Asia Times: Uneasy peace holds in Nepalese rebel-ruled village


	March 20, 2001	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Uneasy peace holds in Nepalese rebel-ruled village
By Ramyata Limbu

MADICHAUR, Nepal - The clear waters of the wide river flow past ripening fields of wheat and cabbage plots in this western Nepal village. Cattle are being taken to pasture and little children, clutching books, walk to school.

It was not always as peaceful as this. Barely two years ago, gunfire and bomb explosions rocked Madichaur almost every day as radical leftists guerrillas battled security forces. Peace has returned to the village because it is now under the full control of the rebels, known as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Madichaur is one of the areas of western Nepal where the Maoists are running a parallel administration.

The village is part of Rolpa district, one of the two from where the rebels launched their violent campaign five years ago to replace the constitutional monarchy of the small Himalayan kingdom with republican rule.

According to government figures, the violence has claimed about 1,600 lives so far. The rebels now control large areas in four of Nepal's 75 districts - Rolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot and Salyan in the western hills of Nepal. Altogether, 35 districts are affected by the insurgency, which has defied several attempts at political resolution.

The police have pulled out of this area and retreated to the fortified district headquarters of Libang, three hours walk away from here.

In the tiny village bazaar, made up of a tailor's shop and a general store, life appears normal. "Life has been peaceful since the police chowki [post] pulled out, a year and a half ago," says Mansaram Pun, the general store owner. "We were caught between the Maoists and police. We were constantly in fear of our lives. We couldn't move about freely," he adds.

Today, Pun and his wife no longer have to worry so long as they pay their "levy" of 100 rupees (a little over one US dollar) to the Maoists. The villagers also sometimes have to give food to the rebels and attend Maoist gatherings. Occasionally, they have to work on bridge-building and road-repair projects. "Everyone in the village extends support in cash or kind. You can't be different. There's fear. They carry guns," says Pun.

Since the fighting began early in 1996, most of the young men left the village to avoid being victimized by the police or recruited by the Maoists. Maoist cadres in camouflage uniforms, walk around the village, wearing captured police belts and boots.

"We were never underground from the people. Only from reactionary forces," says 27-year-old Maoist, Bidrohi, as he raises his fist, to a passing group of school girls, in the communist greeting lal salaam (red salute). His comrades are high school drop-outs, semi-literate farmers and former members of Nepali political parties. They patrol the rugged hill terrain that surrounds the village, lay ambushes against the police, interrogate strangers and collect taxes in cash and kind from the locals.

"When we're not on duty, we lay down our guns to help on the community farms and give villagers a helping hand when they need it," says comrade Sujhav as he uses his khukuri (traditional Nepali dagger) to make bamboo stakes to repair the roof of a village home.

Sujhav is the leader of an 11-member rebel militia. Their cadres include women, like 22-year-old Man Kumari Pun, a member of the Maoist Mahila Saghathan or Women's Organization. "If the need arises, I can pick up a gun. My husband died but there are thousands to take his place. We shall continue the war," says Pun, the mother of a 5-year old son.

She is one of hundreds of local women who have joined the People's War. A fifth of the rebel fighters are women. Other women rebels work behind the battle lines. "I don't have to carry a gun," says comrade Barsha, sitting amidst a group of women. "We used to be restricted to the household. The revolution has made women aware about our rights to education, property, to equal treatment," she adds.

The ordinary residents are too afraid to say what they really feel. "I don't want to die. So I do what they say," says former soldier Hasta Muni Pun, who belongs to the famed Nepali Gurhka martial community. Hasta Muni is one of the few to return to his home village after the Maoists spread the word that no one would be harmed. "Both the police and the Maoists threaten, and subdue the people," he says, even as his wife cautions him not to speak up.

Many former village residents now live in the fortified Rolpa district headquarters of Libang where more than 200 policemen and an army battalion are on stand-by. Some of them are on the "hit list" of the Maoists. Bhim Kumari Buda, is followed by police when she steps out of her house. She is accused of being a police informer and blamed for the death of more than a dozen rebels.

For Rolpa district judge Nilkantha Upadhyay, the calm is deceptive. "Hidden behind the peace, I think they are building up their strength," he says.

The district court now hardly gets cases as local complaints are being heard by the parallel Maoist People's Court. The People's Court metes out stern justice for practices like polygamy, which is prevalent in this area. Alcoholics are punished and Rolpa is now nearly liquor-free. The village drunks have sobered up. Health workers, water supply and farm technicians, however, still have jobs.

"Farming hasn't been affected. The people seek advice regarding farming, seeds and crops. Even for their community farms," says Reeshi Ram Bhandari, an agricultural expert who has worked in Rolpa for the past 12 years.

The rebels are aware that they have to rely on the government's health and other development services, which are badly needed in one of Nepal's most backward areas. Even before the insurgency flared, Rolpa ranked 60th in human development ratings among Nepal's districts, with an average lifespan of 52 years and an infant mortality rate of 130 - much below the national average.

"As long as they're convinced that we're not informers, they allow us to carry out our work," says health official Chitra Jung Shahi.

The Maoists have twice pulled back from a dialogue with the government. In the past years, the rebels have softened their earlier stand that Nepal should abandon the monarchy.

(Inter Press Service)