The party waged a decade-long uprising that killed more than 16,000 people before joining the peace process in December 2006. The communist party went on to win the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008, becoming the single largest party in the CA. [break]
However, throughout this time, some form of hostility and coercion remained and party cadres resorted to inimical activities including threats, brawls and even politically motivated killings.
The infamous killing of Bara-based journalist Birendra Shah (September, 2007) by a Maoist area in-charge and of Kathmandu-based businessman Ram Hari Shrestha (May, 2008) allegedly by a senior PLA commander inside the UN-monitored Shaktikhor cantonment camp are but a few examples. Rukum-based journalist Tika Bista survived a grievous attack in December 2009 by villagers who were Maoist supporters.
These acts of rampant violence have given weight to skeptics who doubt the Maoist party´s adherence to democratic norms. Many Maoist leaders claimed it was but their “struggle to play by the rules of peaceful politics.”
“Some of our friends find it hard to transform from guerrilla warfare to peaceful politics,” said Janardan Sharma, senior Maoist leader and former PLA deputy commander. “But there was no arrogance.”
He said those “isolated incidents by individuals were not institutional decisions,” and hence could not be used to question the party´s entry into peaceful politics, which he asserted resulted from their hopes for radical change in Nepal.
This is just one side of the story.
As many as 80 Maoist cadres have been killed since the start of the peace process, some of them by “democratic” forces. According to Maoist leaders, more than 500 Maoists have had to flee their areas. Many Maoist leaders, especially in the Tarai, have started asking the district administration for personal security.
Political parties other than the Maoists are also habituated to the use of some violence in daily affairs and have inadvertently killed Maoists cadres.
The most infamous killing of Maoist cadres was the Gaur incident where MJF supporters killed more than 27 Maoists in the wake of the Madhes Andolan in March 2007.
Two days before the CA elections, eight Maoist cadres were killed by the “security detail” of Nepali Congress (NC) leader Khum Bahadur Khadka, an act that could easily have jeopardized the election.
The Maoist youth wing Young Communist League (YCL) has been accused of killing Youth Force (YF) activists, affiliated to the CPN-UML, and some NC cadres. But records show that the YF and, in two cases, the NC also killed YCL cadres.
YF activist in Kathmandu´s Teku killed an YCL cadre in November 2009. YCL took revenge, killing two YF activists, Nirmal Pant and Pushkar Dangol, in Dhading. Their bodies were found after one month.
The two communist youth wings had been at loggerhead long before the CA elections but things reached a new low after the death of Prachanda Thaiba, an YF regional leader in Butwal in March 2009. More than 12 people have been killed in such revenge attacks since.
On February 28, Youth Force activists murdered YCL leader Asharam BK in Surkhet and seriously injured three other activists in a brawl started by UML cadres when the YCL tried to talk negotiating points. The same day, nine other Maoist activists were injured by the YF in two villages in Nuwakot district. In Makawanpur, an YF activist opened fire the same day targeting a local Maoist activist. Two days earlier, NC cadres killed Maoist activist Birendra Raya in Dhanusha.
A senior Maoist leader decried these “acts of violence against Maoist cadres”, saying it demonstrates “the hypocrisy of so-called democratic forces.”
“The Maoists have to prove their allegiance to democratic norms again and again whereas our comrades are thrashed in the villages and beaten to death while we keep quiet,” Maoist politburo member Janardan Sharma said.
It also shows venom and the unreported bias against the Maoists, he said.
He accused the state of not compensating the families of victims, if he or she is a Maoist. “However, if an YF or NC cadre or Madhesi activist is killed, they would go on to declare him or her a martyr and pay the family 10 lakhs.”
Insec (Informal Sector Service Center, a human rights NGO) records 72 such killings, but Maoist leaders claim the number is higher. This is not counting those killed by security forces, as in the Dudejhari incident when Maoist affiliated settlers clashed with the security forces and three cadres were killed.
Many targeted killings of political cadres are concentrate in the eastern terai. However, the eastern hills including Okhaldhunga, Taplejung and Sankhuwasabha and parts of the mid and far west (like Salyan, Rolpa and Surkhet) have also seen a rise in targeted killing of Maoists.
In southern Nepal, various groups, mostly underground-armed groups, have killed more than 14 Madhesi Maoist leaders in the last five months. In Bara alone, six regional Maoist leaders were killed.
There have been as many as 500 unsuccessful attacks on Maoist cadres and senior leaders in Madhes alone, according to Prabhu Sah, a senior Maoist politburo member. Most of them are powerful regional leaders who are links between the central command and the districts.
“The trend shows they are aiming for cadres who are courageous, loved by locals and have contributed to the party significantly,” Sah told myrepublica.com, adding, the aim could be to discourage and demoralize party workers and create fear amongst locals.
“Usually, the so-called underground-armed groups claim responsibility. However, it´s usually those who were informers for the state during the war or those who worked against us then, that are targeting us now in the name of those armed groups,” said Sah, CA member from Rautahat.
Sah, who survived an attack in his own house two years ago just before the CA elections, said police seem reluctant to take up their case. “Incidents take place near police stations. However, investigations never go any further than taking notes. We suspect the real reason behind state indifference towards our case,” he said.
For political scientist Lok Raj Baral, political target killing is a passing phenomenon due to petty interests of political parties and ineffective governance.
“This cannot be a precedent for popular politics,” Dr Baral told myrepublica.com.
He blamed the Maoists for starting violence in politics and opening the floodgates to impunity.
“But the latest attacks, especially in the terai, are targeted towards Maoists for their popularity and rising insecurity of other political forces.”
“There is no government and the state is ineffective. When the government is weak, everyone attacks,” he said.
Janardan Sharma opined that democratic politics has taken the shape of revenge politics in recent days. His party has been in talks with other political parties regarding targeted killings and attacks on local leaders but “the government and other parties are apathetic,” he said.
“We can take revenge. But that is not a solution,” the former peace and reconstruction minister said, adding, “We want to be a responsible stakeholder of the peace process. We are for the successful completion of the peace process.”
The Maoist party knows best the meaning of war and the importance of patience in transition, he said.
subel@myrepublica.com
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