Open Letter to the distiguished members of the federal Parliament of Belgium

Sher Bahadur Deuba, the Prime Minister of Nepal is making a second visit to Europe in four months. His mission lies on to lie the European leaders that he is fighting for democracy and fighting against terrorism. In fact, neither he is fighting for democracy, nor the force that he is fighting with is terrorist. As a whole the struggle going on Nepal is a civil war, the people are fighting for real democracy, twenty million people have concern of safeguarding the rights of the people attained from the people's movement of 1990, and the root of the problem is political problem.

Nepal is a multi-national, multi-lingual country where more than 60 distinct nationalities live together. Nepal has almost 141 thousand square kilometer territories and has now more that 23 million people and more than two dozens languages are spoken through out the country. None of the nationalities holds majority alone in the country.

After the unification of the 22 and 24 regent-states under the leadership of king Prithivi Narayan Shah around two hundred and fifty years ago, the Nepali Khas language and culture was made dominant. However, Mongolian, Austro-Dravidian clan together makes majority, the Aryans fled from India have dominated in all sphere in language, culture, politics, economics and social life.
The national minorities (janajati) were marginalized and deprived from the political power, social phenomena and the property of the country (mainly the land). This situation put the country under the feudal domination. After the Sugauli treaty With British India in 1816, Nepal became semi-colonial country. However, Nepal has never been a colony of any country officially, but it is still de facto colony of many imperialist countries.

However slavery is almost abolished from the face of the earth, slavery still exists in Nepal. The Tharu clans are still under slavery (kamaiya) system, and they are fighting to abolish it. Women are dominated by the feudal barbaric laws as well as they are prey of male chauvinism. They are deprived from attaining private property, women in Nepal have either to rely on parents or on husband.
Since Nepal has undergone to the semi-feudal semi-colonial status, its indigenous industry is collapsed, and the production relation in Nepal has pushed back to the barbaric age. If one compares Nepal to Europe and ancient civilized India, some of the Nepalese society will be found around 5000 years back. These facts are very hard and difficult to realise to the people of the developed world that even in the 21st century, many clans like Raute and Kusunda live under jungle age. The total Nepalese are very poor, surviving with 160 dollar per capita income. In fact, this average of account includes the heavy income of feudal lords, comprador bureaucrat capitalists and more that 30 percent people have nothing to do with this data. Rest of the 50 percent people have very low income, Mainly dependent on agriculture, the official rate of literacy is simply 36 percent.

The Nepalese people have struggled time and again to come out of this social misery, but the Hindu Khas regime equally clamp down the movements. The feudal monarchy oversees a social system that is responsible for the economic backwardness, chronic national indebtedness, abject poverty and immense suffering of the people, all of which gave raise to a popular upraising by the "wretch of the earth" for the new society since Feb. 1996.

The Nepalese ruler responded with ferocious vengeance against the people. Large number of peasants in the countryside have been round up and massacred, women are raped and children killed, and political activists are arrested, killed or disappeared.
The facts revealed by the Amnesty International report April 2002 Al Index: ASA 31162002 justifies how much barbaric suppression the government is carrying out against the people. They have still disappeared lawyer Rajendra Dhakal, journalist Milan Nepali and an other hundreds of people.

Since November last year, Deuba and Gynendra have dispatched the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) to wage a war of terror against the people. Nepal is now in a state of civil war. Against the backdrop of an acute political crisis, the parliament has been dissolved and a state of emergency imposed. All kind of constitutional rights, such as freedom of expression and free press are severely curtailed. Newspapers have been raided, and shutdown, journalist have been arrested, tortured and murdered by the army. Krishna Sen, the editor of Janadesh and janadisha, for example, was recently tortured until he died. Such is the ongoing ruthless crackdown on the people, where by dozens of peasants, students, workers and intellectuals are being arrested and disappeared by the RNA.
In no sense can such a regime be considered democratic.

The "terrorist" labels have been pinned on anyone even remotely associated with the rebellion in the countryside. It is widely acknowledge that the Maoist revolutionaries enjoy popular support of the people whom they organize, mobilize and serve. As such in no sense can they be considered terrorist. Indeed, the real terrorists in Nepal are Gynendra and Deuba.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) who have been fighting to overthrow this feudal autocratic and barbaric system, has time and again put forward proposal for dialogue and negotiation with the government to end the crisis with positive solution of the present negative situation. But the government is totally ignoring this proposal and arguing that Maoist retreat from the dialogue and attacked on the army barrack. In fact, CPN Maoist has been mobilizing millions of Nepalese people and attaining support of the masses around the world because of the fact that it is addressing the real problem of the people and the country. During the time of the dialogue, Maoist put forward the political solution as the election of the constituent assembly, interim government and institutionalisation of the Republic of Nepal. But the government did not come up with any agenda, and CPN Maoist, with grave responsibility to the people, and seriously concern to avoid war and killing each other, suspended the demand of the Republic of Nepal and asked to give this right to the people to decide in the referendum. The government remained abrupt unwilling to give any right to the people and hatched another conspiracy to turn out the whole country to the blood pool. The mobilization of the army in the interior areas, trafficking of weapons, arresting people by the army began. And this was the informal army operation in the country for the first time. In fact Maoist was bound to defend the demands of the people by making a counter attack against army operation.

Instead of coming up with political solution again, the government imposed state of emergency. Imposition of the state of emergency was accompanied by the suspension of the sub-clauses (a), (b) and (d) of clause 2 of article 12, clause 1 of article 13, and article 15, 16, 17, 22 and 23 of the constitution of Nepal. These clauses include fundamental rights of the people such as press liberty, stage demonstration and organisation without arms, criticising the government, asking for habeas corpus, etc. After the imposition of state of emergency, minimum the army is killing half a dozen people every day. All the political parties and organisations, all the people and the prominent personalities are against the emergency. Opposed by the other parliamentarian parties for the extension of the emergency, the government lost confidence on democratic norms and values and suspended parliament. It has declared election for November 26, and anyone can understand what kind of election happens under the emergency and under the cordon of the army.
Millions of people support the demand and the political programme put forward by the CPN Maoist. As a whole, more than twenty million people are against the feudal autocracy and for the people's republic of Nepal.

CPN Maoist is still demanding for the peaceful solution of the problem and putting forward proposal of open discussion on the issues on the round table discussion. But the government without addressing these problems, negatively argues that this movement is terrorist.

Now anyone can understand who is terrorist! Can these 20 million people of Nepal be labelled as terrorist because they demand the end of medieval brutality? Can the people who have been demanding time and again the peaceful forward-going political solution of the problem be considered terrorist? Can the people who want changes in the society and who want to build better condition for the people, and ask to give right to the people be considered terrorist?

If the definition of terrorist and terrorism of the Nepalese ruling class attained universal validity, the great revolutions that took place in Europe Asia and America, which changed human life in the history, comes under terrorist revolution. The terrorist logic of the Nepalese government is absolutely absurd.

Ending of the emergency, finding a forward going political solution, negotiation for election of the constituent assembly are the burning question of the present time. The governments of the friendly countries should help the people, not the governments that kills the people. In no condition in the present situation while the civil war is going on in Nepal, the arms aid can help the people. Rather a pressure against the government to establish democratic norms and values, the establishment of the human rights is strongly desired from the responsible countries as a help for the Nepalese people.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)