July 15, 2002	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1423

NEPALGUNJ (Nepal): Comrade Sunil is caressing the steel blade of his kukri-knife, showing it off in front of farmer Khaika Singh Gharti. Sunil says he is 18. He looks 14. In his back pocket is his homemade grenade.

“I was a brick-carrier in Kathmandu,” he said. “I was on my way back to Rolpa when the state of emergency was declared. The security forces arrested me on suspicion of being a Maoist. They beat me and threw me in jail for 10 days. That is when I decided to join the fight. Now I am fighting back.”

In the small Nepalese village of Gharti, Comrade Sunil and Comrade Sushil, also 18, have taken residence in the farmer’s house. The farmer greets the young Maoists in an apparently friendly manner. But the reality of his feelings are different.

“They come here with guns. I have no choice but to give them food and shelter, even if I don’t support the Maoists,” said Khaika when the Maoists were not listening. “By giving them food and a place to stay I don’t have to pay them money. If I refuse, they will kill me or beat me.”

That will also be the outcome if the Nepalese army finds out that he has been housing the Maoist fighters. He fell back into silence as more Maoists approached.

Comrade Sushil carries a small waist bag with his two most important weapons - his grenade and notepad — where he scribbles down names of everyone moving between the villages.

He had 11 days of intense training in guerrilla tactics before going to battle. “You learn as you go,” he said, showing his notebook with drawings of how to attack police stations and buses. The preferred method is in mass attacks that leave large casualties on the Maoist side.

“I have seen many comrades die in front of my eyes. It only makes me more willing to kill the other side. I am filled with anger and revenge. Not fear. If I die that is not any matter for me. I have chosen this path,” Sushil said.

It is a path leading Nepal into a spiral of rapidly worsening violence. Since the army was ordered to quash the Maoist uprising after the declaration of a state of emergency last November, more than 3,000 people have been killed. Most have been victims of guerrilla attacks on police stations, remote army bases, public offices. Others have been political

Sopponents of the Maoists, suspected informers or fighters and civilians caught in the crossfire from army machineguns or attack helicopters.

What are the Maoists fighting for, I asked Comrade Sambhan. He believed the rebellion started as a result of abuse of powers by government officials and neglect of the countryside.

“The people were suppressed by the ones abusing their powers. Our goal was communism, but we decided to push it further, and that’s why we chose Maoism,” said Sambhan. He did not seem fazed that its violent philosophy failed in other places.

He spoke calmly about the atrocities, brutal killings and blackmailing the Maoists have been accused of. “This is the people’s war. The people have to support it. Sometimes we need to use force, but that is our obligation. When we collect money from the villages it is a form of aid to themselves,” said Sambhand.

Comrade Ashok, by his side, looked a bit older, and called himself the village warden. “People have to follow us,” he said. “It is for their own good. Our philosophy is to take from the people and give to the people.”

Sometimes that involved taking lives. In one incident, Maoist women fighters attacked a bus. A five-year-old girl was killed in the subsequent raging fire. “We don’t attack civilians. The ones being attacked are either supporting the kingdom, corrupt or spying on us. If anyone works to the disadvantage of the revolution they will be attacked,” said Ashok.

“We joined to liberate the poor people of Nepal. We want to bring everybody to the same level. To win, we have to sacrifice something,” said Comrade Binod. His weapon was an almost antique front-loaded single-barrel gun. The rebels have been attacking remote army posts to loot weapons.

Outside the local school, hundreds of children were still mingling. Headmaster Resam Oli is defying the Maoists by keeping the school open in a conflict in which the Maoists have killed about 30 teachers.

“They demanded that the school close. The Maoists do not like educating the children. They want them to join them instead; 12-year-old children are carrying their ammunition,” said Oli. The Maoists insisted that the children follow their educational agenda.

“We are being pressured from both sides,” said Oli. “The Maoists suspect us, and the army wants us to tell them where the Maoists are. But we don’t know. The security forces killed two teachers here two months ago. The Maoists said that one of them was with them, but he was not. Two other teachers have fled to India,” he said.

It is not only the threat of violence that is putting Resam Oli under pressure. Since he has a steady income, he has to pay 200 rupees monthly to the Maoists.

Unusually, he is not afraid to speak out against the Maoists. “The uprising was initiated because the rebel leaders wanted their share. Ordinary people don’t support them. Some join to take revenge in personal matters. It is difficult to find work here. If you join them and carry a few boxes and shoot, you get a salary. There has also been forced recruitment. Some also join because they share the ideology,” said Oli.

“Our future looks very dark.”

How dark is revealed by the treatment of K.C. Keshab. Blood seeps from open wounds in his body. His arms and legs are shattered, pointing in impossible directions. His neighbour said that “He was attacked last night by 10 to 15 Maoists. They dragged him out of his house and beat him with sticks.” He is being treated at the hospital in the border town of Nepalgunj. “He is just an ordinary farmer with five children, but supports the government,” the neighbour said.—Dawn/The Observer News Service.