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Your Excellency,
We, as true
representative of the 23.4 million people of Nepal and the leader of the ongoing
revolutionary people’s movement in the country, deem it as our duty to appraise
the international community of the true state of affairs in Nepal and appeal to
all not to be mislead by the one-sided propaganda of the tottering old state
desperately trying to survive on borrowed time.The reactionary old state of
Nepal headed by the hated Gyanendra Shah, the chief conspirator and ringleader
behind the ghastly massacre of the entire family of King Birendra on June1,
2001, is fast crumbling under its own weight. The declaration of state of
emergency on November 26, suspension of all fundamental and civil rights of the
people and imposition of military dictatorship in the country is the last
desperate act of this murderous gang to prolong its illegal and unpopular rule.
The barbaric reign of terror unleashed by this fascist coterie in recent days in
the form of indiscriminate butchering of innocent masses, rape of women, looting
of property, gaging of the free press, incarceration of dissenting citizens,
etc., is surpassing all limits. In fact the present events are a direct sequel
to the heinous palace massacre and coup de’tat of last June by Gyanendra to
reverse the gradually unfolding democratisation process in the country and to
impose military dictatorship under a fake monarchy, which we had sought to
expose right then. The parliamentary institutions in Nepal have been a meek
shadow of the all- powerful feudal monarchy, which traditionally controls the
armed forces of the state, and the peace talks with the revolutionary forces in
between were a mere ploy by Gyanendra to buy time and consolidate his position
for carrying out this fascistic agenda.Currently a desperate disinformation
campaign is launched by this ruling coterie to hoodwink the international
community and world public opinion and to justify its brute military
dictatorship. One such attempt is to brand the revolutionary people’s movement
led by CPN (Maoist) as "terroristic" and to put the blame for the break down of
the recent peace talks on us. The facts are, however, just the contrary. Only
when all the peaceful political avenues for all-round democratisation of the
feudal polity, economy and culture were forcibly blocked by these traditional
vested interests that we had assumed the responsibility of leading the armed
resistance of the people. We have always drawn a clear-cut demarcation line
between terrorism resorted to by desperate elements with a reactionary and
obscurantist ideology
and a forward-looking, mass-based revolutionary movement guided by a scientific
ideology. Our openly stated policies and programmes of New Democracy, or
People’s Democracy, and voluntary participation of millions of people subjected
to class, caste, national, regional and gender oppression in our movement,
should easily dispel any malicious canard spread against us and establish our
progressive, democratic political credentials. We would request you to verify
through your own independent sources what an overwhelming mass support our
movement enjoys throughout the country and how isolated and hated the old regime
is. As regards the false accusation hurled at us of backing out of the recent
rounds of talks held with the representatives of the old state, in fact it was
our side which exhibited maximum patience and flexibility and sought to find out
minimum political solution of the problem. As an immediate political solution,
we proposed the formation of an interim government, drafting of a new
constitution and proclamation of the republic. But when the idea of a republican
form of state was not acceptable to the ruling side we put forward an
alternative proposal of convening an elected constituent assembly so as to give
the ultimate right of choosing between a monarchy or a republic to the sovereign
people themselves. As this proposal, too, was summarily rejected and the fascist
ruling gang mobilised the royal army throughout the country we had no other
alternative than to return to the people and
continue with the movement. The subsequent events have amply proved that real
state power is exercised by the fratricidal and regicidal Gyanendra clique
through its control of the royal army, and the so-called elected government and
the parliament are mere hapless pawns in its hands. It may be noted here that
because of this ground reality of predominance of feudal-militarist forces in
the current Nepalese politics that we have in a most responsible and flexible
manner not pressed for our stated goal of New Democracy or People’s Democracy at
the moment but sought to consummate ‘old democracy’ by institutionalising the
republic and drafting a new constitution through the constituent assembly. We
are still open to this proposal and prepared to suspend all armed activities and
resume the broken talks, if the other side makes a matching gesture. Hence the
current fight in Nepal is not between ‘democracy’ and ‘terrorism’, as is
maliciously sought to be propagated by the arch reactionary ruling coterie, but
between genuine democracy freed from all feudal chains and representing the vast
majority of the people, on the one hand, and feudal-militarism gasping to
survive through foreign help, on the other. The all-round democratisation
process breaking all chains of class, caste, gender, national and regional
oppression is sweeping through the countryside of Nepal and we, as the leading
core of that historical process, urge the international democratic forces to
respect, but not hinder in any way, the democratic aspirations of the Nepalese
people. Any military or otherwise assistance to the tottering old state would
only encourage and enable the fascist militarist forces to perpetrate atrocities
and trample upon the basic human and civic rights of the people, and hence go
directly against universal democratic values. Since the vast majority of the
people have rebelled against the old oppressive state and have wrested political
power for themselves at the local level in virtually all the rural areas of the
country, it has been our duty to take initiatives in organising the alternative
political power at the central level as well. A beginning in that direction has
been made in the form of the United Revolutionary People’s Council (URPC), which
is a revolutionary united front of all the progressive and democratic forces
under the leadership of the CPN (Maoist). Hence we would expect the
international community to consult the CPN (Maoist) and the URPC before any
crucial bilateral or multilateral decision is taken on Nepal.We as the embryonic
new state in Nepal would also like to acquaint you with some of our policy
commitments in the future. Our commitment to a fully democratic form of state
that will ensure all political, economic, social and cultural freedoms to the
people is well-known to the public. In the sphere of foreign policy we are
committed to maintain relations with all countries of the world on the basis of
five principles (Panchsheel), of peaceful coexistence. We are particularly
conscious of the geo-strategic specificities of our positioning between the two
giant neighbours, India and China, and will strive to develop friendly relations
with both on the basis of strict non-alignment. We would, hence, expect all
countries, international bodies and particularly the two immediate neighbours,
India and
China, not to interfere in the internal affairs of Nepal and let the Nepalese
people decide their own
political future themselves. Looking forward to cordial and mutually beneficial
relations in the days to come.
(Baburam Bhattarai)
Convenor,
United Revolutionary
People’s Council, Nepal.
(Prachanda)
Chairman, CPN (Maoist)
and Supreme Commander,
People’s
Liberation Army, Nepal.
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