US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU1373

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001373 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
MANILA FOR OFDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, ASEC, CASC, PINR, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: Maoist Leader Calls September 16 General Strike, 
Vows Revenge for Deaths 
 
REF: Kathmandu 838 
 
1. (SBU) In a press release dated July 11, Prachanda, 
President of Nepal's Maoist Central Committee, called for 
a nation-wide general strike September 16.  It would be 
the first such show of force since late April (Reftel). 
The release also charges "feudal elements" backed by 
"foreign imperialists and expansionists," with the murders 
of Maoist leaders Rit Bahadur Khadka and Krishna Sen.  In 
the release Sen, an underground Maoist Central Committee 
member and pamphleteer journalist whose death in detention 
has been widely reported, is called "Commander."  Speaking 
for the Maoist party, Prachanda pledges "to take revenge 
for the murders." 
 
2. (SBU) The press release was faxed to selected news 
outlets in Kathmandu, and is widely considered genuine. 
Post's unofficial translation of the release follows. 
 
Begin Text: 
 
Murderous feudal elements, with the backing of foreign 
imperialists and expansionists, have been making futile 
attempts to rule the country in a barbaric, medieval 
manner.  They have been killing the best sons and 
daughters of the Nepali people.  The murder, terror and 
looting committed by the Royal Army during the so-called 
emergency have not only ridiculed the achievements of the 
1990 People's Movement, but also all the values of human 
civilization.  The murder of political activists, writers, 
poets, artists, journalists and every Nepali committed to 
the liberation and progress of the country has become the 
feudal palace's everyday routine.  In this series of 
cowardly murders, member of our Central Committee and 
popular youth leader Comrade Rit Bahadur Khadka has been 
brutally killed.  Following this, after the news came out 
that Krishna Sen, a responsible member of our party and an 
energetic and established poet and journalist of the 
Nepali Progressive Cultural Movement, died in custody 
after inhumane torture, Nepali journalists, human rights 
activists and intellectuals pressured the [government]. 
The government's intrigue- and conspiracy-laden statements 
in response to the pressure have made it almost clear 
[that Sen was killed].  We express solidarity with the 
initiatives and movement launched by the journalists, 
human rights activists and intellectuals calling for the 
clarification of Commander Krishna Sen's whereabouts and 
punishment of the criminals. 
 
Our party pays tribute with high honor to all martyrs, 
including Commanders Rit Bahadur Khadka and Krishna Sen, 
and vows to take revenge for the murders. 
 
Today, the Nepalese society is on the brink of either 
progress or regression.  The feudal elements have closed 
all doors for a peaceful political exit.  And they are 
nakedly surrendering to foreigners for support for the 
murder of Nepali people.  In this situation, Nepalis have 
no other choice but to create a huge counter-movement for 
the independence and sovereignty of the country and for 
their children's rights to live.  No power in the world 
can save the self-surrendering feudal murderers from the 
people's united movement.  Our party has decided to appeal 
for a "Nepal Bandh" [general strike] on September 16 to 
protest the murders of the best of the Nepali people's 
sons and daughters, including Commanders Rit Bahadur 
Khadka and Krishna Sen, and for a positive way out of the 
present crisis.  The United Front Organization and United 
Revolutionary People's Council at the central level and 
various ethnic and regional fronts will announce the 
outline of the programs for this bandh.  We heartily 
request all pro-people groups and the public to make the 
Nepal bandh program successful in order to take the 
people's opposition and unity against feudal murderers to 
a new height. 
 
July 11, 2002 
 
Prachanda, (President), Central Committee, N.C.P. (Maoist) 
 
End Text. 
 
MALINOWSKI