US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU280

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000280 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, NP, IN, Maoist Insurgency, India Relations 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  SECURITY SOURCES CONFIRM INDIANS HAND OVER 
TWO MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS 
 
REF: A. 03 KATHMANDU 1649 
 
     B. 03 KATHMANDU 2298 
 
Classified By: POL PMAHONEY.  REASON:  1.5(B,D). 
 
1.  (C) Police and Army sources have confirmed that on 
February 8 Indian authorities handed over Maoist Politburo 
member Matrika Yadav and Maoist Central Advisor Suresh Ale 
Magar to the Royal Nepal Army (RNA).  Unconfirmed reports 
suggested that the Maoists may were captured in the northern 
Indian city of Lucknow and were planning to attend a rally to 
be held in New Delhi on February 15.  (Note:  An announcement 
of the rally posted on the Maoist website described its 
purpose as to "foil the attempt of American imperialism to 
infiltrate South Asia through Nepal."  End note.)  Yadav was 
a member of the five-man Maoist negotiating team during the 
2003 ceasefire and was released from detention by the 
Government of Nepal as a confidence-building measure during 
the 2001 ceasefire. 
 
2.  (C)  Comment:   It is widely assumed by many in Nepal 
that much of the Maoist leadership spends much of their time 
in India.  The apparent ease with which Communist Party of 
Nepal - United Marxist Leninist General Secretary Madhav 
Nepal held a "secret" (but otherwise quite well-publicized) 
meeting with Maoist leader Prachanda in Lucknow on November 
20 only helped confirm such suspicions (Ref B).  That 
meeting, coupled with the equally well-advertised Maoist 
rally planned in New Delhi, were likely sources of 
embarrassment for the Indian government.  With these most 
recent two arrests, the only three Maoist Central Committee 
members currently in custody have been apprehended by Indian 
authorities.  (Politburo member Chandra Gajurel, arrested in 
Chennai on August 20, remains in Indian custody.)  The Maoist 
propaganda mill has been in overdrive recently threatening a 
wide-ranging "shock program" of sabotage, strikes and general 
mayhem to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the 
insurgency on February 14.  Indian cooperation in arresting 
this pair--especially so close to this anniversary--is an 
important sign of progress. 
MALINOWSKI