US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU180

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000180 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE 
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, CASC, PGOV, NP, IN, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, JAN 25-31 
 
REFERENCE:  (A) KATHAMNDU 0175 
            (B) KATHMANDU 0140 
            (C) KATHMANDU 0145 
            (D) KATHMANDU 0135 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  The Government of Nepal (GON) and the Maoists announced 
a ceasefire on January 29 (Ref A).  The international 
community widely welcomed the news of a ceasefire.  The 
Maoist-aligned All Nepal National Independent Students Union- 
Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) said that it will go ahead with 
their planned education strike despite the ceasefire.  Prior 
to the ceasefire announcement, the week got off to a brutal 
start after Maoists gunned down Krishna Mohan Shrestha, 
Inspector General of Police, his wife and a sub-inspector, 
causing fear and outrage throughout Nepal (Ref B).  Maoists 
also killed seventeen security personnel, including six 
police and six Armed Police Force (APF) personnel.  Two 
civilians were killed in the same attack.  Maoists abducted 
thirty-six students from a secondary school, and thirty-six 
villagers.  The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) is planning to 
increase its troop strength to help combat the insurgency. 
In an effort to correct human rights violations, the 
Government of Nepal announced plans to compensate the 
families of those killed by errant security forces.  The 
army also announced court-martials for those found guilty of 
killing innocent civilians (Ref C).  Amnesty International 
expressed concern again over the human rights situation in 
Nepal. 
 
CEASE-FIRE ANNOUNCED; LEADERS CAUTIOUS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
2.  The Government of Nepal (GON) and the Maoists declared a 
ceasefire on January 29.  The GON agreed to remove the 
terrorist label, withdraw red corner notices from Interpol 
and remove rewards for intelligence on top Maoist leaders 
(Ref A).  Narayan Singh Pun, Minister For Physical Planning 
and Works, was designated by the government as its peace 
talks coordinator. 
 
3.  The United States and the international community 
welcomed the news of the ceasefire.  England, Germany, 
Finland, India and the EU Heads of Mission all expressed 
support for the ceasefire and hope that it would lead to a 
peaceful resolution. 
 
4.  GON officials remain cautious. Ramesh Nath Pandey, 
Minister for Information and Communication, was quoted in 
local papers as saying that "peace talks will begin soon," 
but Narayan Singh Pun, Minister for Physical Planning and 
Works, cautioned that the hard part was just beginning.  Pun 
said there was no definite time frame for when the peace 
talks would begin, and that it was a delicate process that 
should be taken one step at a time. 
 
5.  Dadhi Raj Lamichhane, one of the Maoist mediators, said 
the Maoists were committed to the ceasefire and told local 
reporters that if anyone from either side violated the 
ceasefire they should be branded as "traitors." 
 
EDUCATION STRIKE TO GO ON 
------------------------- 
 
6.  The All Nepal National Independent Students Union- 
Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the Maoist-aligned students 
organization, said it will not cancel its plans for the 
upcoming educational strike.  ANNISU-R threatened to close 
all educational institutions, indefinitely, beginning 
February 13 if the GON does not meet its 13-point demands, 
which include free education and an increase in school 
budgets. 
 
7.  ANNISU-R issued a statement on January 30 that if the 
GON did not sit down for talks, it would turn schools 
throughout the country into "focal points of agitation." 
ANNISU-R said it would go ahead with the strike despite the 
ceasefire declared by the Maoist leadership. 
 
BRUTAL MURDER OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 
---------------------------------- 
 
8.  Krishna Mohan Shrestha, Inspector General of the Armed 
Police Force, his wife and bodyguard were gunned down while 
walking outside their home on the morning of January 26 (Ref 
B).  Shrestha is the highest-ranking security official to be 
killed since the start of the Maoist insurgency.  The 
Government of Nepal condemned the murders, calling them 
disgraceful and cowardly and asserting that they showed the 
true face of the terrorists to the world.  Prime Minister 
Lokendra Bahadur Chand said the murders would not deter 
security forces in their fight against the Maoists. 
 
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ATTACKS NEPAL AGAIN 
----------------------------------------- 
 
9.  Amnesty International (AI) issued a statement on January 
24 expressing serious concern about the worsening human 
rights situation in Nepal.  The statement comes on the heels 
of a report that security personnel rearrested Janak Prasad 
Adhikari, a suspected Maoist, soon after the Supreme Court 
ordered his release (Ref C). AI declared that not enough was 
being done to stop human rights violations. 
 
10.  The Government of Nepal said it would compensate the 
families of two boys killed by security forces in Myagdi 
District in December.  The two boys, age 14 and 23, were 
killed while returning home after taking their grandfather 
for treatment for rheumatism.  According to press reports, 
security forces insisted the boys were killed 
unintentionally as a result of a crossfire.  The GON said 
each family would receive just over 1200 dollars. 
 
11.  Madan Prasad Aryal, Defense Secretary, was quoted in 
the local press as declaring that the army is committed to 
honoring human rights and will punish those who are found 
guilty of violations.  Aryal, speaking at a local 
conference, said that the army personnel implicated in the 
killing of five innocent youths in Nuwakot District in 
November are being court-martialed (Ref C).  Aryal, however, 
denied that any army officers were involved in the alleged 
rape of two girls in Napalgunj District, declaring, "No case 
of rape took place inside the barracks." 
 
PEOPLES WAR TAKING TOLL ON SECURITY FORCES 
----------------------------------------- 
 
12.  According to an internal report, figures released on 
January 25 by the Terrorism Control Section of the Police 
Headquarters show that Maoists have killed 985 police 
officers, injured almost 1400 others, and abducted almost 
300 officers.  In addition, Maoists have destroyed countless 
police posts and stolen 800,000 dollars in cash and goods 
from the police.  According to the local press, an unnamed 
high-ranking officer was quoted saying that officers fear 
for their lives in Maoist-infested areas and that the police 
force is suffering physically and psychologically because of 
the insurgency. 
 
13.  The Royal Nepal Army had also suffered losses due to 
the insurgency.  Madan Kumar Aryal, Defence Secretary, said 
that 244 soldiers had been killed and 363 had been injured 
since the start of the Maoist "Peoples War." 
 
INSURGENTS CONTINUE ATTACKS 
--------------------------- 
 
14.  Heavy fighting between security forces and Maoists 
along the border of Baglung and Pyuthan Districts claimed 
the lives of five policemen.  The policemen had been missing 
since the clash began on January 27.  Their bodies were 
discovered several days later.  The battle continued even as 
the announcement of a ceasefire was made on January 29. 
Maoists, aiming at an Army helicopter in Surkhet District, 
shot and killed two civilians, including a young girl, on 
January 27.  The civilians were part of a mass meeting 
organized by the Maoists, who demanded that each household 
in the district send at least one person to the meeting. 
Maoists killed a retired policeman on January 26 in Bara 
District.  He was taken from his home, tied up and then 
shot.  The Maoists killed a police officer in Ilam District 
on January 23, after dragging him from his house and 
slitting his throat.  The officer had gone home on leave to 
visit his ill father.  On January 24 a landmine blast, 
planted by Maoists, exploded in Surkhet District, killing 
five Armed Police Force (APF) personnel and injuring 
seventeen others.  In Dang District, another member of the 
APF was also killed in a landmine blast.  He was part of a 
team of security personnel assigned to guard a 
communications tower. Five security personnel were killed 
and 31 injured in Nepalgunj District after an ambush by 
Maoists on January 24. 
 
MAOISTS STILL ABDUCTING STUDENTS 
-------------------------------- 
 
15.  Maoists stormed into a classroom in Palpa District and 
abducted 36 students from a secondary school.  Their 
whereabouts are still unknown.  Meanwhile, the students 
abducted from northwestern Rolpa District, taken on January 
23, remain captive.  Maoists reportedly took the children as 
part of a Maoist training program in which the students are 
forced to do road construction and farm work. 
 
16.  According to the local press, a group of armed Maoists 
abducted 36 villagers in the middle of the day from Dang 
District, ordering them to go with the Maoists to fight. 
Four managed to escape, and fled to India. 
 
17.  Maoists abducted a civilian from Dang District on 
January 24, accusing him of being an informant.  He has not 
been released.  A Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldier, taken by 
the Maoists while guarding the Khimti Hydro-Power Project 
(Ref D), sent a letter appealing for his life.  The 
insurgents allowed the soldier to send a letter to local 
human rights activists, in which he begged for help to be 
returned home safely. 
 
18.  Maoists in Kailali District are forcing families of 
security personnel to vacate their houses, after which they 
are locked.  The families are also prevented from leaving 
the village, leaving them with nowhere to live but unable to 
get out of the district. According to local press reports, 
the Maoists have locked up approximately 200 houses, forcing 
the families to set up tents in their yards or take refuge 
with neighbors. 
 
PLANS TO BEEF UP SECURITY 
------------------------- 
 
19.  Madan Kumar Aryal, Defense Secretary, told the local 
press that the Government of Nepal (GON) is planning to 
increase the number of personnel in the Royal Nepal Army 
(RNA) from 60,000 to 66,000 in an effort to strengthen the 
force in its fight against the Maoists. 
 
20.  In a separate report, the local press said that armed 
security forces were to be stationed along the Nepal-India 
border following reports that the Maoists are using the area 
to smuggle in contraband, including weapons.  The security 
force had been removed from the Koilabus post, which is only 
34 kilometers from the Maoists' Dang District training 
center, after the Maoists attacked it in December. 
 
MALINOWSKI