Nepal grinds to a halt as Maoists' strike takes effect

AFP , KATHMANDU
Wednesday, Apr 07, 2004,Page 5

Nepal shuddered to a halt yesterday as a three-day strike called by Maoist rebels as part of their campaign to overthrow the monarchy took effect, officials and witnesses said.

The strike comes amid massive daily protests by opposition groups near the royal palace in Kathmandu to pressure King Gyanendra to reverse his 2002 dismissal of the elected government.

Streets in the capital were near-deserted yesterday while schools, businesses, factories and stores remained closed.

Government offices were open but with no buses or private transport running, bureaucrats were forced to walk to work.

Officials and residents contacted in the major cities of Pokhara, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur reported similar scenes.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/04/07/2003124537

Nepal under the same sham excuses that took them into Tibet, The resulting Chinese government sponsored GENOCIDE of the Tibetan people has resulted in the murder of over 1.2 MILLION Tibetans through execution, destruction of habitat in Himalayan winter, starvation and forced labor death camps..Prisoners are being retired in prison and given death sentences, torcher and neglect of health care is common place. see www.freetibet.org China has now immigrated more Chinese into Tibet than there are Tibetans

The creeping invasion will continue till someone does something radical about it. presently there are about 2000 insurgents using Terrorist methods to overthrow the government. We can do something about it if we do it now.

I'd imagine that the Chinese Government would be a little more efficient...

from Nepal...I guess this will delay things.

if the CIA hadn't helped Gyanendra assassinate his brother the previous king.

The Chinese have disavowed any involvement with the "Maoist" insurgents.

I've been to Nepal several times in the last six years, I know quite a few Nepalese and Tibetans both there and here in the US, and I've never heard the idea that the Chinese are behind this expressed seriously by anyone.

I remember seeing a headline last year or so that was just brimming with historical irony: "China aids Nepal in battle against Maoist rebels". IIRC, They provided military aid, such as rifles and possibly some helicopters, to the Nepalese government. I think they also sent Chinese military advisors to help put down the 'rebels' (irony meter off the scale here...).

If anyone at all is aiding the Maoists in Nepal, it would probably be the sympathetic groups in Northern India. That border is (now) highly watched however, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Nepalese Maoists were doing this without outside assistance.

carrying practically antique weapons - they can't be getting much from anyone. Their main source of funds seems to be shaking people down. We were there just after Dashain in 2002, when everything shuts down for two weeks. Traditionally people go back to their villages for the holiday. The shopkeepers were telling us that many had stayed in Kathmandu because the Maoists were extorting money from the returning villagers.

Tibetan friends of ours lost their rug factory because of the Maoists, then lost their shop - the Maoists wanted monthly payments, on threat of death. They're in the states right now - trying to figure out how to stay.

The situation in Nepal is really depressing -

sam sarra, I am afraid you are correct. I fear that Bhutan will be next, been there twice and have friends.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-04/07/content_1406050.htm

,...never, ever ceases to amaze me.

Someday, the tyrants will be "pacified" by the fact that,...they are outnumbered at least a thousand to one.

That day may be too close for the tyrants' comfort, huh. They will rebel and fail,...against the overwhelming spirit of humanity.