US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU933

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000933 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, ASEC, CASC, PHUM, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: Maoists Attack Remote University 
 
REFERENCE: Kathmandu 925 
 
Maoists Storm Sanskrit School 
----------------------------- 
 
1. (U) Approximately 300 Maoist insurgents attacked a 
university in the remote southwestern district of Dang 
late on May 11, according to the Chief District Officer 
(CDO) for the area.  The insurgents set fire to offices at 
Mahendra Sanskrit University, approximately 300 kilometers 
west of Kathmandu, destroying furniture, office equipment 
and books.  No casualties have been reported.  Press 
reports claim most of the attackers were women.  Prior to 
the action, Maoists felled trees across the road in order 
to prevent security forces from reaching the scene. 
 
Phone Line Down 
--------------- 
 
2. (U) Because another Maoist attack had knocked out 
telephone service to the area earlier in the week, 
authorities in the district headquarters only learned of 
the incident May 12, and additional information was not 
available. 
 
Out with the Olds 
----------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Sanskrit is the hieratic language of the Hindu 
religion, which until recently could only be taught to the 
Brahmin priestly caste.  Maoists have condemned 
traditional Sanskrit education as feudal and reactionary. 
In Nepal, Mahendra Sanskrit University is the only 
institution offering tertiary-level Sanskrit education. 
The school was established in 1986 and is headquartered in 
Dang, with twelve affiliated campuses throughout the 
country.  On May 29, 2001, a socket bomb went off in the 
vice-chancellor's office at the main campus.  No injuries 
resulted.  In the past the Maoists have carried out 
attacks on secondary schools - and even individual 
teachers - for providing instruction in Sanskrit. 
 
Maoists Continue to Pressure Schools 
------------------------------------ 
 
4. (SBU) Maoist attacks on educational institutions have 
increased dramatically in recent months.  On May 12 
Maoists torched two school buses at a private school in 
Chitwan district, south-central Nepal.  The students were 
in their classrooms at the time.  Last September Maoists 
called an "education strike" that closed down schools 
throughout the country.  General strikes regularly shut 
down classes for days at a stretch. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
5. (SBU) As related Reftel, the Maoist insurgency has had 
a detrimental effect on many aspects of the lives of 
children throughout Nepal.  Economic indicators have begun 
to fall as a result of the insurgency, and human 
development indicators cannot be far behind.  Without 
continued gains in education, Nepal will face grim 
prospects for long-term economic development.  The Maoists 
seem unconcerned, however, and Maoists leaders have sent 
their children abroad, to India or the U.K., to be 
educated. 
 
MALINOWSKI