Over 5000 people killed in the last two years in Nepal in a vicious conflict that could see the overthrow of the Royal family, and the establishment of another Khmer Rouge-type state.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/10/opinion/10UPAD.html
Dark Days in Shangri-La
In the 60’s Nepal was a hashish-filled Shangri-La for hippies. In the 80’s its hills swarmed with trekkers catching the evening sun as it hit Annapurna. Now a more sinister show is playing in the villages and in the capital, Katmandu — and it should make Americans worry. For seven years, Maoist rebels have been waging a “people’s war” that has turned this once-peaceful nation of 25 million, Lord Buddha’s birthplace, into a killing field with thousands dead. In language that frighteningly invokes Pol Pot’s Cambodia, they’ve vowed to kill millions more and “hoist the hammer and sickle atop Mount Everest.” In August, after a seven-month cease-fire that allowed them to regroup, the Maoists began striking fiercely, and most Nepalis fear what will happen if they win. If Nepal turns into a Maoist totalitarian state, it could alter the security balance throughout South Asia. In this geopolitically important area, already rent by nuclear-fueled one-upmanship between India and Pakistan, this is a risk the world cannot afford.
The Maoists have already formed close alliances with leftist extremists in the Indian states of West Bengal and Sikkim; the rebels often hide over the border in northern India, and the Indian government has made little effort to crack down on them. There are reports of cooperation with Communist factions from the Philippines, Peru and Turkey. The rebels model their approach after Peru’s murderous Shining Path guerrilla movement: voice the aspirations of the poor, fight state oppression and police brutality, use violence as a means to justice. The rebels apparently see no paradox in their clinging to the revolutionary doctrines of Mao Zedong, even as his heirs in Beijing show an interest in helping the Nepali government defeat the insurrection. They also openly admire the late North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung, and could turn Nepal into another Hermit Kingdom: isolated, bitter and in constant friction with its neighbors. And at a time when the United States could do without more adversaries, the virulently anti-American stance of the Maoists could turn Nepal into a breeding ground — not unlike Taliban-era Afghanistan — for those who want to strike back at the great “imperialist” nation in retaliation for real or imaginary injuries.
When they began their insurgency eight years ago, the Maoists — with their promise of land reforms, free education and universal health care — garnered support from rural Nepalis suffering from decades of extreme poverty, illiteracy and caste and ethnic prejudice. Even urban elites saw them as an antidote to the failed leadership of corrupt and querulous political parties. But as the Maoists began snuffing innocent lives and calling it “collateral damage,” public sentiment has largely turned against them. Since 1995 the Maoists, with their 8,000 regular troops and perhaps as many as 40,000 irregular fighters, have been conducting sneak attacks against police and army posts, blowing up bridges, and publicly beheading alleged enemies and spies. Tourism, a mainstay of the Nepali economy, has been hit hard, as have primary sources of foreign exchange like textile and carpet manufacturing. “Business people are scared of the Maoists, who appear relentless in their efforts to destroy factories by setting them on fire,” said Ashutosh Tiwari, a business consultant in Katmandu. “They rob banks, call for nationwide strikes and extort money — called a `Maoist tax’ — from business people.” The public is caught in the middle of the civil war. Last month four schoolchildren were killed in the crossfire between the army and the Maoists. In the past two years more than 5,000 people — army, Maoists and civilians — have died. Amnesty International has criticized the Maoists for “scores of abductions and kidnappings,” but also condemned the army for arbitrary arrests and 250 cases of suspect “disappearances.”