From the Maoist Information Bulletin

Nepal: Daring Actions by the People's Liberation Army

Revolutionary Worker #1225, January 18, 2004, posted at rwor.org

The following report on the progress of the revolutionary war in Nepal is excerpted and slightly edited from issue no. 7 (15 December, 2003) of the Maoist Information Bulletin put out by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The CPN(M) has been leading the People's War since 1996.

The heroic People's Liberation Army (PLA) of Nepal has been dealing severe blows to the royal mercenary RNA (the Royal Nepal Army backed by the US) day after day and on every possible front all over the country. There are almost daily reports of successful minings (land mines used against military vehicles), ambushes, commando attacks and selected frontal battles against the genocidal royal armed forces. Organised by the Unified Command, these revolutionary actions have killed hundreds of enemy soldiers and seized large quantities of ammunition. This has forced the hired killers of the despotic monarchy to retreat to newly fortified barracks in selected strategic areas.

The revolutionary forces now control more than 80 percent of the country. To hide their defeat and embarrassment, the royal butchers have been sneaking into nearby areas and massacring unarmed political activists and general masses so as to fulfill their daily quota of "encounter deaths" to be trumpeted by the state-controlled media.

In the latest successful attack on the royal mercenaries, 14 members of the Armed Police Force (APF) including an inspector and a number of lower ranking officers were killed when their vehicle was blown up in an ambush using land mines along the Jaleshwor-Bardibas road in the Mahottari district of eastern Terai on December 14. (Unlike many mountainous regions, the Terai, the plains along the border with India, was until recently one of the areas where the RNA seemed strongest.)

The PLA dealt the RNA a deadly blow 1 December, in one of the longest frontal battles with the royal hirelings. Fifteen RNA men were killed and 17 others wounded at Khimdi in Pandaun (Kailali district) in the far-western Terai. The PLA also managed to seize four SLRs with 5,000 rounds of ammunition and 20 magazines, four .303 rifles, one magnum rifle, one communication set and a large amount of other ammunition and materiel. Seven comrades however, were martyred in the process, including battalion commander Comrade Prahar and two company commanders, Com. Kushal and Com. Sameer.

Earlier, on 15 November, Brigadier General Sagar B. Pande, the head of the production department of the RNA, and three other soldiers were blown up in an ambush near Bhaise, in Makwanpur district (central-inner Terai).

Successful military actions have been carried out almost on a daily basis in different parts of the country. In the Western Region, a fierce encounter with the royal mercenaries took place 13 December at Pachhawang in Rolpa district. More than 10 RNA soldiers were killed. However, four comrades including Battalion Commissar Com. Vivek were martyred in the process. On December 10, one RNA mercenary was killed and several injured in an ambush at Jamune in Tanahu district. Two RNA butchers were killed in a commando attack at the Nepalganj customs office on 8 December. In an encounter with the RNA in the Baghchheda jungle of Balchhen in Doti district on 6 December, two mercenaries were killed and several others injured.

In the Eastern Region, on 7 December, a police inspector was shot dead in Yaduwa in the Dhanusha district, and two policemen were done away with in Dhankuta district. In an ambush at Aitbare Ramite in Morang district on 4 December, four RNA mercenaries met an ignominious death. On 24 November, in a road mining at Magurmadi in Mechi municipality, three policemen were killed. Two APF personnel were killed in an ambush in Tehrathum, Ratmate, on 21 November. In one of the most devastating road minings, at Kanepokhari in Morang district on 18 November, 11 APF men were killed and four wounded. Four RNA mercenaries were killed in an encounter at Mangalbare in Ilam district on 16 November.

There were scores of other ambushes and minings in which a number of Royal Nepal Army personnel were killed, many more wounded, and weapons seized.

In another noteworthy development in recent months, soldiers have been steadily deserting the armed forces of the old state to join the revolutionary camp. So far more than 500 RNA, APF and civil police personnel have deserted. In the latest incident, Platoon Commander Lal B. Ranjali of Surkhet serving in the Bajura RNA camp, deserted and joined the PLA. He brought one M-16 rifle and 150 rounds of ammunition with him and appealed to others in the RNA to follow his example.

However, the royal spin-doctors have been concealing this news from the public. (Western media also carried false reports on revolutionary losses in December.)

Apart from the military blow by the PLA, a number of revolutionary mass and front organizations have planned to give hard public punch in the form of `bandhs' to the royal military dictatorship this winter.

On December 9, the All Nepal Free Students Union (Revolutionary) organized a successful "eastern Nepal bandh" in support of its long-standing demands, including release of its leaders captured and held incommunicado by the RNA. All the schools and colleges in the entire eastern Region were completely closed for the day.

Similarly, the "Madhesh bandh" called by the Madhesi National Liberation Front in favour of its demands of rights to national self-determination and autonomous rule, among others, on December 15 was a grand success. Total life in the entire Madhesh (i.e., plains) came to a virtual standstill in response to the strike call. This has given a big boost to the prolonged movement of the Madhesi people for equal rights within Nepal and provided a hard blow to the mono-centred monarchical state.

The All Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary) has now called for a "Nepal bandh" on March 8, i.e. International Women's Day, in support of its multi-faceted demands, including equal rights to parental property and equal share of the state.

The full text of the Maoist Information Bulletin and other Party documents are available at the supporters' website, cpnm.org