US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU458

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000458 
 
SIPDIS 
 
REFTEL: 03 KATHMANDU 2129 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, SCUL, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: MAOISTS INTENSIFY ABDUCTION OF STUDENTS 
 
1. Summary.  Nepal's Maoist insurgents have intensified 
abductions of students.  Nearly 700 students were abducted 
in January and February alone while over 900 reportedly were 
abducted since the ceasefire's collapse in August 2003. 
According to one Maoist-affiliated organization, the 
insurgents intend to raise an army of child militants by mid- 
May 2004.  One prominent Nepali human rights activist, 
however, believes that the Maoists are trying to 
indoctrinate Nepal's youth and perhaps recruit children as 
porters, messengers, and other manual laborers.  Most of the 
abducted students have been released after only a few days 
of captivity, indicating that the abductions may be an 
effort to "re-educate" school children.  Ironically, the 
policy of the Royal Nepal Army of not attacking schools may 
have encouraged the Maoists to use them for recruitment. 
Nepal's human rights organizations have denounced these 
activities.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Abduction of Students Intensifies 
--------------------------------- 
 
2.  Since the beginning of 2004, the Maoists have 
increasingly resorted to kidnapping students in large 
numbers from the schools of Nepal's mid-western and far- 
western regions.  Press reports suggest that nearly 700 
students were abducted in January and February alone.  The 
Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), a prominent human 
rights organization, calculates that Maoists have abducted 
approximately 900 students over the past six months as 
compared to only 137 students abducted during the 7-month 
long ceasefire in 2003 (January-August 27). 
 
3. According to media and NGO accounts, Accham District in 
far-western Nepal was particularly hard-hit by the Maoists: 
13 Dalit, or low-caste, girls were abducted and enlisted 
into the Maoist armed force the week of January 18; 150 
students were abducted on January 8; and another 153 
students were abducted on February 1, but all were later 
released after attending Maoist "cultural programs."  Sixty- 
two schools in Achham District reportedly have closed 
indefinitely as a result of the Maoist abductions.  Rolpa 
District in the mid-west has also suffered: Maoists abducted 
300 students on February 16 and another 187 on February 20, 
although all were later set free.  On February 25, the 
Maoists kidnapped 65 students and a teacher from a school in 
Rukum District of mid-western Nepal, but were released on 
March 4.  According to INSEC, as of February 29, 71 students 
remained missing. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Why do Maoists Target Schools and Students? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
4. According to the Maoists' Bheri-Karnali Regional 
Coordination Committee, the insurgents are recruiting 
children to achieve their target of 50,000 child militants 
by may 2004. Press reports indicate that the Maoist student 
wing, ANNISU-R, is flooding schools with the slogan of "one 
educational institution, one excellent militia". 
Additionally, a March 9 press report asserted that Maoists 
in four western districts had established training camps in 
public schools and that insurgents have "trained" 1,500 
students.  However, INSEC Chairman Subodh Pyakurel believes 
the Maoists seek only to indoctrinate the students and 
perhaps recruit them as porters, messengers and other manual 
labor or as "human shields" to protect themselves from 
attack by security forces.  Pyakurel suggested that only a 
few of the abductees likely end up fighting for the Maoists. 
He opined that recruiting child militants probably is not 
part of the Maoists' mainstream agenda. 
 
5. Pyakurel suggested that, ever since the October 2003 Doti 
incident, the Maoists increasingly have used schools as 
"safe havens".  [Note.  On October 13, 2003, security forces 
open fired on a school in which Maoists were conducting a 
"cultural program", resulting in the death of four students 
(reftel).  End Note.]  Public condemnation of the incident 
has caused security forces to refrain from attacking or 
operating near schools.  Pyakurel believed that the 
unintended effect has been increased Maoist activity in 
schools.  Schools have more space for Maoists to organize 
political and cultural programs, he averred, and students 
are more easily indoctrinated into Maoist philosophy and 
potentially recruited into service. According to INSEC, the 
students typically are abducted, compelled to attend Maoist 
political and cultural programs, and then released.  The 
abductees usually are held in Maoist-controlled villages or 
camps, Pyakurel said. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Human Rights Organizations Blast Maoist Atrocities 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
6. Many of Nepal's human rights organizations as well as the 
U.N. have severely criticized the Maoists for abducting 
students.  Pyakurel indicated that INSEC has made it "very 
clear" to the Maoists that the student abductions should 
stop.  Similarly, the National Human Rights Commission 
(NHRC) has denounced such activities and has requested the 
Maoist leadership to prohibit its cadres from abducting 
children and damaging children's right to education and 
security.  A Nepali NGO, Children Workers In Nepal (CWIN), 
also issued a press release in February urging the 
insurgents not to involve children under 18 years of age in 
perilous activities and to recognize schools as "zones of 
peace." 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. The claim by some Maoists that they intend to recruit 
50,000 child militants by May 2004 is wildly unrealistic. 
Most able-bodied young adults have fled Maoist areas in 
order to avoid recruitment, leaving only children and the 
elderly behind.  Although many Nepali pre-teens are too 
small to carry and use weapons, the insurgents apparently 
are targeting young people for indoctrination and future 
induction as armed cadre.  The reluctance by Nepal's 
security forces to patrol near public schools (as a result 
of the October incident in Doti District) provides the 
Maoist leadership with additional leeway to accomplish its 
re-education goals.  End Comment.