into the Nepal Army by the time of completion of the voluntary retirement process in all the cantonments on Thursday. According to Balananda Sharma, coordinator of the Special Committee secretariat, altogether 6,576 combatants chose voluntary retirement and they have been released from the cantonments. There were 9,705 combatants who had opted for integration in the first phase of categorization last November. The Special Committee had carried out a second phase categorization as the number of combatants choosing integration was much higher than the allotted quota of 6,500.

Nepal: Disqualified combatants disrupt retirement process in Surkhet

[Frontlines editorial comment:   A noted Black writer/poet in the US, Langston Hughes, once penned these lines on the frustrations of the denied and delayed.  It is appropriate to the events in Nepal today.  “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” ― Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems]

REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Feb 5: A group of 70 former disqualified Maoist combatants on Sunday disrupted the ongoing voluntary retirement process in the Surkhet-based Maoist cantonment by vandalizing a makeshift office used by officials from the secretariat for the Special Committee. According to Dipak Prakash Bhatt, who is also a secretariat member, the disqualified combatants pushed their way into the cantonment at around 3:30 pm and tore apart the four tents of the makeshift office, vandalized three laptops, tables and chairs before they were taken under control by verified combatants in the cantonment.

Nepal: Disqualified combatants enforce shutdown mid-western districts

[Having turned their backs on the legacy of the People’s War, conducted by the People’s Liberation Army from 1996-2006, the Nepal government and the revisionist top leadership of the UCPN(M) callously dismissed many of the revolutionary fighters and “re-assigned” others.  But these fighters, who have dedicated their lives to the liberation of Nepali people, remain focused on the need to complete the discarded and incomplete revolutionary struggle. So the struggle continues, quietly and boldly, in many forms and places. — Frontlines ed.]

Friday, 30 December 2011

Daily life in large parts of Pyuthan, Banke, Bardiya, Dang, Dailekh and Surkhet districts have been adversely affected since early Friday morning due to a daylong strike called by former Maoist combatants in mid-western region.

The strike was enforced by ex-combatants who were discharged last year from the cantonments after being disqualified in the verification conducted by the United Nations political mission in Nepal.

Reports coming in say that most of the shops, businesses and factories in the affected districts remain closed. Similarly, very few short-route vehicles are seen plying on the road while long-route vehicles have been brought to a grinding halt in the affected districts due to fear of attacks by the bandh enforcers. However, protest organisers demonstrating in major thoroughfares in Nepalgunj, Dang and Surkhet have not been seen disrupting the vehicles.

The disqualified Maoist ex-combatants enforced the shutdown in mid-western region, demanding that the tag of ‘disqualified’ to describe them be removed and financial package comparable to those who have chosen voluntary retirement in the recent regrouping of the combatants.

The combatants in exclusion had enforced a daylong strike in nine districts of far-western Nepal on Thursday to protest against the UCPN (Maoist) and the government categorizing them as ‘disqualified’ and ‘depriving’ them of any benefit or rights.

4008 disqualified combatants were discharged from the cantonment sites. The government had only provided bus fares to them while discharging them. nepalnews.com

India: Maoists blow up new police station in Chhattisgarh

Dantewada: Naxals destroy newly-built police station

Press Trust of India

Raipur: Naxals destroyed a newly constructed police station using explosives in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said on Wednesday.

Following the incident which took place on Monday night, the state government transferred Dantewada SP Ankit Garg and posted him at police headquarters to Raipur, official sources said.

A group of 50 Naxals assembled at the police station near Geedam area and asked the labourers present there to leave. They blasted the building using huge amount of explosives, police said, adding there were no reports of any casualty.

The police station, which was completely destroyed, was recently constructed at a cost of Rs 30 lakh, but it didn’t have adequate security, they said.

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Raipur, Dec 27 (IANS)

About 50 armed Maoists blew up a two-storeyed police station under-construction  in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region Tuesday, police said.

“Maoists stormed into the building at Geedam town, hardly 10 km from Dantewada town and set high-powered explosives and blew it up,” Dantewada Superintendent of Police Ankit Garg told IANS over the phone.

The two-storeyed structure was almost complete but was not handed over to the police. “It was a massive blast and the building was mostly blown up,” Garg said. Police have launched a massive search operation to apprehend the  rebels but no arrest has been made, he added.

The building was barely one km away from the Geedam police station but policemen posted at the old building had not reached the demolished site even after three hours of the blast.

India: Maoists celebrate 11 years of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army

Odisha: Maoists destroyed 2 mobile towers in Koraput district

Saturday, December 03, 2011

by Manoranjan Routray; Koraput: The Maoists are celebrating their PLGA (People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army) 11th anniversary starting from 2nd December to 8th December. The CPI (Maoist) concentrates on recruitment of fresh cadres into the party during the PLGA week every year.

Maoists destroyed two mobile towers near Boipariguda police station in the district of Koraput on the first day of PLGA week. “No explosives have been used in the attack. The Maoists have used Kerosene to set afire the battery room.”

Moreover Koraput, normal life was also affected in Malkangiri, Rayagada and Gajapati districts in south Odisha on the start of the PLGA week marking the foundation day of People”s Liberation Guerrilla Army by the red rebels. Passenger buses and other vehicles remained off the roads in these districts. Shops and business establishments also downed their shutter in several places, particularly in remote areas.

Thousands of wall posters have been pasted across almost all important towns in Malkangiri, Koraput and Gajapati districts said to the support in the state. The Maoists too have put the posters on buses and urged the people to support the people’s war. The Maoists in one of the poster say that the name PLGA (Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army) will be renamed into PLA (Peoples Liberation Army).

All the Government and private buses plying from Jeypore in Koraput district to different places of Malkangiri district, Lamtaput, Ankadeli, Machkund remained off the roads to avoid any untoward incident due to observation of PLGA Week by the Maoists. The Maoists, who had blocked the roads by felling trees and digging big holes last week, were cleared by the police and BSF jawans and the route to Parvatipuram in AP, Rayagada and Laxmipur from Narayanpatna was normal.

Nepal: Maoist student leader announces new revolutionary party initiative

Ex chair of ANNFSU-R announces to quit Maoist party

  The Himalayan Times, 2011-12-19

“One in the party can buy helicopter while the other(s) even cannot afford to pay the bus fare also””

KATHMANDU: Lekhanath Neupane, the former chairman of UCPN-Maoist’s student wing All Nepal Independent Student Union–Revolutionary , said in Biratnagar on Monday that he will quit the Maoist party soon to set up a new communist party with its own army.

The Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) reported that the former student leader said he is leaving the Maoist party as it is on the verge of downfall because of the leaders who he accused of being brokers of foreigners.

Neupane crticised Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal for failing to maintain the UCPN-Maoist as a party. He expressed his frustration with the leadership saying he would not join the party had he known that “broker attitude” ruled a communist party.

Speaking at a press conference organised in Bargachhi of Biratnagar, Neupane argued that there is a need for new communist party as “one in the party can buy helicopter while the other(s) even cannot afford to pay the bus fare also.”

He came down heavily upon the party chairman, and claimed that preparations are being made to set up a new party and build up its army as Dahal surrendered the People’s Liberation Army.

Nepal: PLA commanders denounce “integration of armies” deal as surrender

myrepublica.com

Republica:  “PM Defends Integration Model, PLA Labels It As Surrender”

KATHMANDU, Nov 8: Prime Minister and Chairman of Special Committee Baburam Bhattarai has refuted the allegation that the integration modality of the Maoist combatants as envisioned in the seven-point agreement was surrender and stressed that the proposed integration is necessary to complete the revolution.In a meeting with the top PLA commanders held at PM´s official residence at Baluwatar on Monday evening, Prime Minister Bhattarai tried his best to assure the former combatants that the integration model perfectly safeguarded core interests of the PLA and the Maoist party.

Nepal: PLA commanders slam 7-point deal

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=37875

KALENDRA SEJUWA, My Republica SURKHET, Nov 4: The dispute within the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) regarding integration of combatants has forced its way into the cantonments, with Vice-commander of the Sixth Division of the People´s Liberation Army (PLA) Durga Bahadur Chaudhary organizing a press conference in Birendranagar Thursday to slam the party´s agreement with other political parties. Chaudhary accused Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, also a party vice-chairman, of dissolving the PLA to fulfil their personal ambitions. At the press conference also attended by Constituent Assembly (CA) member Mangal BK, who is close to Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, and other district level leaders, Chaudhary said, “This cannot be termed army integration; we have been forced into surrender.” He further argued,“It is not wise of some comrades to welcome the agreement without proper study”.

Nepal: Maoists determined to defeat betrayal of Prachanda and Bhattarai, complete revolution

People burning 7-point agreement after a rally was concluded that was started from National Conference Hall in the Exhibition Road to Shanti Batika, at Ratnapark in Kathmandu.

Streets are being occupied day by day demanding to cancel the anti-people agreements like 7-point agreement committed behind the black curtains.

‘No Surrender’: Kiran and Badal

REDSTAR, November 2, 2011, http://redstarnepal.com/?p=562

Kathmandu, November 2: The revolutionary faction of UCPN-Maoist has publicized an authentic voice for the protection of the revolution. After Prachanda and Baburam factions agreed to hand over the total achievements of the People’s War, com. Kiran and com. Badal have clearly put forwarded their voice in a press-meet held in Kathmandu today.

In the National conference Hall packed up with journalists, intellectuals and the cadres, Senior-most Vice-chairman Com. Kiran clarified all the questions that were asked from the ground. He said, “The People’s Liberation Army (PLA); which has played a significant role in the political change of the nation, has been disarmed, dishonored and dispersed through the 7-point agreement signed at the night of November 1.” Flashing over the contribution of PLA and the people, com. Kiran said, “Just before the meeting of the central committee, party chairman has signed the agreement at mid-night. He has made a serious mistake by doing so. We are going to advise him to withdraw it, correct it in the central committee meting that is going to be held tomorrow. Along with it, we have said other political parties to correct this mistake too.”

Comrade Kiran

Com. Kiran publicly accepted the bitter reality that party is going to be degraded day by day. He added that party should be ideology, dream and people as well as the nation. Nation and the people are dearer than any party.

In the press-meet, General Secretary of the party com. Badal exposed all the intrigues and he strongly opposed anti-people and anti-nation plots by saying that their misdeeds will be put into dust. He said, “Today is the historic day for all of us in course of fighting against imperialism and the expansionism. The moment we are holding a press-meet is a historic moment because we are going to express our commitment but not only the opinion. The gathering here is the historic gathering that is centralized to fight against the expansionism, imperialism and their puppets. We are lined here for resisting and fighting against puppets until our death.”

Nepal Army to integrate disarmed Maoists into non-combat duties with symbolic officers

[The final dismantling of the (now disarmed) People’s Liberation Army–the main fighting force of the People’s War which was stopped in 2006–may be near, if the “establishment Maoists” and their partners in the government prevail over the revolutionary Maoists’ objections. — Frontlines ed.]

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Peace process: Parties close to deal on integration

PHANINDRA DAHAL, Kathmandu Post

KATHMANDU, OCT 20 – Though they failed to sign a deal on integration despite marathon negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday, the three major parties have struck consensus on integrating former Maoist combatants by forming a new directorate with a non-combat mandate as proposed by the Nepal Army.

The Maoist leadership consented to a non-combat mandate only after non-Maoist parties agreed that the directorate, apart from its initial mandate, could also undertake other responsibilities given by the state in the future. The Maoists had earlier expressed reservations over the limited mandate that included national level infrastructure construction, forest security, industrial security and rescue and relief operations prescribed for the directorate.

Nepal: An encounter in Ghorahi

PLA (2005)

by Aditya Adhikari

The Kathmandu Post, 05-10-2011

After the end of the war, Saraswati Magar (name changed), a Maoist activist from Rolpa, built a single-story, two-room brick house on a small plot of land on the outskirts of Ghorahi, Dang.

The responsibilities given to her by the party require her to spend much of her time in Rolpa, but she has a nine-year old daughter in Ghorahi, and it is to be with her that Saraswati built the house. Having joined the movement when she was sixteen, even before the formal announcement of the People’s War, her primary life-experience has been of great strain and hardship.

On the run from the state authorities for many years, she abandoned her daughter to the care of relatives when she was only 21 months of age and was reunited with her only after the peace process began. Most of her friends and relatives from Rolpa joined the party. Her husband died during the conflict, as did two of her brothers.

Life is easier now for Saraswati. She looks back at amazement at the level of physical hardship and deprivation she endured so willingly during the war. Yet, she is restless. Political work does not offer her the satisfaction that it did before; yet it still obsesses her.

Nepal: Disqualified PLA–Still Fighting for Revolution

[Over 4,000 fighters were removed (by the UN ‘peacekeeping’ forces) from the People’s Liberation Army, during the 6 years since the UCPN(M) shelved the people’s war in favor of the peace process which removed the monarchy but has been otherwise fruitless in revolutionary terms.  Now, the “disqualified” fighters are emerging as a political force, declaring for a reinvigoration of Maoist revolution in Nepal.  This video, by Winter Has Its End reporters, is a welcome insight to this development in Nepal. — Frontlines ed.]

produced by Winter Has Its End
Aug 10, 2011

Torch-carrying former members of the People’s Liberation Army held a highly disciplined and militant demonstration in Kathmandu.They are challenging the government has no future for them other than basket weaving programs, and arguing against one view in the UCPN(M) that would ultimately mean the dissolution of the PLA.

When the Maoists entered the ceasefire of 2006, the United Nations was charged with the task of disqualifying any fighter who joined the PLA when they were under the age of 18 or was deemed unfit for any other reason. About 2000 of the nearly 30,000 PLA fighters were disqualified. Many have spoken out that they will continue to be fighters for Maoist revolution.

http://winterends.net/nepal-stories/106-disqualified-pla-still-fighting-for-revolution

Nepal: Republica newspaper on the options for Maoist revolutionaries a.k.a. “hardliners”

[While this article from the bourgeois media in Nepal does not represent the political assessments being made by the revolutionary Maoists, it nevertheless details some of the narrowing options available within the existing framework of events.  What is missing from this account is a sense of what the people throughout the country may respond–those who have experienced rudimentary dual power and struggles for land reform during the period of the people’s war, those who have been part of the People’s Liberation Army and village militias and other forms of armed struggle, those who have grown disenchanted with the constitutional process but who maintain their revolutionary hopes, and the various mass and revolutionary organizations that have maintained or sprung up.  The story of the next steps is yet to be written, and is not contained in the limited yet somewhat revealing picture given in this Republica article. — Frontlines ed.]

myrepublica.com

KATHMANDU, June 4: The hard-line faction led by senior Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya in the Maoist party is increasingly impatient with Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and has registered notes of dissent against almost every decision the party has taken in recent times.In the party standing committee meeting on Friday, Baidya put up stiff resistance to the proposals on the peace process forwarded by Chairman Dahal.Sources say Baidya was so aggressive against the decision to end the dual security for party leaders that Dahal had to postpone the meeting for Saturday. The party hardliners have argued that the decision to move ahead with the integration process prior to ensuring a constitution of “People´s Federal Democratic Republic” amounts to surrender, something that runs counter to the party´s commitment for peace made just ahead of the Constituent Assembly (CA) term extension on May 29. “We will see how leadership trades the blood of the thousands of party cadres with power,” says Maoist leader and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma, who is close to Baidya. But what option does Baidya faction have if the party establishment presses ahead with the “peace and constitution line”? Hard rhetoric notwithstanding, the options are limited before the hardliners.

Nepal PLA Integration with National Nepal Army: UCPN(M) formally agree to Army-proposed modality

[Maoist Revolutionaries in the UCPN(M) are questioning and challenging this week’s agreement–is it more of a surrender or defeat than a successful peace move and step forward? — Frontlines ed.]

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KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI

KATHMANDU, MAY 19 –

The UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday formally decided to accept the modality offered by Nepal Army—a separate directorate within the Army for the integration of its former combatants.

The party’s Standing Committee took the decision after its proposal for a separate or a mixed force for the combatants was rejected by the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML.  The decision comes amid growing pressure on Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal to expedite the peace process before the May 28 deadline of the Constituent Assembly.

The Standing Committee decided that the proposal to set up the Directorate of National Development and Security forwarded by Nepal Army early this year was “an appropriate” integration modality.

Dahal went ahead with his proposal with support from Vice Chairman Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha. This left the hardliners in the party fuming.