US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU853

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000853 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DRL 
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, PGOV, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  KILLERS OF TWO MAOIST STUDENTS REMAIN 
UNIDENTIFIED 
 
REF: A. KATHMANDU 0795 
     B. KATHMANDU 0770 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU)  Although the Maoist-affiliated student union 
continues to blame the security forces for the killings of 
two of its members in April, most human rights groups and 
mainstream politicians from the area believe that the pair 
were likely murdered by others in the insurgents' student 
wing.  Some senior police officials, on the other hand, have 
suggested that the two may have been killed because of local 
anti-Maoist vigilantism.  End summary. 
 
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DECAPITATED STUDENT BODIES 
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2.  (U)  The leadership of the Maoist-affiliated All-Nepal 
National Independent Student Union - Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) 
has accused the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) of killing ANNISU-R 
members Bhupendra Timilsena and Prit Kumar Moktan in the city 
of Hetauda in the south-central district of Makwanpur.  The 
decapitated body of Timilsena was found in Hetauda on April 
20, while the headless and mutilated corpse of Moktan was 
discovered one week later (Ref A).  The two had been reported 
missing on April 20 after having been arrested, the ANNISU-R 
alleged, by RNA soldiers.  A third student who had 
disappeared at the same time, Ramesh Sapkota, remains 
missing.  The ANNISU-R called an April 29 general strike, or 
bandh, to protest the killings (Ref B).  Findings from an 
investigation into the incidents, conducted under Home 
Ministry auspices, were forwarded to the Home Minister on May 
8, according to Ministry Joint Secretary Naranjan Baral.  He 
declined to disclose the results of the investigation until 
after the Minister has had a chance to review it. 
 
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INTRA-PARTY STRIFE, LOCAL REVENGE 
SUGGESTED AS POSSIBLE MOTIVES 
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3.  (SBU)  Human rights groups, local polticians, and police 
cast doubt on the ANNISU-R version of events.  Krishna Gautam 
of national human rights NGO INSEC (affiliated with the 
Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist, the 
largest political party) questioned ANNISU-R allegations that 
the pair had been arrested by the RNA.  Instead, Gautam said, 
local residents believe that the two had more likely been 
detained and killed by villagers angered by the insurgent 
students' past behavior.  (Note:  Senior police officials in 
Kathmandu have offered the same theory.  End note.)  A local 
reporter based in Hetauda said that none of the villagers 
reported having seen the students with the RNA.  Hiranya Lal 
Shrestha, a member of the Communist Party of Nepal - Marxist 
Leninist and former Member of Parliament from Makwanpur, 
speculated that the two may have been killed because of 
internal rivalries within the Maoist camp.  Alternatively, he 
suggested that the students could have been killed by gangs 
involved in smuggling marijuana from Makwanpur to India who 
were angered at the Maoist tax on contraband marijuana. 
Chief District Officer Pashupati Karmacharya said he was "100 
percent sure" that the Maoists themselves killed the two 
students, alleging the two had a dispute about "money 
matters" with their fellow cadres before their 
disappearances.  He added that the RNA would have been more 
likely to shoot the students than to take the trouble of 
decapitating them.  Superintendent of Police Narayan Prasad 
Bastakoti of the District Police Office stated that an 
investigation into the two murders is ongoing.  The general 
public now realizes that neither the police nor the RNA was 
involved in the killings, he asserted, echoing others' 
speculation that the two were either killed by other Maoists 
or by members of a criminal gang.  The local chapter of 
Amnesty International said it had no information on the 
incident, while the National Human Rights Commission said it 
had not received any complaints regarding the killings and 
had thus not begun an investigation. 
 
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COMMENT 
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4.  (SBU)  The ANNISU-R, which had initially tried to exploit 
the grisly killings as an example of RNA brutality, has been 
uncharacteristically silent since the beginning of May, 
likely put off by widespread public skepticism--if not 
outright hostility.  We find it particularly telling that 
local residents, who presumably knew the murder victims best, 
do not appear particularly sympathetic to the ANNISU-R 
version of events.  While we doubt that the just-concluded 
inquiry by the Home Ministry will turn up much reliable 
information either to implicate or exonerate any of the 
alleged killers, the Maoists' sensationalist charges against 
the RNA appear to have died a natural death. 
MALINOWSKI