NEPAL: Raising the Red Flag

 

              February 2003 – 24’05”

 

The foothills of the Himalayas are a battle ground for one of the most mysterious rebel groups in the world.

 

Most people think Communism died in the last century.  Not these fighters.

 

SANDRA: Here in Nepal most people are still living in the middle ages. These Maoist revolutionaries say they’re fighting the people’s war to bring the country into the 21st century.

 

They boast they’ll raise the red flag of communism on Mount Everest itself.

 

[Back shot]

Already they control huge swathes of Nepal.  And their power is growing.  

 

TITLE: RAISING THE RED FLAG

 

In the capital of the world’s only Hindu kingdom, everything had come to a standstill.

 

The King’s daughter was getting married.

 

In Kathmandu it should have been a day of celebration.

 

Sandra: There’s lots of pageantry and show and colour but the people don’t seem to be very impressed by this.  There’s no flag waving there’s no cheering and the further we get from the palace the more some of the people seem if not disinterested then really angry.

 

In this country of 23 million people, your destiny is determined from birth.

 

Ineffective government and a rigid Hindu caste system condemn most people to subservience and abject poverty.

 

But the old order is unravelling fast.  For many not fast enough.

 

SANDRA: We’re on our way to a reception at the palace to celebrate the princess’s wedding and this is probably going to be as close as we can get to government ministers, maybe even the king himself.

 

Gyanendra became King 20 months ago after his brother was murdered.

 

The old King was assassinated by his son, who killed eight other members of the royal family, before shooting himself.

 

The new King inherited a kingdom of spectacular inequality - and a simmering five year old Maoist revolt.

 

His’s government quickly declared a state of emergency and giving the Security forces draconian powers.  He then suspended Nepal’s fledgling democracy, and the Maoist revolt has exploded into civil war.

 

Traditionally Nepal’s King is thought to be a reincarnated Hindu God but the rebels vow to storm this palace and execute him.

 

I wanted to meet them.

 

Sandwiched between India and China, Nepal is home to 65 different ethnic groups. Their common denominators are poverty and powerlessness.

 

Our destination was Jumla, 350 kilometres West of Kathmandu.

 

Three months ago 8,000 Maoist guerrillas stormed the town, taking the police and army by surprise.

 

They fire-bombed 28 government buildings, robbed the bank, looted the police station of its weapons and returned to the mountains.

 

The police and army said they were in control again, but Jumla was still in shock.

 

8000 people have died in this war – 5,000 in the last two years.

 

And when I got there people were still dying.

 

SYNC: There’s been an explosion here in Jumla. On the hillside under the police encampment.

 

We heard a child had been injured. We had a first aid kit so there was a chance we could help.

 

No one could give us a clear account of what had happened.  

 

Actuality: 2nd group

 

Half a mile out of town we came to a group of shocked people being held back by some nervous troops. A soldier said two boys had found an unexploded hand grenade left by the Maoists.

 

We’ve been allowed to see the bodies of the two little boys, but we’re not allowed to film them. They were here herding the horses over there, that was their job. They saw a grenade on the ground, and as they’d been warned by the army not to touch them, they threw stones at it, and it blew up and killed them. And up there, their two little bodies are stretched out on the ground, all covered in dust. They don’t looked injured as such, though their bodies are very distorted, and they came from two different families. Everyone heard the blast and gathered here. Everybody’s waiting here, the bodies will be taken to hospital for a post-mortem.

 

They were eight and twelve.  The brother of one of the boys had been playing a few yards away.

 

It happens all the time.  Above the town  was the house of another family whose son had been blown up this time at the local well.

 

Sync: I hope this is the right one.

 

I’d been told the boy had survived but had lost a hand and the sight of an eye.

 

His mother Chauki Sunar was struggling to provide for her remaining five children.

 

She was desperately worried about her son.

 

He was a week’s walk away in  hospital with her husband.

 

Sandra: Doesn’t the government protect you?

Chauki: 

 

She said that wasn’t how Nepal worked.

 

Sandra: She said the government isn’t helping us or supporting us. No one is supporting us. We’ve only the sun watching over us. And we poor people will die. There’s no one to help us

 

Most people eat what they grow and if their crops fail they starve. Children are so malnourished they look half their age.

 

Chauki couldn’t understand why people supported the rebels.

 

She said the Maoists come to their house and demand food. They eat all the rice and then they take whatever money is left over, and if someone refuses they beat them up.

 

I headed back into town with my guide, Dhurba Basnet, a Nepalese filmmaker. Everywhere we looked we saw the devastation the Maoists had caused.

 

The Acting Chief District Officer, Bimal Raj Sharma, took us on a tour of the destroyed buildings. He was newly promoted.  His boss had been killed in the attack.

 

In the last year, the Maoists have launched massive attacks against a dozen towns.  Anything to do with the government is destroyed.

 

Mr Sharma showed us what remaind of the district headquarters. 

 

Actuality: This was the main building? It looks dangerous, like it could collapse.

 

Actuality: This is your office?

Your chair is lying there.

This is my chair.

Your chair?

This is my board?

That’s your name?

 That is my name.

 

 He only survived because he’d been away in a different town.

 

Actuality: The attack happened the day before he was to come back from Nepalgunj. The next day he came back immediately after the attack.

 

Sync: He said when he came back, everything was in flames. The whole place was burning and everyone was very afraid. All the government employees were in fear; they didn’t know what was going to happen next.

 

The Maoists killed 46 people mostly policemen. Some were executed as  ‘enemies of the revolution’.

 

A local journalist told me 35,000 people, half the population of the area, had fled since the attack  – many of them young men trying to avoid being drafted by the Maoists. 

 

Mr Sharma said the rebels had been driven away.  We were about to put that to the test.

 

PTC: We’re about half an hour outside Jumla, which is over there. This is the main highway running south, which runs to the village of Tatopani. There are no roads around here so everyone has to go on foot

 

Despite the government claims, the townspeople had said we’d soon enter Maoist territory -  ‘the liberated zone’.

 

The rebels thrive on the poverty of Nepal’s disaffected rural population

 

After  three hours of walking, we stopped at a tea shop. The graffiti was the first sign we were in maoist country.

 

Sync: Our people should not join foreign armies’ – like become ghurkas in the British or Indian army? ‘We should create an atmosphere or an environment so that they can stay here.’

 

A few miles further on someone stopped us, and warned us to be careful.

 

PTC: We’ve met a local teacher from Tatopani, where we’re going. He told us just three days ago there was an ambush here by Maoists when police were patrolling. Apparently, there were seven Maoists on this hillside, they attacked the police, shooting one police officer in the shoulder. Now he didn’t see that himself, but a man who owns a teashop down here was an eyewitness, and he told him the story.

 

Later we were told the policeman had died.

 

We spent that night in the village of Tatopani.

 

We could have been living in another century.

 

The village is well known for its hot springs - my first chance for a hot bath in a week.

 

That night we’d had visitors.

 

A dozen armed men and women had come to the house where we were sleeping, and questioned us for hours.

 

PTC: They took us across the bridge, and we sat in a field in the dark with their leader. It was a group of Maoists. They said we couldn’t go with them last night because they were in a hurry and it was too dangerous. They’ve given us a letter which they say will give us access to a Maoist camp.

 

That didn’t mean the rebels trusted us.

 

We left after dawn, following the first of a set of commands issued by the Maoists.

 

They said our safety depended on obeying these orders to the letter.

 

PTC: We’re following the Maoists’ instructions and taking this road south west. They told us at some stage a guide would approach us and show us where to go. And the letter we got last night acts as our visa.

 

We walked for hours

 

Suddenly someone appeared up ahead. He demanded to see our letter.  After a few moments of questioning he told us to follow him.

 

Our guide said I could call him Comrade Ajay.  It turned out he was one of the rebels’  political officers..  Comrade Ajay explained the Maoists had  gained control of this area in the last two years.  And the Army had done nothing to win back hearts and minds.

 

By way of explanation we stopped near the village of Lumcera.

 

Actuality: And did they bomb it?

 

The Maoists kill and intimidate .  And so does the Nepalese army. 

 

PTC: This used to be the local pharmacist’s shop and house. The chemist was also trained as a paramedic, so people would seek medical attention, including the Maoists. He treated anyone who came to him. The army came here by helicopter two days after the attack in Jumla. They let the soldiers out there; the soldiers destroyed the building by burning it. Since then the pharmacist has fled, he’s in India now. If local people want medical attention, they’ve got to go to Jumla.

 

The pharmacist was lucky to escape.

 

Of the 5,000 fatalities in the last year or so, 4,000 were killed by the security forces.  The authorities say they were rebels, but Amnesty International believes most were civilians, targeted for their real or perceived support for the Maoists.  

 

In the village I found the pharmacist’s wife and children.

 

They were destitute, sheltering in a friend’s house, living off charity.

 

Satya Devi was no Maoist cheerleader.  She pointedly remarked to Comrade Ajay the rebels had done nothing to help her.

 

But most of her anger was directed at the government.

 

She felt the army was the best recruiting agent the rebels had.

 

Sync: She said I can’t go to the courts, because they’ve already broken our hearts. The government has burnt our house – how can I appeal to them in the courts? It will only cause more trouble for us again.

 

She told me poor people in Nepal are treated like insects living under the soil, with no basic rights.

 

She said if people are powerful, they can get justice. But the poor can’t get justice. My husband sold all his things to pay for an education, to build up his medical store, but they destroyed it. There is no justice for poor people.

 

 

A few miles further on two more Maoist rebels were waiting for us. One of them was armed.

 

Comrade Ajay and the new arrivals now questioned us at length.

 

They asked which villages our porters came from, and who their families were.  They wanted to know why we were in their territory.

 

SANDRA:We’ve been reading reports about what’s happening in Nepal and sometimes on the agencies and wires  we will hear for example about the attack on Jumla.  But there’s very little detail.  It’s just the bare minimum.

 

One of the men wrote a report to send ahead of us.

 

SANDRA: They’ve checked our letter and they’re now deciding what to do  next.  In fact they’re trying to arrange some food for us., but we’re waiting to find out when we can continue the journey.

 

It seemed the Maoists’ local political leader was considering meeting us.  He was the man, they said, who’d led the attack on Jumla.

 

The Maoists tried to recruit our porters. They were low caste untouchables, a perfect target group. But they didn’t want to be martyrs.   

 

In the morning we were taken by surprise. A rebel patrol was approaching. Comrade Ajay was with them. We were ordered to fall in behind them.

 

We’ve met the people’s army on the road.  I can see three guns. They may have others. They all look very very young.  For security reasons they won’t tell us where they’re going where they’ve come from what they’re doing. We’re just going to follow and find out as much as possible.

 

The eldest was 25, the youngest 16. In an election the Maoists would get a quarter of the vote at most.  But among the young their following is much higher.

 

We arrived where they planned to spend the night. Villagers feed and house the rebels, some because they support them, others through fear.

 

We’re just waiting here.  Their orders are to stay here until their superior officer comes. We don’t know who that is.  They won’t tell us anything. They’re extremely security conscious. We’re very aware that we’ve got to do whatever they tell us when we’re in their territory.

 

 Comrade Ajay told the fighters they could talk to me.

 

They had weapons captured from the police. And they claimed they’d seen plenty of fighting.

 

He said, yes I took part in the Jumla attack. My responsibility was to capture the jail. And we killed one policeman and we captured three spies.

 

Enemies of the revolution deserved to die they told me.  They wanted to destroy the system that had oppressed their parents.

 

He said the poor don’t have anything.  That’s why they’re fighting against the government - for food clothing and housing

 

There are many young girls in the movement. Comrade Chaya said she was 16 and fighting for women’s rights.

 

She said if I’d stayed at home most probably I would have had to take part in an arranged marriage and that’s not a system I want to be part of and that’s why I joined the party.

 

They understood revolutionary tactics. But when it came as to how they would run a  People’s Republic, they were less certain.

 

He said our strategy is to begin with the villages and then to capture the centre.  When we establish our own government that’s when we’ll start to consider providing for the poor.

 

I discovered I’d been walking behind contained a massive home-made bomb. Each rebel carried at least one explosive device.

 

 

That night new guides took us to meet comrade Karma, the Maoists’ district secretary. But they had second thoughts about revealing their camp’s location. 

 

We’ve been walking for a couple of hours and our Maoist guides have told us there’s been another change of plan. Instead of going to the camp to meet the secretary he’s going to come down here to meet with us tomorrow. Apparently he’s injured so he travels slowly.  We just have to wait here and see what happens next.

 

A family was ordered to house and feed us for the night.

 

Messengers set off to tell Comrade Karma our location.

 

In the morning we learned he had arrived.

 

We were told we could not film his face.

 

He was furious that the Americans are giving military aid to the Nepalese  government, and that the British are supplying helicopters. He said  Tony Blair was supporting the wrong side.

 

He said the King wants to continue to keep Nepal as a Hindu kingdom because then people believe that the king is a reincarnation of god and that way he can continue to rules as he wants.

 

He said the Maoists had already won a sort of victory, the King would never be able to restore the old feudal order

 

Over the last seven years we’ve taught the people to question why we’re getting poorer and poorer.  In the past we’ve believed in Hinduism and gods and we did not progress. Now we’re getting poorer because of state negligence and lack of opportunities. We’ve taught the people that we need to have a revolution.  Now that they believe this and we’re proud of that achievement.

 

Comrade Karma hobbled off. He was wounded in the attack on Jumla.  

 

He said the need for revolution justified the rebels’ brutal tactics.  It seemed to me he was right to say Nepal will never return to where it was. The government talks as though the Maoists are the cause of the country’s problems. They’re not: just the symptom of a disaffected and marginalised population.

 

We’re not quite sure what’s happening but there’s been some sort of explosion up ahead.  We heard something and saw the smoke and villagers tell us the army’s been down here and the maoists are up in the hills. We have seen various people running about but it’s impossible to tell if it’s the army..it looks like army because they’re evenly spaced out down on the lower road. It just makes you realise that an attack can happen at any time on this road.

 

Eventually we reached Nepalgunj, a government-controlled town near the Indian border.

 

Outside government offices former slaves known as  Kamaiya, were demonstrating.

 

PTC: They were set free two years ago, but they still haven’t got social security or even protection from the government. They’re afraid of the Maoists, but they’re being accused of being Maoists. So they’re here today protesting for their rights.

 

Their situation epitomises that of most Nepalis - they want a new identity that offers them dignity in a hostile world.

 

Most don’t like the Maoists’ brutal tactics, but no one else is offering them a way forward.

 

The authorities offer only the status quo. It’s not a tempting prospect.

 

In recent weeks both sides have said they’re willing to talk, and a ceasefire has brought temporary relief. But it’s difficult to see what deal could emerge.

 

I had one last thing to do. In Jumla I’d promised Chauki Sunar that I’d visit her son who’d been blown up at the local well.

 

Kale and his father Gopal had been here 6 weeks.

 

PTC: He said what’s going to become of my son how is he going to learn how to write ? We're poor people we can't’think from day to day, of the future.

 

 Kale was trying to be brave.  He still has shrapnel in his head and body.  In Nepal he faces a lifetime of suffering.

 

 

END