Maoist, Nepal

MAOIST ATTACK INJURES EVEREST CLIMBERS

April 13th 2005. Russian Alexander Abramov, leader of the Seven Summits club team, has chosen to remain in Katmandu rather than lead his group's trek into base camp. His climbing partner was injured last Saturday in a Maoist bombing.

"It was Saturday and the shops opened one hour later than usual. As a result, we left Katmandu at 10:00 am instead of 8:30-9:00 as we had planned. We got out of Katmandu and drove at a speed of 80-90 km/h. There seemed to be no problems. We met 12-15 military troops and all of them waved us on. Around 12:00 am, at a turn in the road, we saw 3 people who started throwing bombs at us. Two bombs exploded somewhere outside, the third one broke the rear window of the vehicle and exploded on the floor of the car," reported Abramov.

Serguey, Abramov's injured partner, was quickly flown to a hospital via helicopter. Abramov will rejoin his team once Serguey's evacuation plans back to Moscow are finalized.

[RESPONSE FROM IMEC BOARD MEMBER SCOTT MACLENNAN, CURRENTLY IN NEPAL]

“This took place during a strike and was really a very random thing. They were on a public bus that was running in spite of the strike. I don't think there was any intention for harming a tourist at all. We spent 10 peaceful days walking all over the place and met only wonderful kind people. I think there is more being reported than the situation calls for, by a long shot. There is not rampant lawlessness here and no reason to avoid this place. [Nepal is] safer than most American cities by far!”

For the complete story go to: http://www.mounteverest.net/story/MaoistblastupdateAbramovThreepeoplestartedthrowingbombsatusApr132005.shtml
http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=568876
http://www.k2climb.net/story/ExplorersWebWeekinReviewApr162005.shtml

Due to press censorship it is hard to get any clear idea of what is happening inside Nepal these days, and even less in terms of wise analysis.
Some of the best sources of information are actually now in India. Of all the opinions and analysis I have seen, this one in Outlook India is the best one that gives you a concise analysis of what has happened to Nepal:
www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20050321&fname:Column+Kanak+%28F%29&sid=1
If you cannot get all this to work, start with www.outlookindia.com and browse for news updates and articles on Nepal.

In the past the maoists would announce road strikes, but now due to news censorship and closure of FM radios and the mobile phones you don't know when or where there will be a strike, making it much more dangerous. The whole situation after the king's take-over is more volatile - nobody knows what will happen, and the uncertainty leads to rumors and people are scared.
If stopped by the maoists on a trail, they will ask for extortion money ("donation"), not much - up USD 100, normally in the 1-2000Rs league. Your trekking guides will know the local situation and handle it well, so no particular danger to you. It is more of an annoyance.
Road transport these days outside KTM Valley is terrible: at night the roads get treed (trees felled over them), booby trapped and local people are forced at gun point to block the roads by piling big stones on it. At day time the army people come and at gunpoint ask the villagers to clear the road blocks again.
Basically, you cannot trust road transportation. What you can trust so far, is domestic air travel. You can start hiking from Lukla, Jomsom, or Manang if you are short on time. Also, fly to Bharatpur in Chitwan and visit the national park of Chitwan. The main trekking areas such as Annapurna circuit and the Everest treks are fine with little disturbance, while the road access to Langtang makes that way slightly more exposed to trouble and delays.
Generic, current travel suggestion:
1) Fly to Nepal
2) Visit Kathmandu and Pokhara areas, you may wish to fly to Pokhara.
3) Visit Chitwan national park by flying to Bharatpur.
4) Go trekking in the Everest (fly to Lukla), Langtang (road from KTM) or Annapurna areas (road and/or fly).
In this way, if you spin a plan around these options, you can still spend your tourist money in Nepal, see much of the country and have a wonderful time without many hassles, without being a nuisance and yet you have a chance to talk with people, learn from people and see some effects of the insurgency on the nation and her people.

Wether it's safe in Nepal depends totally on what you are planning to do and where you want to go. If you stick to Kathmandu Valley you will not land into much problems, but if you try to get into the countryside outside the main trekking routes you will maybe land into trouble. Travel agents are painting a much nicer picture of Nepal than it currently is.
You should ensure you have a buffer day or two between scheduled departure from Nepal and the next appointment. If the regime cuts the phones and internet again, all flight bookings and departures will go into disarray again.
Many businesses, hotels and enterprises in Nepal now pay protection money to be left in peace by the maoists - that's Thamel of today.
Maoists keep operating by violence, extortion and other mafia methods, and government indeed does much the same. In the vaccum of a third force in the country now (parliamentary institutions, parties, free press), corruption and the old league anti-democrats creep into their old positions again.
There is total press censorship in Nepal, so you cannot trust any of the political or conflict related news coming out of there from Nepali news channels. You can surf some of the available news on the internet on www.nepalnews.com, but remember they cannot write critically or analytically anymore, nor report from the battlegrounds apart from army successes.
Yes, you will be safe in Nepal as a non-offensive tourist, going the well-throdden path and visiting Nepal in a manner that doesn't put yourself and others into danger. At this stage the biggest danger in Nepal comes from land transportation; buses that get stopped and fired at, burned etc., landmines laid by maoists etc. Sometimes military personnel ride civilian buses, or try to hitchike with your vehicle - that makes you a target by the maoists' definition.
( - - to be continued in part 2)

This is a quote from Baburam Bhattarai's article of 16 December on the way forward in light of calls for negotiations:

"Prachandapath.
Our party’s central committee meeting last year had brought forth the proposal ‘Development of people’s republic in the 21st century’. The proposal is about a people’s republic, a new party, army and regime which is of long term importance. The essence of that proposal is formation of a party, army and a regime of the proletariat. After that, the ongoing war will stop, but the revolution will move on into new phases until we attain communism where there is no state and class. This concept comprises such crucial points that were discussed even at the times of Marx and Lenin. Today, all true revolutionaries, including those with RIM, must analyse the concept seriously and come to a conclusion. That is the reason why the RIM-affiliated revolutionary communist party in the United States of America and others have launched public discussions on the concept of the people’s republic and their authority. Our party has also begun intensive discussions on preambles of Marxism, Leninism, Maoism and Prachandapath to enrich and develop the science of the international proletarian revolution. For that, our party has stressed the protection, use and development of the proletariatrian revolution science’s three organs - philosophy, political economics and scientific socialism. In short the development and prosperity of ‘Malema’ (Marxism, Leninism and Maoism) and Prachandapath is possible only if the lapses and drawbacks during the people’s republic of Comrade Stalin are corrected. Standing on the central committee’s proposal of the development of people’s republic in the 21st century, we need to develop the concept of Malemaism and Prachandapath. Or else, both of these concepts will become extinct."

High goals, bound to fail ultimately on the stumbling block of caste and jat, class and education. Will the illiterate malemaoist soldiers of the janajati now be the administrators tomorrow?

The political party of the Maoists is forbidden and gone underground. The communistic Maoists want to make Nepal into a republic. And some of them are fighting violently to get that happen. Along the Nepalese country you will find many armyposts, checking everybody who is passing in order to catch the rebels.
It is frighting to see the heavily armed soldiers on roofs in the capital. In august 2004 we didn't witness any violence, but the atmosphere was just tense.
When we were in Bhaktapur there was an open demonstration of a communist party, they were showing the communist flags and making a lot of noise. We didn't get closer to them . Saagar told us later it were not the maoists (CPN) but the UML

A word of advice: before visiting Nepal make sure you know where the Maoists are causing troubles.

More about the Maoists at the BBC website

The following exerpt is taken from an e-mail notification on the mining of highways in Nepal by concerned citizens groups:

"+++

Press Note, Himsa Birodh Abhiyan, 19 November 2004

Group Asks Maoists to stop mining highways

The Himsa Birodh Abhiyan in a statement today asked the Maoist leadership and activists to desist from placing landmines and explosives and roads and highways of the country.

The group states:

Travel along roads and highways has become a hazardous and fearful activity due to the placement of landmines,
said to be targeted at the security forces but which in fact also kill and maim ordinary citizens. Such an inhumane activity not only destroys lives and property but also
terrorises the larger population.

The Maoist use of landmines on highways and roads affects the fundamental right of the people to use public space. Further, it is a blatant violation of international
humanitarian law.

We ask the Maoists to restore the right of the Nepali people to travel the roads and highways without fear of landmine attacks. The Maoists must immediately end their practice of placing explosives on roads.

The danger to citizens escalates when security personnel use public transport in order to protect themselves from attack on highways. This was contributory, for example, to the incidents in Dhankhola of Dang District and Maina Pokhari of Dolakha District. We believe it is inappropriate for the security forces to use public transport vehicles other than for the express purpose of providing security to the passengers within."

No comment needed.

Maoist or other parties call on "Strikes" from time to time in the country. On the long distance travels, I saw burnt vihicles. It's because some people didn't want to "obey" the calls.

Basically Maoists are of no harm to tourists, and Nepalese are kind people by heart. It's
just the different political opinions that made the mess there. Well I have to admit that the "Strikes" in cities and even the whole country bring very much inconvenience to the
tourists, for example, I had to walk from the city to airport in Pokhara because there was no vehicle daring to run on the road during the strike and that was also the reason I took a flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu instead of a bus.

So I'd say it's safe to go. All you need is some flexibility on your time when
travelling there.