Nepal: A new nest for
al-Qaeda? By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - Early this month, the United States
ambassador to Nepal, Michael Malinowski, told the BBC's
Nepal correspondent, Nick Bryant, that the US was
concerned that "areas in Nepal don't get out of control,
don't become a vacuum where terrorist groups can move
into and use Nepal for whatever". When Bryant asked him
whether he meant terrorist groups like al-Qaeda,
Malinowski answered in the affirmative. He, however,
admitted that Washington did not have evidence or
intelligence linking al-Qaeda with the Maoists fighting
an insurgency war in Nepal.
This is not the
first time that the US has equated Nepalese Maoists with
international terrorist organizations. In January 2002,
US Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to
operations against the Maoists as part of the
international "war on terrorism". Malinowski has in the
past described the Maoists as "fundamentally the same as
terrorists elsewhere, be they members of the Shining
Path [Peru], Pol Pot's people [Khmer Rouge] or
al-Qaeda".
Malinowski's recent statement that
"terrorist groups can move into and use Nepal for
whatever" comes at a time of intense political
uncertainty in Nepal. Not only is the government under
serious pressure from the Maoists, but also political
parties are out on the streets demanding restoration of
multi-party democracy. Protest marches, strikes and
violence have paralyzed daily life in Nepal. Political
turmoil in Nepal has assumed worrying proportions and
Nepal seems to have plunged into its worst crisis in
decades.
Elaborating the ambassador's comment to
BBC, a US embassy official in Kathmandu said that the
persisting political turmoil in Nepal as a result of the
Maoist insurgency, and compounded by the current
confrontation between King Gyanendra and the political
parties, is just the kind of environment that acts like
a magnet to groups like the al-Qaeda. "Al-Qaeda's nest
in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been destroyed. The
birds are looking for a new home and Nepal in turmoil
could provide al-Qaeda fighters a sanctuary," he argued.
The Maoist insurgency in Nepal is in its eighth
year. What started as a small band of idealists and
intellectuals is a battle-hardened guerrilla army today,
capable of taking on not only the country's police force
but also its armed forces. The Maoists control large
swathes of territory - around two-fifths of the
Himalayan kingdom's land. Their influence runs across
almost all of Nepal's 75 districts.
The US,
China, India and Britain are backing the government's
efforts to quell the Maoist insurgency. These countries
have contributed military hardware and training to the
Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) in its operations against the
Maoists. The US, for instance, is said to have provided
aid to finance Nepal's purchase of M-16 rifles and night
vision equipment. It is also training RNA officers in
counter-insurgency warfare. In August 2003, the US
enhanced its grants to Nepal from US$24 million a year
to $38 million a year in wake of the insurgency.
In 2003, the US Department of State designated
the Nepalese Maoists as a terrorist organization. "For
eight years, the Communist Party of Nepal [Maoist] has
committed acts of terrorism that threaten the stability
of a government friendly to the US," the order said,
adding that "this organization poses a terrorist threat
to the security of US nationals and US national security
and foreign policy interests. Its members are
responsible for the murder of two Nepalese security
personnel employed by the US embassy in Kathmandu. In
public statements last year, the organization directly
threatened US diplomats in Kathmandu. The order also
says that "the Maoist group has intimidated and robbed
American tourists, bombed and burned establishments
frequented by foreign tourists, and bombed and extorted
money from US-owned businesses. The [Communist Party of
Nepal] has also committed acts of terrorism against
US-sponsored non-governmental organizations."
During the Cold War, India was opposed to any
American presence in its neighborhood. But the growing
proximity between Delhi and Washington in recent years
has diluted this position to some degree. That the US,
India and China are on the same side in the battle
against the Maoists marks a major shift from the past.
This, however, does not negate India and China's unease
with US long-term presence at their doorsteps.
The US embassy official in Nepal pointed out
that all four countries view the military operations
against the Maoists as part of their own wars against
terrorism. India, for instance, is battling ultra-left
radicals within its own borders. Radical groups like the
People's War in India have strong links with the
Nepalese Maoists. "This makes the elimination of the
Nepalese Maoists a priority for India too," the official
said.
While Washington's extension of military
support to the government's operations against the
Maoists is ostensibly to pressure the rebels to return
to the negotiating table, this has not happened. The
rebels are far from crushed and have shown that they are
still a potent force to reckon with.
If
anything, the provision of military equipment to the RNA
has only emboldened the Nepalese government to persist
with the military option and to do little to reopen
talks with the rebels. Washington's approach to Nepal's
Maoist problem appears to be prolonging the bloody
conflict in the country. What is more, US backing to the
RNA, a force that is under criticism from international
human rights groups for its grave violation of human
rights - most of the "disappearances" have been
attributed to the RNA rather than the Maoists - has
drawn flak in Nepal.
The Maoist insurgency has
its roots in poverty and the appalling socio-economic
conditions in the country. Nepal is one of the poorest
countries in world, with around 42 percent of its
population living below the poverty line. The average
per capita income is only $220 and the unemployment rate
is around 52 percent. Instead of addressing the
socio-economic conditions that fuel the insurgency, the
government is relying excessively on the military option
to tackle the Maoists.
The Maoists deny that
they have links with the al-Qaeda. They draw inspiration
from Peru's Shining Path guerrillas and maintain that
they are fighting a people's war to dismantle the
monarchy in Nepal and establish a people's republic in
its place. They strongly object to being branded
"terrorists" and insist that they are a political
movement. They say they have nothing to do with the
al-Qaeda. Indeed, even Nepalese officials admit that
they have not found any evidence of such links yet.
Maoist sympathizers based in India argue that
the threat posed by Maoists to Americans is being
exaggerated. "Although Maoist propaganda literature is
critical of American imperialism, the rebels have not
targeted Americans so far," a Nepali student activist in
Bangalore told Asia Times Online. "The war against the
Maoists provides Washington with an excuse for
establishing a higher and long-term presence in Nepal,"
he pointed out. (Nepal is strategically located - it
shares borders with India and China.)
American
officials visiting Nepal routinely state that the
conflict can be settled only through negotiations with
the rebels. But its strong military backing to the RNA
is only increasing the bloodletting in the hills. The
bloody war has contributed to a significant hardening of
posture on the part of the Maoists, making a compromise
solution more difficult to reach.
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