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Myagdi: Police bear brunt in Nepal's war
September 2004
The police station in Beni was attacked by thousands of Maoists

In Nepal's eight-year war with Maoist guerrillas, no group has been harder hit than the police. They have lost more than 1,200 of their number. The police consistently suffer more casualties than the army, who were not used at all against the Maoists for the first five years of the conflict.

To find out more about what the police have been through, BBC correspondent Charles Haviland travelled to the isolated town of Beni, where memories of a recent bloody ordeal are raw.

Re-education at gunpoint
July 2004
Sorry, comrades, that is not how it happens

In recent times, our Maoist comrades have kept themselves busy with abductions of teachers and students. Citizens have been marched off to the jungles under the shadow of the gun where they have been indoctrinated in 'revolutionary education' and then released in a seeming act of benevolence.

These wholesale abductions are mainly restricted to hapless students and teachers in remote schools. They are taken to unknown destinations and forced to listen to harangues under the barrel of a gun.

The western Terai is now a Maoist stronghold
July 2004
From the hills to the plains

In the absence of government, the Maoists spread rapidly across the Terai. In six short years, the western Terai is now a Maoist stronghold. Just six km from Nepalganj in the town of Khajura, the Maoists held a three-hour mass meeting on the evening of 18 June. About 300 armed rebels dressed in combat fatigues marched openly down the streets of the town, barely a few minutes drive from the regional army headquarters.
From what could be seen in Khajura, Maoist morale is high and there is considerable support for charismatic commanders like Nanda Kishore Pun (Pasang) who led the Maoist raid on army bases in Beni in February and on Achham two years ago.

July 2004
Western Nepal: Maoist's smuggling routes of weaponry (July 2004)

The combatants' current route for smuggling weapons and explosives from the Indian border is as follows: from Belauri check-point of Kanchanpur district via Jogbudha of Dadeldhura and Melauliat the border of Dadeldhura and Baitadi districts, then to Bajura and finally to Achham. The Maoists are purchasing explosives from lower-level staffers of the Dhauli Ganga hydro project at Dharchula in India. The Maoists are also smuggling arms and explosives from the Tibetan border via Jharganda and Taklakot. There is a high concentration of Maoists in the remote Gokuleshwor, the area that borders Darchula and Baitadi districts; Purchungehat and Kuwakot areas, bordering Bhajhang and Baitadi; Ramaroshan and Binayak of Aachham district and Ghagal Khimadi, the border of Doti and Kailali districts and Melauli.

The Maoists smuggling routes
(July 2004)
RAOnline

July 2004
Rukum: Ather the sweep (July 2004)
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Three weeks after the army's operation, the Maoists are back in their strongholds in midwestern Nepal. After its well-publicised sweep into the Maoist heartland in June, the Royal Nepali Army has returned to its barracks. This was the first major incursion of its kind into what the Maoists consider their base area.

The soldiers didn't see much action, and Rukum's CDO, Chet Prasad Upreti, said this proved there is no Maoist stronghold in his district. Major MB Mahara in Musikot agrees: "The Maoists did not even try to stop us. Whatever they may say, they don't have any control."

The locals know better. Three weeks after the army ended its operation, the rebels are back in Rukumkot. "We knew the army was coming," Deepak, a Maoist district committee member, tells us. "We hid in the jungle for a couple of days while the soldiers searched the houses. When they left, we came back."

July 2004
"Please tell the world about our suffering" (July 2004)

Journalists from western Nepal talk about the hardships they face in reporting from the war zone.

Hundi Rawat tells grieving relatives not to cry because the journalists are here. Her widowed daughter is in the middle.
Sprawled on the dirt outside her home, 56-year-old Hundi Rawat was weeping over the bodies of her four relatives and two neighbours. All were gunned down by an army patrol on the morning of 29 October 2002, when they were mistaken for Maoists. By chance, three journalists from Kathmandu happened to be passing by.

Most of the villagers were too shocked to speak. Hundi noticed the presence of the journalists and consoled the others: "Don't worry, stop crying, they will take our news to the outside world."

Mohan Mainali was one of the journalists, and still remembers being moved by how much hope those without hope still have on the power of the media.

July 2004
"Please tell the world about our suffering" (July 2004)

Journalists from western Nepal talk about the hardships they face in reporting from the war zone.
Hundi Rawat (l, at right in pic) tells grieving relatives not to cry because the journalists are here. Her widowed daughter is in the middle.
Sprawled on the dirt outside her home, 56-year-old Hundi Rawat was weeping over the bodies of her four relatives and two neighbours. All were gunned down by an army patrol on the morning of 29 October 2002, when they were mistaken for Maoists. By chance, three journalists from Kathmandu happened to be passing by.
Most of the villagers were too shocked to speak. Hundi noticed the presence of the journalists and consoled the others: "Don't worry, stop crying, they will take our news to the outside world."
Mohan Mainali was one of the journalists, and still remembers being moved by how much hope those without hope still have on the power of the media.

June 2004
India: Nepalese Maoists' plans in India (June 2004)

As the chaos caused by Maoist insurgency in rural Nepal and demand for the restoration of democracy in urban areas continues to plague the county, and as attacks on Indian properties and interests continue, political and diplomatic observers in Delhi have begun debating earnestly whether India should assert itself more forcefully and even consider military intervention as it did in what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1971 and Sri Lanka in 1987. This is an alarmist scenario for some, but many think it should not be ruled out in the eventuality of the situation further deteriorating and particularly if refugees start streaming across Nepal's borders into Indian territory.

Nepalese Maoists have developed close ties with Maoists and other extreme communist groups called Naxalites in India. Their ties with People's War Group of Andhra Pradesh, Maoist Communist Center of Bihar and Jharkhand, and the Communist Party of India [Marxist-Leninist] are said to be particularly strong. These extremists have been running virtually parallel administrations in the rural hinterland in Indian states

May 2004
Listening the Maoist Radio

This article describes the program of FM radio operated by Maoist rebels in Nepal under a very difficult and dangerous conditions. As they want to change the kingdom into a republican state, they are facing a brutal repression from state army. This one day's radio program gives insight into what message they want to convey to people.

I had been to East Nepal in December, 2004 to give training to grassroots development workers on food security, who were working in remote and inaccessible villages which are under direct influence of Maoist rebels waging a war since 1995 to bring political change in Nepal. After two days of interaction and socialization the development workers told me that they listen to Maoist's radio whenever they have the chance. They need to listen to this program in order to know their activities and persons who take the responsibility of local governance. In some events, they need to contact those leaders, which they usually do, to smoothly run the programs and develop a social network in case they face troubles.

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