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‘Ex-Maoist fighters’ join another party
NEPALGUNJ, APR 29 -
Over 200 cadres and ex-combatants of the UCPN (Maoist) in various parts of the country have allegedly joined the Sanghiya Rastriya Loktantrik Manch.
At a press meet here on Thursday, 208 deserters from Kailali, Dang, Rupandehi, Banke, Bardia, Surkhet, Rolpa, Udaypur, Jhapa and Kathmandu announced their entry into the Manch, a party chaired by Maoist dissident leader Laxman Tharu.
Among the mutineers are 44 former combatants of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“We shed our blood and sweat, left our homes and families for liberation but the party betrayed us,” said Ram Krishna Chaudhary, former PLA brigade Commander of a Kailali-based camp. “The party’s only goal is to grab power. Therefore, we rebelled.”
Former PLA company commander Santa Kumar Tharu said he could not stand being a “stirrup” for Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s ascent into the political saddle. Tharu welcomed the new party members into his party by smearing red vermillion powder on their foreheads.
Tharu also said that the actual number of PLA combatants inside the camps across the country was not more than 6,500. “The Maoist party claims there are 19,000 combatants as it wants to siphon off the fund provided by the government,” Tharu claimed.
He said that the Maoists are “committing fraud” since the UNMIN has refused to give the dossier on the PLA fighters to the government.
However, the UCPN (Maoist) denied all claims of the rebellion. The government and the Maoists’ political adversaries have cooked the defection story to cast a shadow over the May 1 protest, said Haribhakta Kandel, a UCPN (Maoist) politburo member. “Those who left the UCPN (Maoist) in the past were all supporters of Tharu and were used for publicity.”
Posted on: 2010-04-30 07:54
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