Maoist activities close down BirGorkha for 3 days.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

Joined
Mar 5, 1999
Messages
34,096
The Maoists in Nepal are not letting up as you can see from this travellers warning issued by the US State Department. These guys are very nasty, indeed. BirGorkha shut down while this strike was going on just to play it safe.

Travelling outside the Kathmandu Valley is becoming increasingly dangerous. I guess that's why I saw so few foreigners on the road when we were going to Manakamana -- I think all the embassies in Kathmandu are putting out the same word. I don't know where this movement is headed but I don't like it one bit.

Below is from US State Department
---------------------------------------------

Public Announcement
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman

NEPAL

April 4, 2000

On April 4, the American Embassy in Kathmandu issued a
message to American citizens in Nepal alerting them to
activities planned by Maoist groups and by the United
Marxist-Leninist Party (UML) to take place between April 5
and April 8. Maoists groups have called for "armed rallies"
and an "armed shutdown," or strike, on April 5 and April 6.
The UML has called for a massive rally at Ratna Park in
Central Kathmandu at 1:00 PM on Saturday, April 8.

Declarations by Maoist leaders, as well as reports from the
press and Nepalese police, indicate that violent actions
have been planned throughout Nepal for April 5 and 6.
Groups targeted for attack include police, political
leaders, businessmen, certain Nepal government facilities,
telecommunications towers, hydropower projects, small-farm
assistance projects, and international non-governmental
organizations (INGO's). In response to anticipated
violence, Nepalese police have been granted broad authority
to impose curfews and to use deadly force as they feel
appropriate. This is of particular concern in rural
districts, where recent clashes between police and Maoists
have been especially violent.

On the evening of April 5 and on April 6, torch light
marches, demonstrations and traffic stoppages are expected
in larger district centers and in Kathmandu. The American
Embassy anticipates that vehicular travel to and from
Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu will not be
available during that time. On April 8, civil disturbances,
confrontations between police and demonstrators, and traffic
disruptions on roads leading into Kathmandu and on the
streets bordering Ratna Park are anticipated.

Americans residing in or traveling through Nepal are
cautioned to avoid road travel on the evening of April 5 and
during the day on April 6, especially through district
centers, to and from Kathmandu, and within Kathmandu.
Americans are also advised to avoid road travel to or from
the Kathmandu Valley and in the Kathmandu downtown area on
April 8, as well as to exercise extra caution in avoiding
public gatherings from April 5 through April 8. Official
road travel by American Mission employees and contractors
will not be authorized outside the Kathmandu Valley between
April 5 and April 8.

The American Embassy and its facilities in Kathmandu will be
closed on April 6. For American citizen emergencies,
consular staff can be reached in country by calling tel.
410-531 or 354. During normal working hours, the Consular
Section can be reached at tel. 411-179.

For additional general information on travel to Nepal,
please consult the Consular Information Sheet for Nepal
dated December 23, 1999.


------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
Meanwhile, over here, the cops are beating people's heads in back in DC for having the temerity to protest against "free trade" with these same Maoists.

-Dave
 
It isn't lose-lose as long as there are places like this forum that respect each individuals rather than considering them cattle to be herded.

Whether Washington DC or Beijing, groups that take it on themselves to do what they want can usually get away with it for the most part, if they are armed and disposed to be intolerant of outside interference.

Twenty years ago it was accepted in Nevada that you could be as weird as you wanted as long as you didn't bother nobody else none. Today, enough lemmings from Los Angeles have moved to Las Vegas to be aghast at the idea people should be left to make up their own minds instead of legislating behavior. Faugh
( Putting soapbox away. )
 
Uncle Bill, any further word as to what has happened since this advisory came out?



------------------
Harry

Toujours l'audacite!
 
All the kamis and our family stayed off the streets during the time frame mentioned in the advisory and all went okay with them.

Maoists continue to terrorize and sometimes kill citizens, politicians, civil servants and police on a regular basis.

This is not the Nepal I knew when I lived there.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
A shame, but this is not suprising. The grinding poverty makes the area ripe for this sort of activity. Unfortunately, a very small number of active radicals combined with apathy (poverty induced) from the majority, is a very bad combination. From what Uncle Bill has described, however, the people seem to have enough common sense that "Himalayan Maoism" will hopefully be a short lived phenomenon.
 
You have to wonder if this is Chinese supported. Is it that well organised or is the Nepali government that disorganised? Who knows.

The odder thing is that the Chinese may have done more to delay the decay of freedom in the US than anyone else ( but maybe the British )lately. I can only hope that enough hundreds of thousands of their one hundred dollar SKS's got imported ( and enough 85 dollar SMLE's ) to scare the polilticians into remembering what happened to Romania's Cseaucescu when his people got fed up enough.

Lordie, I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
 
The Chinese have long supported the Maoist movement in Nepal. Money, information, propaganda experts, guns I suspect, and thousands of the little red books.

The US has spent more money in Nepal but, as usual, they have spent it very unwisely -- allowing most of it to go to crooks. On the other side of the coin the Chinese spent less but what they spent they spent very well.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top