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Maoist insecurity


RAMESWOR BOHARA in RAUTAHAT


PICS: MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
GRIEF KNOWS NO IDEOLOGY: Sarba Sati Debi mourns the death of her son, Maoist leader Ram Prakash Yadav, killed by an armed group in January in Bara

Just as Pushpa Kamal Dahal returned to Kathmandu from Chatara Sundari, having worshipped a buffalo and performed rituals for good luck, an armed group in Rautahat killed Shambu Ram Yadav, a member of the Bhojpura Sub-State Council. The following day, Rautahat district-in-charge Ashok Jaisawal approached the local administration, seeking security.

Jaisawal goes to the police office every day. "They say we need not worry as there is no threat to our lives. Security should be given before an incident takes place. What is the use after someone gets killed?" 

His case is representative of the Maoists across the Tarai, where armed groups have been targeting their leaders and cadres. Rautahat's co-in-charge Upendra Shah says they don't feel secure. "It's natural to be terrified when the leaders are being killed one after another. Who wants to die for nothing?" 

In the last one and a half months, 5 Maoist cadres have been killed in Rautahat, Bara and Parsa. But 36 Maoists have been killed since the peace process began; this figure excludes those killed in clashes with political parties and security forces in Rautahat and Dang. According to the Informal Sector Service Centre, 6 of these 36 were killed by the public and Tarai armed groups took responsibility for 14 killings.

While the killing of Maoist cadres is on the rise nationwide, they are particularly vulnerable in the Tarai. District level leaders have been asking local administration for personal security officers (PSOs). Chief District Officer of Bara district Tara Nath Gautam says leaders are provided with PSOs according to the degree of their vulnerability. Maoist CA members Shiva Chandra Kushwaha and Jayaram Dahal are among those assigned PSOs in Bara.

FOES NO MORE: Ashok Jaisawal, Maoist district-in-charge for Rautahat, calls on his local police chief to ask for security
Police have also arranged special security for Maoist leaders in Rautahat. District Police In-charge SP Pitambar Adhikari says they escort CA members and also provide them with security officers. "When the Maoists organise programs in villages, we arrange special security, which UML and NC don't need," he says adding, "If the threat continues, the day will come when each leader will have to be given one personal security guard." 

 Despite these arrangements, the Maoists remain uncertain about their security and say the state is merely fulfilling formalities. But Rautahat CDO Kamalesh Kumar Sinha says he cannot provide a PSO to everyone. "The district security committee decides whom to give a security officer," he says. Maoist CA members Prabhu Sah Teli and Debendra Patel have been given PSOs.

Why are the Maoists being targeted in this way? Sunil Jaisawal, commander of the Tarai Liberation Front, has claimed that three Maoist cadres were killed in Ganjabhawanipur, Bara and Rautahat as acts of revenge. For many, joining or recruiting the services of armed groups is a way of getting back at the Maoists for their actions during the decade-long insurgency. For the armed groups in the Tarai, claiming responsibility for any violent incidents is a way to generate publicity.

The state seems to be absent in the Tarai. Despite the Special Security Plan, there is no decline in the number of murders, kidnapping cases, bomb explosions, threats and extortion. The easy availability of weapons from across the border is a key cause, and cannot be controlled without support from Indian security. But the political parties, the Maoists in particular, need to take the initiative. As important as controlling arms is the need to push for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the Maoists have no other choice but to support it if they are to improve security for their own.

READ ALSO:
Crumbling state - FROM ISSUE #494 (19 MARCH 2010 - 25 MARCH 2010)



1. average nepali
This makes me so angry.......you maoists stopped at nothing killing ordinary people and the police and army and now you want security??? From whom??? Don't talk about the state does nothing....you crippled the state.....I cannot express enough how upsetting this is

2. Nirmal
This is the price of violence we pay. Violence creates violence. Reminder to Maoist the ideal you preached  which says you must bear to fulfill your cause that means kill intimidate. Remember other side who you targeted you know were powerful. But did not realized that they will come to you eventually. It is a law of nature power,force and strength is not permanent. Now it is against you. If you really like better future. Renounce all the violence and itimidatio. Ask your leader not to use language that reflects violence. And do good work in your community with partnership of all member despite anyones political belief. No one come for revenge in the future. But it is folish to ask a protection to commit same crime you have done. Especially to ask with your past enemy is not a good idea.  

3. PriyaS
It's strange that I feel not an iota of sympathy when I hear Maoists being killed...in fact, when I read such news, my mind goes "khuching paryo! you deserve it"

4. Arthur
Naturally people who want to start another civil war are very glad that Maoists are still being murdered and strongly opposed to police doing their duty.

Equally naturally the YCL is mobilizing to suppress the criminal gangs protected by the police.


5. K. K. Sharma

"Those who live by the gun, die by the gun.", as a saying goes.

But Maoists asking for security was funny. 

It seems they are seeking to show that they are actually the victims and posing as being innocent. This " asking for security", seems like yet another of their ploys. 

They do have their own armed YCL, and armed militias to protect themselves. It is the victims of the Maoists, who do not have any protections.


6. bridohi

Arthur,

The pot is calling the kettle black now. Ha! Ha Arthur, if there is going to be another civil war, you & the Maos will be decimated ultimately. Just think of Sri Lanka. You won't be able to hide in India this time. You have annoyed India with your self-destructive rhetoric. You have shown your true colours. Indian Moaists are the #1 internal security threat. You won't be able to go to China cause the Maoism is China is "command capitalism" or as you would describe, a revisionist! Chinese will find you a thorn in their rear.  Finally, the Nepali people will not be forgiving or accomodating this time. You have lost the mandate. You just do not realize the anti-Maoist tsunami that is brewing in people's minds. It is just a matter of time. Its time for your comrades to be for the people, by the people & to the people. Or it will only lead to your demise.



7. kamal kishor

Violence brings violence. Maoists are lucky so far that negative reaction has not gone to extreme because of Nepalese characteristics, otherwise it would have been a massacre. What do you feel when your uncle was brutally murdered in front of you? and you are 100% confident that your uncle was innocent. The other words of violence is tit for tat. that is what they are getting now.

I am very happy that now they have to seek the protection of police.



8. Sud
Ironic!!

9. Arthur
It is well known that most of the political murders since the ceasefire have been murders of Maoists.

Despite this commentators here refer endlessly to "Maoist violence".

The total hypocrisy is well illustrated by the gloating comments in this thread.

But the hypocrites still know that they could not win the last civil war and would do far worse in another one.

Gloating enthusiasm for murderous criminals is a sign of deep despair.


10. Abhi
Feel bad for Terai!

11. Kalam

YOU Maoist, remember what you did. You murdered and tortured so many innocent lives and made so many children orphan. Now all those angry dead soul will hunt you down until they find you. It's alll matter of time. It is your time to pay back.  What goes around it comes around.

Now you are  crying out loud for your safety and  security. What are you afraid of?  It's pay back time. You deserve it.



12. So sad
Once again low level Maoist cadres are being killed. The decision to go to war and the consequent violence was the makings of the top level leaders. During the war, not one lost his/her life. Now the central  leaders are reaping the benefits of all the blood split. If anyone needs to be taken out, its the top level leaders. 

13. PriyaS

Mr. Arthur,

Can you express your views without any name-calling? Where did you get your statistics on deaths of Maoists being higher after the ceasefire? It is certainly not "well known." On the contrary, prevalence of Maoist violence even after they signed the peace treaty is very very well known. Why do you turn a blind eye on what Maoists have committed in the past and are still committing? The only thing we Nepalis want is for them to eshew their culture of violence. Is that too much to ask?



14. Buddha Interrupted

Well said, So sad. Priya, look at the face of the woman who lost her son only becuase he was a maoist. That guy may have committed war crimes or not.  We do not know. We cannot assume that all maoists killed, raped, looted during the war. Each time a maoist worker is killed, another poor family suffers. Most of the maoist workers are poor families, indoctrinated and manipulated into blindly following the party dictates. Never say khuchhing without knowing that the person really deserved the fate.

This shows what idiots Prachand, baburam and others who started this war are. The violence that they had used at great cost to the country and thousands and thousands of innocnet people is coming right back at them. They should not be spared. Nor should those who provide intellectual and other kinds of support to the maoists. Our very own Arthur deserves a kick in the butt.



15. Arthur
PriyaS, I got the fact that most political murders since the ceasefire have been murders of Maoists from the link at the words "well known" in #9 which are highlighted because they are link you can click on directly to see the source.

Here it is again:

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=16482



16. jange
Just remember. When Maoists do the killing, it is revolution. When Maoists get killed in return it is murder.

As I have said before, it won't be long before the Maoist leadership will be seeking protection (from their own comrades) from the state security apparatus. That is because the Maoists are a mafia organisation, not a political party.


17. PriyaS

Buddha Interrupted ji: You are right! I was wrong in making that mean spirited comment. I can't fathom the grief that must have befallen on the family (as clearly shown in the picture). However, like I said in my earlier comment, when I hear a "Maoist" being killed, I don't feel any sympathy (towards the dead person). The word "Maoist" automatically triggers a sense of animosty maybe because the deaths and destruction they caused are etched in our minds. So until and unless they eschew violence, people will not care much for the the loss of Maoist lives.

Mr. Arthur: Yes Maoists have been killed and many of the incidents have been reported. But who has suffered more is a debatable issue. What the Maoists should understand (and so should you) is that they were the ones who used violence as a political tool to come to power. They signed peace agreement promising the Nepali people that they will abandon violence and come for peaceful politics. So, it's not "hypocrisy" on the part of people to place a higher burden of proof on the Maoists to show commitment to peaceful politics than on other political groups.



18. Arthur
PriyaS (and others), you killed more than 10,000 as "Maoists" during the last civil war. But the poor learned how to fight and they are not afraid of you any more. You could kill another 100,000 in another civil war and they would still outnumber you and would still win. You know it so you are angry as well as afraid.

If you still had any hope of restoring your old Nepal you would not boast and gloat about loving murderous criminal gangs and corrupt police. You would stick to the usual script about how "thousands were killed because of Maoist violence" and "Maoists must give up violence". That way people who do not know anything about Nepal and who the real killers are could be fooled by people like you.

But this thread shows that you have lost hope and are in complete despair. You no longer hope to fool anybody or gain sympathy from anybody for your sad fate. So all that is left for you is to celebrate your joy that there are still murderous criminal gangs in Nepal who feel the same way as you do. That joy is the joy of despair. Nobody that relies on criminal gangs has hope.


19. PriyaS

Mr. Arthur

Is it always Maoists vs. the Rest? Or, in your expert opinion, can there be people who don't support neither the Maoists nor other political groups?

 



20. May
Priya,Jange and Buddha I.: Don't bother to reply to Arthur, he is a Khmer Rouge. While Nepal's Maoists may have realized how much suffering they caused, these firanghis will never understand. They will always want the suffering to be in our country, not in theirs. Nepal's poor were taught how to fight and kill other poor Nepalis, while their leaders now count extortion money with their blood-soaked hands.

21. tero bau
This comment has been removed by the moderator.

22. jange
What everyone seems to be forgetting is that Maoists are ENTITLED to kill for their political ends. The right to use violence is the exclusive privilege  of Maoists.


23. Kanti
It makes me laugh. I am glad Law Of Karma applies even for Maoist. Taraibasi are simply taking revenge for what Mao have done to them a decade ago. State cant give protection to everyone. Maoists have to accept their fate of whatever people throw at them due to their past behavior.

It is nasty, but it is true.



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