US's May Day blow to Nepal Maoists

KATHMANDU: As Nepal's ruling Maoist party amassed its cadres at the heart of the city for a May Day rally Friday and threatened to quit the



government if army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal was not dismissed, an unexpected blow came from Washington that said the Obama government would continue its predecessor George W Bush’s policy of keeping the former rebels on its watch list of terror organisations.

The US Department of State’s 2008 country reports, released in Washington late on Thursday, said that though the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) won the Constituent Assembly election in 2008 and took control of various government ministries as well as the prime minister’s position, it remained a US-designated terrorist entity under the Terrorism Exclusion List.

The report on Nepal blamed the Young Communist League (YCL), the strong arm of the former guerrillas that has been dubbed the Young Criminal League by the opposition, for much of the continuing violence despite the end of the Maoist insurgency three years ago.

“Although the Maoist party ended a 10-year insurgency in 2006 and entered into the interim government in April 2007, factions of the Maoists continued to engage in violence, extortion, and abductions,” it said. “The Maoist-affiliated YCL, which included former members of the People’s Liberation Army and grew increasingly prominent during 2007, carried on the Maoist militia's tactics of abuse, abduction, murder, intimidation, and extortion in cities and villages.”

The YCL violence, according to Washington, triggered further violence from the other political parties “In response to continued violence by Maoist-affiliated youth, other political parties condoned the use of violence for their youth wings,” it said. Washington also felt that its antiterrorism assistance was “constrained by the presence of the Maoists within the government”.

The new Democrat government’s decision to keep the Maoists on its terrorist list comes despite their hectic lobbying both in the US and at home. Last year, Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda attended a dinner hosted by Bush and after consultations with Richard Boucher, assistant secretary for Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, had exuded confidence that the terror tag would be lifted.

There was no immediate response from the Maoists as their top leaders were busy attending May Day rallies where they continued the war on the army chief. Maoist Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai said at a massive meet in Kathmandu’s Tundikhel open ground that his party would pull out of the government if its coalition partners refused to sack the controversial general.

Surprisingly, Prachanda himself was away from May Day dos. His media advisor said the premier had availed of the public holiday to go to a wildlife park in north Nepal’s Sindhupalchowk district with his family.