New Nepal Rebels Brutalize Old Friends
Wed Mar 2, 2:37 PM ET
World - AP Asia
[size=-1]By NEELESH MISRA, Associated Press Writer[/size]
KATMANDU, Nepal - [size=-1]Armed with guns, iron rods and carpenters' tools, militants swarmed through a Nepalese village and banged at one door. Inside, they threw a woman to the floor, beat her and drilled holes into her legs. [/size]
[size=-1]Rupa Pun, a teacher and anti-guerrilla activist, and her husband Pari Thapa, a communist politician, were paying the price for opposing men he once called friends and who now head Nepal's Maoist rebels. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa, 42, launched the first influential group opposed to the Maoist militants within their own strongholds. The rivalry simmered for years, and he was threatened repeatedly. Then in November, a Maoist "assault group" a team specializing in retribution against purported traitors attacked his wife in their remote village while he was in the capital, Katmandu. [/size]
[size=-1]They beat 40-year-old Pun with iron rods for hours, kicked her and attacked her with a hand-powered drill. Then they fled, leaving her to die. [/size]
[size=-1]But Pun survived. Thapa saw her three days later in a Katmandu hospital. [/size]
[size=-1]"There was no anger, just hatred. Only hatred. It was so inhuman, so barbaric, so brutal. And to think that those responsible for it were once my friends," Thapa said this week, holding a framed picture of his wife with her arms around him. After spending weeks in the hospital, she is back in the village with the rest of the extended family. [/size]
[size=-1]"The only cure for fear is to not to fear," he said. [/size]
[size=-1]The campaign of Thapa's People's Front party has reverberated across parts of Nepal, where a few villages have revolted against Maoists and dozens of rebels have been beaten to death. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa doesn't endorse such killings. [/size]
[size=-1]"We just want people to stop being informants for them, or the army. We want people to stop giving them shelter or food," he said. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa was part of the leftist movement that spread in the 1980s across Nepal, opposing the absolute monarchy of the Shah dynasty kings. His colleagues in the movement included the men who would later become the No.2 Maoist leader and the chief of the rebel military wing. [/size]
[size=-1]"We were all friends. We used to eat together, sleep together with all the comrades. But they were leaning toward a violent struggle," said Thapa. He was opposed to violence; the two factions split. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa was arrested in 1990 and charged with treason. But later that year, he was freed as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners. [/size]
[size=-1]Six years later, in 1996, the ragtag Maoist rebels began their armed campaign. They began to sweep through the country, taking control of vast swaths of remote terrain where there had been no roads or government presence, setting up kangaroo courts and instilling fear among poor villagers. [/size]
[size=-1]Within a few years, Thapa had begun his campaign against the Maoists. His wife became a prominent member of the party's women's wing, raising awareness against the Maoists among women. [/size]
[size=-1]"We began criticizing them because they had strayed from the path. But they couldn't digest it. They have kept asking us to stop our protests against them," said Thapa. [/size]
[size=-1]In August, Thapa met the Maoist top brass when they came to Katmandu for peace talks with the government. [/size]
[size=-1]"I showed them all courtesy. We chatted about political matters, about old times," Thapa said. [/size]
[size=-1]The courtesies didn't last, and the talks failed. A month later, Thapa entered the Dhorpatan Valley in western Nepal, a Maoist stronghold, with 300 activists for a protest campaign. But at a narrow mountain pass, the rebels launched a deadly attack, shooting at the group and throwing crude bombs. The protesters fled into the forests. [/size]
[size=-1]At his village home, rebel squads came the next month to threaten his wife. [/size]
[size=-1]"They told Rupa, `You are stubborn. You will have to face our action,'" Thapa said. [/size]
[size=-1]That action was carried out on the night of Nov. 28, when some 70 rebels raided their home and broke open the door. The women fighters said: "Take off her clothes!" [/size]
[size=-1]Naked from the waist down, Pun was beaten and tortured until she fainted. Electrical wires from a solar power panel were rigged to her arms. [/size]
[size=-1]Today, she lives in constant pain, able to walk only with assistance. [/size]
[size=-1]"When you begin to fall, there is no limit to how low you can go," Thapa said of his former comrades. "It is the worst form of robbery, this thing they call revolution." [/size]
Wed Mar 2, 2:37 PM ET
World - AP Asia[size=-1]By NEELESH MISRA, Associated Press Writer[/size]
KATMANDU, Nepal - [size=-1]Armed with guns, iron rods and carpenters' tools, militants swarmed through a Nepalese village and banged at one door. Inside, they threw a woman to the floor, beat her and drilled holes into her legs. [/size]
[size=-1]Rupa Pun, a teacher and anti-guerrilla activist, and her husband Pari Thapa, a communist politician, were paying the price for opposing men he once called friends and who now head Nepal's Maoist rebels. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa, 42, launched the first influential group opposed to the Maoist militants within their own strongholds. The rivalry simmered for years, and he was threatened repeatedly. Then in November, a Maoist "assault group" a team specializing in retribution against purported traitors attacked his wife in their remote village while he was in the capital, Katmandu. [/size]
[size=-1]They beat 40-year-old Pun with iron rods for hours, kicked her and attacked her with a hand-powered drill. Then they fled, leaving her to die. [/size]
[size=-1]But Pun survived. Thapa saw her three days later in a Katmandu hospital. [/size]
[size=-1]"There was no anger, just hatred. Only hatred. It was so inhuman, so barbaric, so brutal. And to think that those responsible for it were once my friends," Thapa said this week, holding a framed picture of his wife with her arms around him. After spending weeks in the hospital, she is back in the village with the rest of the extended family. [/size]
[size=-1]"The only cure for fear is to not to fear," he said. [/size]
[size=-1]The campaign of Thapa's People's Front party has reverberated across parts of Nepal, where a few villages have revolted against Maoists and dozens of rebels have been beaten to death. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa doesn't endorse such killings. [/size]
[size=-1]"We just want people to stop being informants for them, or the army. We want people to stop giving them shelter or food," he said. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa was part of the leftist movement that spread in the 1980s across Nepal, opposing the absolute monarchy of the Shah dynasty kings. His colleagues in the movement included the men who would later become the No.2 Maoist leader and the chief of the rebel military wing. [/size]
[size=-1]"We were all friends. We used to eat together, sleep together with all the comrades. But they were leaning toward a violent struggle," said Thapa. He was opposed to violence; the two factions split. [/size]
[size=-1]Thapa was arrested in 1990 and charged with treason. But later that year, he was freed as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners. [/size]
[size=-1]Six years later, in 1996, the ragtag Maoist rebels began their armed campaign. They began to sweep through the country, taking control of vast swaths of remote terrain where there had been no roads or government presence, setting up kangaroo courts and instilling fear among poor villagers. [/size]
[size=-1]Within a few years, Thapa had begun his campaign against the Maoists. His wife became a prominent member of the party's women's wing, raising awareness against the Maoists among women. [/size]
[size=-1]"We began criticizing them because they had strayed from the path. But they couldn't digest it. They have kept asking us to stop our protests against them," said Thapa. [/size]
[size=-1]In August, Thapa met the Maoist top brass when they came to Katmandu for peace talks with the government. [/size]
[size=-1]"I showed them all courtesy. We chatted about political matters, about old times," Thapa said. [/size]
[size=-1]The courtesies didn't last, and the talks failed. A month later, Thapa entered the Dhorpatan Valley in western Nepal, a Maoist stronghold, with 300 activists for a protest campaign. But at a narrow mountain pass, the rebels launched a deadly attack, shooting at the group and throwing crude bombs. The protesters fled into the forests. [/size]
[size=-1]At his village home, rebel squads came the next month to threaten his wife. [/size]
[size=-1]"They told Rupa, `You are stubborn. You will have to face our action,'" Thapa said. [/size]
[size=-1]That action was carried out on the night of Nov. 28, when some 70 rebels raided their home and broke open the door. The women fighters said: "Take off her clothes!" [/size]
[size=-1]Naked from the waist down, Pun was beaten and tortured until she fainted. Electrical wires from a solar power panel were rigged to her arms. [/size]
[size=-1]Today, she lives in constant pain, able to walk only with assistance. [/size]
[size=-1]"When you begin to fall, there is no limit to how low you can go," Thapa said of his former comrades. "It is the worst form of robbery, this thing they call revolution." [/size]
