WPB statement on the Extradition of two top Maoist leaders to Nepal

On the 8th of February, Indian police services arrested two top leaders of the Nepal's Maoist guerrilla movement. Almost immediately upon their arrest, they were extradited by the Indian authorities to the Nepalese government. Their life is in great danger. The Belgian government and the EU should protest the extradition of Mr. Yadav and Prof. Magar before the Indian government, and demand from the Nepalese government their immediate release.

Press statement by the Worker's Party of Belgium (Parti du Travail de Belgique - Partij van de Arbeid van België)

Brussels, 11 February 2004

Condemn the extradition of two Maoist leaders to Nepal  

The European Union and the Belgian government must protest their extradition before the Indian government and demand their immediate release from the Nepalese government

On the 8th of February, Indian police services arrested two top leaders of the Nepal's Maoist guerrilla movement. It concerns Matrika Prasad Yadav, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the CPN(M), a top negotiator in the now suspended peace talks between the Maoists and the government. The second captive is Suresh Ale Magar, a former university professor and alternate member of the Central Committee of the CPN(M). Both were on their way to a mass meeting planned in New Delhi on the 15th of February, on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the start of the people's war in Nepal.

Matrika Prasad Yadav is a leader of the people's movement, very popular among the many oppressed national minorities of Nepal. Himself a member of a national minority, Mr. Yadav was recently appointed as the head of the 'Autonomous People's Government of the Madhishe', one of the autonomous governments that have been established in the past weeks in areas under control of the Maoists and with a majority of previously oppressed national minorities.

Almost immediately upon their arrest, M.P. Yadav and S.A. Magar were extradited by the Indian authorities to the Nepalese government, which took them away to an unknown destination. Their life is in great danger. The dictatorial regime of King Gyanendra, who dismissed the Parliament in October 2002, has a cruel reputation of assassinating captured Maoists - real or alleged ones. We refer to the massacre in the Ramechhap District in August last year, where 19 unarmed Maoist militants and cadres were killed in cold blood. For the Maoists, this incident was the reason to annul the cease-fire that they had agreed with the government since January 2003. Only last week, the EU ambassadors in Nepal insisted on an independent enquiry into this incident.

The Workers' Party of Belgium is appalled by the kidnapping and prompt extradition of the CPN(M) leaders Yadav and Magar to the militarist regime in Nepal. By doing so, India, the so-called biggest democracy in the world, has violated all the rules of international law. In India, not a single judicial persecution is ongoing against Mr. Yadav and Prof. Magar. Their arrest is illegal. Moreover, as known representatives of the resistance movement that is involved in a civil war in their country, they should enjoy the protection of the Geneva Conventions. These protect people who are subject to political persecution, torture and death in their own country, against extradition to the authorities of that country.

The WPB reminds the Belgian government and the European Union of the fact that both the European Parliament and the EU ambassadors have recently pleaded for the resumption of the peace talks between the Royal Government of Nepal and the Maoist rebels. To clear the path for this, the Belgian government and the EU should protest the extradition of Mr. Yadav and Prof. Magar before the Indian government, and demand from the Nepalese government their immediate release.

Most domestic and foreign observers of Nepal today agree that the Maoists control practically the entire countryside, while the government and its armed forces only execute power in the major cities. Today in Nepal, there are two parallel states and armies. Never would the Maoists have been able to achieve this strategic stalemate in eight years' time, were it not for the support of a large part of the population. They can count in particular on the poor peasants, the dalits or untouchables (25% of the population), the many oppressed national minorities and the students. A peaceful solution to the escalating conflict is only possible by accepting the three, very reasonable political proposals of the CPN(M): a Round Table Conference of all parties, the election of a Constituent Assembly (which may chose either for the establishment of a Republic of for the extension of the monarchy) and the formation of an interim government.

On behalf of the Central Comitee of the WPB,
Boudewijn Deckers and Dr. Kris Merckx