Three years
of People's War in Nepal
Over the past year there has been a marked intensification of the
People's War in Nepal. The people's revolutionary forces, led by
the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), have grown both quantitatively
and qualitatively and have proven themselves capable of dealing
blows to the enemy.
On the 27th of October 1999, the CPN (Maoist) announced the beginning
of the fourth military plan. The Party appealed to all the leftist,
progressive, patriotic and democratic forces as well as to different
nationalities and masses from the oppressed regions both to help
implement the fourth plan of building base areas and to participate
in the revolutionary state power locally. Higher levels of military
actions were launched on the very day this plan was introduced,
and thousands of posters and flyers were distributed throughout
the country.
Some enemy strong points have been captured and the political power
of the masses has increased in large areas of the country, especially
the Western region where the People's War is strongest. The Jana-Ahwan
weekly reported that a CPN (Maoist)-led guerrilla platoon successfully
accomplished a raid on a police post. The report says Maoist guerrillas
captured seven rifles, one Chinese pistol and more than 300 rounds
of ammunition from a police post at Chiriagar in the Western Region.
The post was raided at 1:00 in the morning on 3rd March. During
almost two hours of fighting seven policemen, including a sub-inspector,
were wiped out and another was injured seriously without a single
loss on the Maoist side.
In other instances demoralised enemy forces have surrendered to
the people's fighters. The CPN (Maoist)'s policy of releasing captured
enemy forces unharmed has been widely praised throughout the country
and stands in sharp contrast to the indiscriminate killing of the
reactionary state, which has lashed back at the people by intensifying
its policy of naked terror.
Government statistics say that 815 have been killed in the fighting
as of May 1st, the great majority in the previous six months when
the government terror campaign, "Kilo Sera 2", was unleashed.
While the government claims that most of those killed have been
"Maoists", a great number of the casualties are a result
of government terror directed at the civilian population. In addition
to the militarised police, which until now have been the main vehicle
for combating the revolutionary forces, there have been increased
instances of regular army personnel being assigned to take part
in police operations. Helicopters are used to transport enemy troops
against the guerrillas.
The struggle reached a particularly intense level in May 1999, as
the ruling class mobilised all of its efforts to hold an election
for parliament. The CPN (Maoist) called for a boycott of parliament
and stepped up its campaign to build base areas in the countryside.
As we go to press, only initial reports, mainly from enemy sources,
are available. Even the imperialist press commented that the election
rallies in the capital "were sparsely attended". In the
countryside the boycott was even more widespread, and it is reported
that election observers from various Nepalese parliamentary parties
were afraid to go to the remote areas and "filed their reports
from the capital". Even the government only dares claim a 30%
election turnout in "the Maoist affected areas", and no
doubt that figure is highly inflated by widespread fraud and ballot
stuffing, as was reported to have occurred elsewhere.
Newspaper reports also indicate some very significant military engagements
during the election. In what sounds like a spectacular action, a
unit of some 40 Maoist fighters fought with police in Takukot Village
Development Committee in the Gorkha district in central Nepal on
May 22. The battle lasted three hours, and according to press reports
five police were killed and one people's fighter was martyred. As
they left, the guerrillas destroyed the police post with a bomb
and took away several rifles. In addition to the squads and platoons
made up of full-time men and women guerrilla fighters, many of the
military actions have involved large numbers of irregular fighters
and masses. The widespread and ever-deepening incorporation of the
masses into the People's War has been illustrated in countless examples
big and small. Some press accounts talk of hundreds of people taking
part in assaults on enemy institutions.
Many other forms of mass activity have taken place as well, such
as bandhs (general strikes), conferences, seminars and torchlight
processions. A large number of publications have sprung up that
support the People's War.
It is worth noting that the imperialist press found it necessary
during the elections to depart from their policy of totally blacking
out developments in the People's War. They acknowledged that dealing
with the Maoist-led insurgency had become the principal political
question for Nepal's parliamentary parties.
While the People's War is based mainly among the poor, especially
in the countryside, the united front of all the progressive classes
is being built up. A major conference of representatives of the
oppressed nationalities was held in Kathmandu itself, which braved
the enemy and supported the people's revolutionary forces. A mass
organisation carrying out struggle among the Newars, a major nationality
that inhabits the Kathmandu valley, carried out a highly successful
bandh in Kathmandu on March 5. The purpose of the strike
was to protest government repression, which under the guise of fighting
the People's War has blanketed whole sections of the minority nationalities.
Actions have been taken against the Indian domination of Nepal's
economy. For example, the call to stop Indian lorry operators, who
have long dominated Nepal's transport industry, has been widely
hailed by the emerging national bourgeoisie in that sector. Similarly,
it has been announced that no Indian films are being shown in Nepalese
cinema houses, in response to a call for a boycott of Indian films.
NEPAL SOLIDARITY FORUM
Although the Indian ruling class is one of the main enemies of the
people of Nepal, the People's War is already generating enthusiasm
and support among the masses in neighbouring India. India and Nepal
are very intertwined. The Indian ruling class exercises a great
deal of control over Nepal (and the main party representing this
influence, the Nepalese Congress Party, was declared the victor
in the parliament elections). Millions of Nepalese live throughout
India. In this light it is of utmost importance that supporters
of the principal Maoist forces of India have joined together with
other revolutionaries and progressive people to form the Nepal Solidarity
Forum.
The first act of the Solidarity Forum was to organise a major demonstration
in India's capital of New Delhi on February 6th, the third anniversary
of the initiation of the war. After a number of cultural presentations,
a march started off down the streets, led by an 8-metre red banner.
According to reports, the "wide streets of Delhi were paralysed",
as 10-15,000 participants from different corners of India swept
through, heading towards the Nepalese Embassy. The air resounded
with slogans denouncing the fascist Girija government in Nepal,
Indian expansionism and imperialism, demanding an end to the killing
of innocent people in Nepal, and supporting the People's War. Although
police blocked the march for one hour, the spirited marchers persevered
until they succeeded in holding a rally at the Nepalese Embassy.
The action represented a great success for the just formed Forum
organisation.
At the rally at the Embassy, speakers representing the main trends in the
Indian revolutionary movement stressed the interrelation between the struggles
in Nepal and India. They called on the people of India to oppose Indian
expansionism and pointed out that the peoples of Nepal and India faced a
common enemy. One key task of the Solidarity Forum is to inform world opinion
of developments in the People's War, and it is publishing a regular bulletin
with that aim.
One outstanding feature of the CPN (Maoist) has been its internationalist
line. From the beginning the Party has stressed the links with the
proletariat and the oppressed peoples of all countries. The statement
from Comrade Prachanda, Secretary-General of the CPN (Maoist), on the
occasion of the third anniversary of the People's War, said, "We congratulate
the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the fraternal
parties and organisations within RIM, the
revolutionary parties and organisations and revolutionary masses
in India and the world over who have displayed the great ideals
of proletarian internationalism whole-heartedly by helping the People's
War morally and materially, and we firmly reiterate our commitment
to advance on the path of fulfilling our obligations as a contingent
of the world proletarian army."
The same statement from Comrade Prachanda concludes: "Today
Nepalese society is passing through the sharp birth-pains of a period
of transition. The old system is striving to turn the country into
a complete slave of imperialism and expansionism by shattering all
the economic, social and political sectors; whereas the Nepalese
people, by means of People's War and different forms of mass struggle,
are adhering to the great and painstaking task of establishing the
foundation of an independent and self-reliant economy, exercising
the people's democratic power from the grassroots, developing people's
culture and social relations, and eliminating all sorts of class,
national and regional exploitation. In this historical period of
the destruction of the old and construction of the new, there is
no other obligation higher than that of advancing in the united
struggle to build a New Nepal with a self-sacrificing shattering
of all sorts of illusions and by achieving victory against cowardly
and capitulationist ideas. To that effect, our Party appeals to
all the leftists, progressives, patriotic and democratic forces
as well as all the masses of the country, on the historical occasion
of the Third Anniversary, to help the great process of People's
War by all means, to build an alternative revolutionary government
from the grass roots, and to develop a united revolutionary struggle
centrally through boycotting the so-called parliamentary election
of the genocidal and national betrayers."