Kham does it again

Police have implicated Kali Bahadur Kham, Maoist Central Committee member and commander of the PLA’s Fifth Division based in Rolpa, in serious crimes. They have claimed that Kham was the mastermind behind the robbing of some Chinese businessmen in the capital. The police have, moreover, implicated Kham in more than one crime and have furnished a number of proofs to back up their claim. Based on this evidence it is now more than clear that Kham is indeed the mastermind behind the capital robbery and has been involved in multiple crimes and forgeries since long back. It is unfortunate and somewhat dangerous that a man with such a record is still at large.



Still more unfortunate is the response of the Maoist party over this incident. Maoist Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma has said that Kham is not in Maoist contact and so the party cannot say anything about him or the incident, nor can it take any action against him. That’s simply ludicrous. Kham himself has claimed that he is in contact with the party and has denied involvement in the crimes. It’s just not possible that Kham is available to the media for interviews but has cut off communications with the party. If such is indeed the case, the party should immediately strip him of all party responsibilities. But the party has not done so, and even to date he remains Central Committee member and commander of the PLA’s Fifth Division based at Dahaban, Rolpa.



Kham is the same person who was implicated in the abduction, torture and subsequent killing of businessmen Ram Hari Shrestha. Shrestha was abducted from his residence at Koteshwar, where Kham had rented an apartment, and taken to the Maoist Shaktikhor camp in Chitwan. After Shrestha died of torture at the camp, his wife Ramila Shrestha had filed a formal complaint naming Kham as the man behind the killing. The Maoist party, under the initiative of its Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, struck a deal with Shrestha’s family, paid compensation and absolved Kham of the crime. He was later promoted in the party hierarchy to Central Committee member.



Kham has now come back to haunt the party. This is the price the party is paying for encouraging impunity for crimes as serious as murder. The Maoist party must now understand that the Kham case is not going to subside easily. And the party cannot simply disassociate itself from Kham or the crimes that he is implicated in. The party must either disown Kham publicly or cooperate with the law enforcement authorities and hand him over to police, to be tried in a court of law. Trying to save Kham under any pretext, as the Maoists did the last time, is going to cost the party dear.

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