Prachanda, Madhav, Devendra

100,000 Maoist Militia Must Disarm

Will the Maoists of Nepal ever disarm? Financial Express, India After 10 years of a bloody war and with 10,000 cadres killed, why would Maoists settle for a number three slot in Parliament, as opinion polls suggest? Aside from the regular 30,000 odd fighting force of the Maoist army, there are about the 100,000-strong militia which the Maoists have built up in the countryside, an “invisible” force that consists mainly of 14-18 year olds who help enforce the writ of the Maoists.Most of them carry some sort of weapons, ranging from crude knives country pistols, but they do not wear uniforms and do not necessarily take part in military activities. They assist the guerilla only when required and are mostly responsible for guarding villages under Maoist control. They are in effect the future recruits. The presence of this militia has created a pervasive fear in rural areas, and many experts see a parallel between current-day Nepal and Cambodia during the post-1979 period.

It is not possible to imagine free and fair elections to a constituent assembly if there are any armed Maoists anywhere outside their seven cantonments. I don't care if you call them soldiers or militia. To me they are both the same. Both are armed.

The Maoists say they have 36,000 soldiers. And they have 100,000 militia. If they have issues with disarming their so-called militia, they are going to have to agree to putting also those 100,000 into cantonments, away from the villages. And why would they want to do that? They will not have any cadres left to do the political work in the villages.

On this point there can be no compromise. If you will have 100,000 Maoist militia roaming the villages, there is no way you can have free and fair elections. Out of question.

The cloud of fear has to evaporate off completely.

The Maoists destroyed the state police infrastructure in the countryside. The state police has had the same problems as the state army and the rest of the state apparatus. The DaMaJaMa have been sidelined.

It would be perfectly legitimate for the Maoists to demand that the state police be restructured. And why only the Maoists? The seven party alliance should itself take the initiative.

It is for that state police to maintain law and order all over the country. It is for that state police to ensure free and fair elections, not for the armed Maoist militia.

The seven party alliance has to be absolutely uncompromising on this issue. You can not possibly hold elections between a state and seven political parties. The state will dwarf the parties hands down. It is better to have no elections than to have sham elections.

We are close to having an interim government in the country. The idea of an interim government is that there is no more a parallel Maoist state anywhere in the country.

There can not be a separate Maoist police/militia for law and order. There can not be separate Maoist courts.

As a Madhesi I am hypercritical of the state structure as it has existed. That means I am dissatisfied with the structure of the police, the army, the courts. That means you come together and agree to restructure all three. That does not mean you allow one political party to run parallel police, army and courts. That is a state, that is not a political party that does that.

The Maoists can not be a parallel state and still hope to join the interim government. If they try, you have to get suspicious.

The UN formula on the 36,000 Maoist soldiers is satisfactory. You confine 36,000 Maoist soldiers to seven cantonments across the country. Half of them give up their weapons to be locked away, keys to be shared by the Maoist commanders and the UN.

That is giving thought to the idea that the Maoists have an army. Similarly thought also has to be given to the fact that the Maoists also have a police and courts. They are going to have to let go. The state will have to step in. And that state will be an eight party interim state, a transitional state.

The idea of eight party governments at the center, and at local levels should take care of a lot of confusion.

Power flows through the ballot box, not the barrel of a gun.

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