Nepal hill trouble echoes for India

Nepal's ultra-Communist group, which shares ideologies with Indian Naxalites, has long termed India an 8216;8216;expansionist nation8217;...

Nepal8217;s ultra-Communist group, which shares ideologies with Indian Naxalites, has long termed India an 8216;8216;expansionist nation8217;8217;. However, despite its anti-India propaganda, the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist never caused major harm to Nepal-based Indian interests deliberately until December last year, when they threatened two Indian business ventures with 8216;8216;special tax8217;8217; of Rs 6.25 million and Rs 3.13 million.

That8217;s the point India woke up to the threat posed by the CPN-M, whose top brass has been taking shelter in India since the late-8217;90s. On April 3, Maoists torched at least 18 Indian oil tankers in Dhangadhi along Indo-Nepal border, drawing strong condemnation from the External Affairs Ministry. The latest to be targeted is Modern Indian School. On June 9, about two dozen gun-wielding rebels broke into the school, situated 9 km south of the Nepalese capital, and overpowered the security guards at gunpoint. Minutes after the rebels fled, two bombs went off, ripping apart 45 computers, and turning two schoolbuses into ashes.

Sanjay Verma, press counsellor, Information and Culture at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, believes the violence will get worse. 8216;8216;Even we are receiving threats from Maoist rebels,8217;8217; Verma told The Indian Express. 8216;8216;We don8217;t have full-proof security.8217;8217;

Following the attack on the Indian school, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Shyam Saran, who has just been named India8217;s new Foreign Secretary, met Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and told him about the threats being faced by Indians. Saran sought full security for Indian nationals, trade, tourism and business in Nepal.

Analysts and officials believe the Maoist attacks are related to the crackdown on the Maoist top brass in India. Just on the eve of External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh8217;s two-day visit to Nepal on June 4, a dozen Nepalese rebels, including six central-level leaders, were arrested in Patna. Besides, Mohan Vaidya alias Kiran who ranks third in Maoist chain of command, after Chairman Prachanda and ideologue Dr Baburam Bhattarai, was apprehended by Indian police in Siliguri.

Verma said the Maoists had been demanding money from Modern Indian School and the Embassy as well to fund their party. 8216;8216;The attack might have been provoked by their refusal to do so, coupled with the recent crackdown on them the Maoist rebels in India,8217;8217; said Verma.

But Shailendra Ghimire, the Kathmandu valley coordinator of the CPN-M8217;s student wing, believes there was a different reason for the attack. 8216;8216;We had received complaints against the school from students and parents saying that they were working against their interest,8217;8217; he told The Indian Express. 8216;8216;The school was also teaching foreign culture, and was misinforming the students.8217;8217;

Story continues below this ad

He said the rebels had given warnings before the attack. 8216;8216;Opening of these schools in Nepal is an imperialist attack on Nepal8217;s education,8217;8217; Ghimire told The Indian Express. He also acknowledged that the attack was 8216;8216;an answer8217;8217; to the arrest of top Maoist leaders in India.

Verma agreed that the Maoist insurgency in Nepal was a 8216;8216;big threat8217;8217; to India. 8216;8216;Nepal8217;s Maoists and Indian Naxalites are fraternal organisations, and such groups in the South Asian region have developed close links.8217;8217;

The formation of the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations of South Asia CCOMPOSA in July 2002, on the initiative of the CPN-M, was perceived as 8216;8216;a milestone8217;8217; in making South Asia a Compact Revolutionary Zone. It increased contacts and cooperation among the extremist communist groups of Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Political analyst and the editor of Nepali-language Mulyankan monthly, Shyam Shrestha, also agrees that the latest wave of Maoist violence against Indian interests is 8216;8216;a reaction8217;8217; to India8217;s crackdown on rebels. 8216;8216;As India is hardening its stance towards the Nepali Maoists, the rebels too will vigorously reciprocate in the future,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;The future may witness more confrontations, resulting in adverse impact on the cosy bilateral relations between India and Nepal.8217;8217;