Maoists Attack

wolvesclaw

wolvesclaw

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Jun 8, 2001
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From MSNBC:


IN THE worst assault since they abandoned peace talks last year, the suspected rebels attacked police at the district headquarters in Achham, about 375 miles northwest of the capital city of Katmandu Saturday night, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The officer said at least 26 policemen were feared killed in the assault.
The rebels then targeted a small airport at Sanphebaga and were reported to have killed 22 policemen, said a local police official who refused to give his name. There were no passengers at the airport at the time of the attack.
There was no immediate official confirmation of the death toll.
A gun battle between government forces and the suspected rebels lasted until early Sunday. Police reinforcements rushed to Magalsen on Sunday, but were delayed by bad weather and the mountainous terrain.
Those killed included the top district administrator of Achham, the police officer said.
Led by commander Prachanda — whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal — the guerrillas have been fighting in remote mountainous areas since 1996 to abolish Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and create a communist republic.
More than 2,400 people have died in the fighting.
The rebels have called a general strike across Nepal on Feb. 22-23 to commemorate the sixth anniversary of their insurgency campaign.
Last week, suspected rebels detonated two bombs in government tax offices in Katmandu, wounding at least 10 people.
The government declared an emergency on Nov. 26 and ordered the army to join the fight against the rebels after they ended a four-month cease-fire and resumed attacks on government targets.
The army says it since has killed nearly 500 guerrillas and arrested another 1,400.
Officials say nearly 200 government soldiers and policemen also have been killed.
Last week, the State Department warned Americans about rebel attacks in Nepal, including areas visited by Western tourists.
The guerrillas had recently attacked Lukla, the main entry point for the Mount Everest trek, and other popular tourist destinations in the Solu Khumbu Valley, the advisory said.
 
I suppose I will expose my ignorance by asking this but, are the Chinese supporting the Maoists? I wouldn't be surprised. I am surprised that we aren't giving support to Nepal--well maybe we are by the traditional "cold war method"--CIA support of arms and covert ops.

Anyone know for sure?

At any rate horrible news. Prayers going out for families of the slain policemen:(
 
This one was about 400 mi. from BirGorkha, where the rebel activity has been heaviest (on average). There was a thread on one, a road ambush IIRC, that Uncle said was roughly 20 mi. from the shop. There is activity all over the country, from battles to gangster-type forays. They don't differ much from other groups of the same ilk elsewhere in the world. Before I retired, my company opened a plant in the Republic of Ireland. When our production VP returned from a set-up visit, he said the local pubs were charging a tax on each pint served, for IRA "donations". Their "tax collection" methods left the owners little choice. Even though local sentiment was typically anti-British, the "donations" end of the business was run in true Capone fashion. "One man's rebel is another man's freedom fighter" sounds good, until they start killing innocents and stealing from those they claim to be defending.
 
This is way out west. Remote targets are easiest so that's where most attacks are directed. However, the attack on Lukla is of major concern. This is in the heart of the Solu Khumbu, land of the Sherpas and the route to Everest. And ongoing attacks in this region is the reason Pala pulled Nima and his wife, Maya, off the ranch and down to BirGorkha -- got too dangerous.

I fear the farm may go to seed now. Very sad. That farm was once home to a dozen or fifteen people plus a couple of full time lamas in the gompa with wandering lamas stopping by for food and shelter on a regular basis. After a couple of hundred years of continuous operation it's going to melt back into the Earth. Makes me sick in more ways than one. That ranch was an option for Yangdu and I -- the last retreat and this option has just disappeared unless the Nepal government is able to do something pretty quick and that I doubt.

And you see vividly why Pala is rushing around trying to find a safe haven for BirGorkha and the kamis and sarkis. Life was never easy in Nepal but the only dangers were natural ones. Now that has changed.

And Wal is dead right -- the Maoists are now killing innocents and stealing from those they claim to be defending. We've seen the same story on a more personal basis in Korea and Viet Nam.

He who hesitates is lost. Nepal must move quickly or Nepal is finished.
 
If they openly attacked a police HQ, they must be pretty well armed indeed. Where are they getting the weaponry from? China? China has a history of supporting communist "freedom fighters" just like they did in Malaya in the 1960s. Cost a lot of innocent lives too.

Andrew Limsk
 
Coming thru the front door China says it supports Nepal's fight against terrorists -- but I think while they are saying this they are sending guns, supplies and money thru the backdoor to the Maoists.

As an American living with the people in Nepal (rather than sitting in an AC office in the Embassy and spending my free hours -- about 7 out of 8 of the supposed working hours at the American compound swimming, playing tennis, eating, drinking, socializing, and all that good stuff) I warned the US Embassy 20 years ago about the progress the Maoists were making in Nepal and suggested ways that we might compete favorably and perhaps even defeat the Maoists before they got a foothold -- everybody thought I was a crazy alarmist.
 
..have always been haunted by the "not invented here" syndrome. Having Ivy League educations, and much higher IQs than the average doorknob, they refuse to believe anything that doesn't have their own letterhead at the top. There was a joke in the intelligence community for years, that the State Dept. intel wookies were easily recognized by their wet suits and amazed facial expressions, from discovering that they could not walk on water.
 
The Embassy folks made me sick :barf: :barf: arrogant, inefficient, ineffectual snobs.

They wanted to bar Peace Corps Volunteers -- the only Americans in Nepal who were doing anything remotely worthwhile -- from the American Compound because the volunteers came in from the villages dirty, emaciated, nasty looking and often times sick. They destroyed the compounds country club atmosphere.

I voluntarily refused to go to the American Compound for any reason except medical treatment -- even though it was the only place in Nepal where you could get a hot dog and food that was not suspect.
 
It's not just Nepal, but the surrounding countries as well...makes me wonder though, with Afghanistan not that far away, is Al Quaida involved with the Maoists in any fashion?
 
..then you start to remember the others around the world (the "Shining Path" who went to the drug trade when suport started to flag, the IRA factions who gladly took help from the "godless" communists) who demonstrated that desparation overrides idealisms and the original enthusiasm for "the cause". After a few years in the hills, all radicals tend to blend out, even over the religious barriers that would have been present in the beginning.
 
I'm not sure but where there's terrorists there is always a network. I think the Maoist movement in Nepal is modeled after one in Peru -- the name Shining Path rings a bell.

Experts?
 
If a connection is proven, I could see not only the British Ghurkha regiments becoming involved but also the SAS, US SpecOps and others as well.

While this may only stop troubles temporarily, it will ultimately take such reforms that Uncle Bill and others have previously proposed to squash this once and for all.

Just my thoughts...
 
The stupid thing is that they're not really trying to bring communism about. The only truely communist nation I know of was Spain right before its civil war (after which Franco took power) - the rest have been more or less dictatorship/oligarchies.

If one is going to be a communist 'freedom fighter' than one should be able to explain in Marxist terms exactly how one is going to bring about a communist revolution. Otherwise you're just a self-serving terrorist who is being funded by a nominally 'communist' country whose real aim is not a 'dictatorship of people' (which is generally more true of monarchies), but rather a complex 'game' of international politics aimed at consolidating power on the Indian subcontinent. China's not really interested in Nepal--I don't think there's really anything in Nepal that China wants--, they're interested in India....

cheers, B.
 
The Sendero Lumininoso, or Shining Path, purports to follow the teachings of Mao. They share the banditry in Peru with the Tupac Amaru, who are (they think) Marxist-Leninists. Peru supplys the bulk of Coca paste to the Bolivians. The "nefarious Coca growers" (barefoot farmers with a shack and a stick to plant with) found a crop and an organization which gave them enough income to have food and shoes. Most of them were tenant farmers on huge estancias owned by two major families in Peru, who were tied to the Bolivians. The farmers, of course, had the same choice they've always had -none. When the "causes" began to falter, the two rebel groups simply started taking over the crops, and the big families were powerless to prevent it - they had always run with minimum security (just enough to keep the farmers in line) and the rebels wound up negotiating a cut of the profits, by "protecting" the operations. The groups have different names, but their rhetoric, methods, and visciousness are the same. Same morals, too....none.
 
When you cut thru all the BS they are all the same -- a bunch of greedy, power hungry crooks.

I think I've just defined aggresive politician.
 
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