|
Maoist alliances in India and Nepal
On November 20, 2003, a secret meeting is said to have taken place between some top-level Nepalese Maoist leaders and Madhav Kumar Nepal, a senior political leader and secretary of Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), at Lucknow in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. There has also been reportage of the Maoist insurgents establishing linkages with a mélange of Indian left-wing extremist groups - most prominently the Peopleâs War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) - and at least two insurgent groups active in Indiaâs Northeast [the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF)]. Such subversive activity has once again brought India-Nepal border management practices under scrutiny. Increasing counter-insurgency operations by Nepalese security forces since the breakdown of the cease-fire on August 27, 2003, have also led to an influx of Maoist insurgents into areas bordering the Indian Territory. Moreover, events in the past suggest that whenever the Nepalese security forces up the ante, Maoist cadres sneak across the largely unmonitored and porous border to find safe haven in India.The India-Nepal âopen borderâ is unique in the sense that people of both the countries can cross it from any point, though there are specific border check posts as well, including 22 major and 143 sub-posts for bilateral trade. The extremely porous 1,800 kilometre-long border, which has been maintained according to the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1950, offers uninterrupted passage for illegal smuggling of goods, arms, ammunition and narcotics, as well as human trafficking from either side. These movements constitute grave risks to security, not only for Nepal, but for India as well, as the Maoists develop linkages, not only with ideologically sympathetic groups in India, but with a number of other subversive groups on a purely opportunistic basis. Sources in the troubled Northeast Indian State of Assam indicated in November 2003 that there was increasing evidence that the proscribed ULFA was forging links with the Nepalese Maoists and may soon set up bases in the Himalayan Kingdom. These moves towards closer links with the Nepalese Maoists may be hastened by the ULFAâs current problems in Bhutan, where there is a strong possibility of the Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA) launching an operation against Indian insurgent outfits holed up in the countryâs jungles. Which happened yesterday The Maoists are also in a process of strengthening their alliance with other South Asian left-wing extremist groups through the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organizations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA) to create and effectively utilize the Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ). Along the border areas in north Bihar they have formed an âIndo-Nepal Border Regional Committeeâ (INBRC) to co-ordinate their activities. The porous Bihar-Nepal border, the general breakdown of rule of law, poor governance, and lack of sincerity and incapacity of the police forces provides a context for these groups to operate with relative ease. In another deeply disturbing development, on December 7, 2003, Baburam Bhattarai, chief of the United Peopleâs Front, the âpolitical wingâ of the Maoists, claimed that they were trying to âorganizeâ the approximately 10 million Nepalese in India. It is plausible that much of this âorganizingâ would be routed through the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Ekta Samaj (ABNES), which is a proscribed group in India under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), 2002. ABNES was originally founded to work for the âunity and welfareâ of Nepalese residing in India. Gradually, it evolved into a front organization for the Nepalese Maoists and is increasingly identified with the demand for a âGreater Nepalâ, which includes Indian territories. Sources indicate that ABNES secretary Bamdev Chhetri had visited Jammu in September 2001 to establish contact with Kashmiri militant groups in order to set up a supply line for arms for the CPN (Maoist). Chhetri was eventually arrested by Indian authorities in September 2002 and subsequently deported to Nepal. Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-12-17 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=22868 |