------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 15, 2004 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
DESPOTIC KING BESIEGED AS GENERAL STRIKE SHUTS DOWN NEPAL
By Deirdre Griswold
April 7--Should we be surprised that the Bush administration is supporting the tottering reign of King Gyanendra of Nepal with money and military equipment, even though virtually the entire population has risen up against the despotic monarch?
Nepal, a country of 24 million people high in the Himalayas, is in the middle of a full-blown political crisis. On April 6 and 7, the whole country reportedly "came to a standstill" as a general strike called by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) closed "almost all shops, schools, busines ses and factories." (French Press Agency, April 7) The strike was called to protest the killings, arrests and disappearances of the group's leaders and activists.
The Maoists have been leading a growing insurgency in the countryside. In recent months, they have launched major attacks on police stations and other government targets, including bombing the house of Interior Minister Kamal Thapa. On April 5 they released to the Interna tional Red Cross 37 police, soldiers and government officials they had captured on March 21 after a 12-hour gun battle in Beni town, 180 miles west of Kathmandu.
The rebels had been demanding the release of two of their top leaders, politburo member Matrika Prasad Yadav and regional chief Suresh Ale Magar, who had been captured in India and turned over to the Nepal regime. (New Kerala, April 6)
That same day, hundreds of anti-government rebels attacked a police station in Yadukuwa in central Nepal, according to Xinhua, the Chinese press agency.
At the same time, other political forces are continuing with daily protests against the monarchy in several cities. In Kath mandu, the capital, tens of thousands of activists began turning up every day, beginning on April 1, to demonstrate near the royal palace. The next day, police attacked demonstrators with batons and, for the first time, fired on the crowds, injuring at least 205. (IC Wales, April 3)
On April 3, a rally was held at which the main speakers were the president of the Nepal lawyers association, the president of Nepal's biggest human rights association, the president of the Nepal professors' association and the president of the Nepal doctor's association. This moderate rally was attacked by police with tear gas. Many senior leaders were injured. (Union Network International, April 6)
The next day, 10,000 people returned to battle police outside the royal palace.
Demonstrations are also continuing in Bhaktapur, a medieval town on the outskirts of Kathmandu, and in the western city of Pokhara.
The political thrust of these demonstrations, called by five parliamentary parties, including the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), seem to be shifting. While the UML calls only for a con stitutional monarchy, chants for a repub lic are coming from the demonstrators.
The present king took power in 2001 after his brother, the constitutional mon arch King Birendra, and most of the royal family were massacred. The mysterious kill ings were attributed to the crown prince, but he also died, supposedly of "self-inflicted wounds," paving the way for Gyanendra. The new king abandoned consti tutional reforms made a decade earl ier and has been ruling virtually by decree since he dismissed the elected government in 2002.
Washington has been supplying Gy anen dra's regime with modern guns and night-vision equipment to combat the growing guerrilla movement, which has the support of the peasantry.
The BBC reported on April 6 that the U.S. was investing $17 million of military aid in the Royal Nepal Army, mainly to pay for about 20,000 M16 rifles and night-vision equipment.
"Now that King Gyanendra has lost over all control of 40 of the country's 75 dis tricts, the Bush administration believes it has good reason to be concerned," said the report.
"It has decided that the only way to prevent Nepal from becoming a 'failed state' or, worse still, a 'rogue nation,' is to increase the flow of military aid."
A decade ago the United Communist Party of Nepal was for a brief time the larg est party in parliament and formed a government under King Birendra. How ever, it was in a coalition with the monarchist party and was unable to achieve even a modest land reform in a country where the vast majority of the people are impoverished peasants and serfdom was still legal.
This failure to achieve anything through the elections led to a split between the parliamentary left and the Maoists, who began the armed struggle for a socialist republic two years later, in 1996.
Last August, the government entered negotiations with the Maoists, but they broke down when it refused to accept their demand for the election of a new constituent assembly.
Another factor was heightened repression against the rebels and their peasant supporters.
The BBC reported on April 6 that "Just 10 days before the collapse of peace talks last August, the army killed 21 people in the eastern district of Ramechhap. They were lined up and executed at the end of a three-hour march. The report by Nepal's National Human Rights Commission into the killings concluded that almost all of the dead bodies bore evidence of being shot in the head at close range. It blamed the RNA [Royal Nepal Army]."
Now, some of the parties that were with the government then are out in the streets now, supporting the strike called by the Maoists. The French Press Agency report ed on April 6 that "The Maoists, who control much of the countryside, issued a statement of support for the strike by the parties, with whom the guerrillas regularly clashed when Nepal had an elected government.
"Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, or 'The Fierce,' called for 'unity among all political forces' against the king."
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