US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU2188

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 002188 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: NP, PGOV, PTER, PHUM, IN, PREL, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOIST SPOKESMAN PUSHES PARTY LINE ON CNN 
 
REF: A. KATHMANDU 2152 
 
     B. KATHMANDU 450 
     C. KATHMANDU 2169 
     D. KATHMANDU 2124 
     E. KATHMANDU 2171 
 
1. Summary:  Krishna Bahadur Mahara, one of the top leaders 
of Nepal's Maoist insurgency, granted an interview to CNN on 
November 14.  Mahara, speaking in an open setting with no 
apparent fear of capture, unabashedly used the opportunity to 
spread misinformation and propaganda on the international 
stage. The interview, almost certainly to have taken place in 
India, reinforces Government of Nepal (GON) suspicions that 
India is unwilling--rather than unable--to cooperate in 
handing over the principal leaders of the insurgency. End 
summary. 
 
MAHARA SAYS MAOISTS NOT TERRORISTS; 
CLAIMS NO KILLING OF INNOCENTS 
----------------------------------- 
 
2. Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who carries a 
$65,000 price on his head and is subject to an INTERPOL 
warrant, was the chief negotiator in last year's failed peace 
talks between the Maoists and the GON.  Mahara met with CNN 
New Delhi's Satinder Bindra in an undisclosed location on 
November 14.  Mahara is a senior politburo member of the 
outlawed Maoist party, and considered to be one of the top 
leaders of the movement. 
 
3. Calling GON accusations of terrorism "baseless 
allegations," Mahara denied the use of child soldiers and the 
killing of civilians.  "We condemn all types of terrorism," 
he claimed. "We are a political force... we are not 
terrorists and that is clear."  Mahara also stated that the 
Maoists have no children in their fighting force.  "We do not 
admit anyone below 18 in our army," he said. "We have the 
support of the children as well as the elderly.  But they are 
not a part of our army."  Blaming the government for civilian 
deaths that have been attributed to the insurgency, Mahara 
said that allegations of Maoists killing innocents are false. 
"We have only killed the criminal elements of our society and 
that too after issuing them several warnings," he added. 
 
4. The blatant mendacity of Mahara's statements was apparent 
from the clip which immediately preceded interview's 
broadcast, and is further illustrated by recent news reports. 
His assertions that the Maoists execute criminal elements 
rather than indiscriminately killing civilians directly 
followed a clip of Thursday's incident in which 2 civilians 
were killed and 25 injured when their passenger bus was 
blasted by a Maoist landmine. The day before the interview, a 
mentally disabled 12-year-old and a 14-year-old on his way to 
school were killed by two separate Maoist bombs (ref A).  Not 
a day goes by without further reports of Maoist brutality--of 
farmers hacked to death, postal workers beheaded and 
vegetable sellers blown up by Maoist bombs. Mahara's claim 
that the Maoists do not employ child soldiers bears equally 
little resemblance to reality. In March, Ambassador 
Malinowski met with child recruits in the southwestern city 
of Nepalgunj who were forced to join the "people's army," to 
take weapons training and to fight due to fear rather than 
ideology (ref B).  Other Embassy officers also have 
personally interviewed Maoist child recruits. 
 
5. Mahara's interview was broadcast against the backdrop of 
coordinated Maoist attacks in Jumla and Gorkha districts, in 
which 60 police and soldiers were killed (ref C).  "We want 
peace," Mahara stated in his interview. "It is the ruling 
class that is committing injustice on the people; all we are 
doing is resisting." Yet reports from Jumla indicate that 
villagers were used as human shields by the Maoists, and may 
have been killed in the crossfire; that Maoists shot and 
killed a prison guard after breaking into the district jail 
and freeing the inmates; and that they looted 3.8 million 
rupees (50,000 USD) in cash and valuables from the local 
bank.  The interview came five days after a Maoist hit squad 
killed Embassy contract security supervisor Deepak Pokhrel 
(ref D); and two days before the Maoists claimed credit for 
this killing and also for a previous killing of an Embassy 
direct hire guard (ref E). 
 
6. Full text of Mahara's interview with CNN is available 
online at 
asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asaipcf/south/11/14/n epal.leader.iv. 
 
INDIA SUSPECTED AS LOCATION OF INTERVIEW 
----------------------------------------- 
 
7. Though CNN coverage gave no indication of Mahara's 
whereabouts, the interview was filmed in a calm garden 
setting, in fairly opulent surroundings: Mahara was seated on 
the floor in a well-appointed room with expensive furnishings 
and electronic equipment.  Most Nepalis believe that the 
Maoist leader is hiding in India, and local watchers, closely 
examining the scene for evidence of the leader's location, 
have cited evidence as tenuous as a view of a particular type 
of tree that "only grows in southern India," as proof that 
Mahara is located south of the border.  There is  speculation 
that the interview was conducted in Bangalore. 
 
COMMENT 
-------- 
 
8. Senior Nepali officials have been charging for years that 
their efforts at bringing the Maoists under control have been 
compromised by the fact that the principal leaders of the 
insurgency can find safety and support in India.  While the 
GON admits that India has been helpful in handing over a few 
Maoists who have fled across the border, the returnees have 
all been low-level members of the insurgency and not the "big 
fish."  There is a persistent belief that the GOI wil not go 
after the chief offenders because of a desire to maintain 
leverage over the Nepalis.  This brazen public appearance by 
a leader as highy placed as Mahara would seem to support this 
view. 
MALINOWSKI