Nepal: Rearming of the Himalayas?

In addition to Nepal Tarai, clandestine supply and use of arms have systematically been on rise in Nepal's northern mountain and Himalayan frontier. Latest news reports (7 February, 2009) had it that an armed group mounted an assault on Syaulibang police post, located on the border of districts of Pyuthan and Rolpa. It killed policeman Suman GC. It looted all 10 weapons including five 3-knot-3 rifles from the post. High mountain district of Rolpa was known for its "red base" during ten (1996-2006) years of Nepali Maoists' "war of liberation."  In the words of Rita Manchanda, "Rolpa is the heartland of the 'People's War' launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists)."Strangers who come, we arrest. And if it's an Army-police patrol, we melt away into the fields and jungle and wait it out," Manchanda wrote quoting a 'People's Army' guerilla (Frontline, 31 August-13 September, 2002).

Girija Prasad Koirala, the then prime minister, earned accolades from Chinese leadership for his initiative in ensuring security of the Mt. Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) area from the Nepali side during (April-May, 2008) ascent of the special Olympic torch to the Everest summit. China's profound concern about this historic event was well reflected in its elaborate security preparedness for this area.  According to AFP 2 April, 2008 report, Hao Peng, deputy governor of Tibet, carried out a personal inspection of the Everest base camp in Tibet. He was joined by top officials from regional military, police and border security headquarters. Hao was reported to have said that the Everest leg of the Olympic torch was a target for the Dalai Lama following March 2008 deadly unrest in Tibet. The visiting Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi did repeat China's  appreciation of Nepal's alertness and role in controlling anti-China protests from Nepali soil during his meeting with  prime minister Prachanda in Kathmandu (3 December, 2008).

Arming of Nepal's northern Himalayan frontier has its long-drawn out history. The history is linked with the governance change in China in 1949 and the ideological Cold War, which influenced Dalai Lama to flee from Tibet in 1959 and help "legitimize" establishment of "Tibetan government-in-exile" in the newly created Republic of India. Even then more than 40 years ago, Ajit Bhattacharjea, borrowing extensively from an article written by George Patterson in weekly the Reporter had this separatist story to tell: Khampas and other Tibetan troops are being quietly recruited and trained in modern arms in north-east India…Today almost the entire Khampa force in Tibet is still intact except for about 4,000 who either died or were imprisoned in 1959. It totals perhaps as many as 150,000 or 200,000 able-bodied fighting men. The majority have guns…The shortest line of supply for the greatest number of Khampas is from Assam through NEFA… through Wa-long... But it is from Nepal that the most serious threat to China could be launched. For in northern Nepal, where great numbers of Tibetan refugees have settled, there are some 5,000 Khampas.

After meeting with these Khampas through Nepal route in March, 1964, in company with two British television co-workers, Patterson gave these details of the planned raid: “Twenty-three men were selected to take part in this raid, including the three of us, and we all would have to leave the valley without arousing suspicion…The arrangements were the responsibility of the underground organization in Tibet — the Mimang Tsongdu — which would also post guards at all exits of the valley, prepare food and supply guides.”

Now about the raid: A convoy of four green, three-ton military vehicles, each flying a red flag on its nearside mud-guard, appeared on the road. Tendar’s (the Khampa leader) shot rang out the signal for the others to fire. The driver slumped at the wheel. In the rising fusillade the second and third trucks were also stopped in their tracks and the drivers killed. The fourth driver and the other Chinese soldiers leaped out and took cover under the trucks. “The Khampas were merciless. With rifles, hand-grenades and machine-guns they kept up a withering fire until all the Chinese except one, who made a desperate run for the boulders beneath our ridge, were dead” (Hindustan Times, 18 March, 1965).

The history of externalized insecurity in the Himalayas has further been instigated now by the agents of the New Cold War. These agents use Nepali soil for anti-Chinese activities in complete violation of Nepal's policy and laws; thus undercutting in effect Nepal's sovereign standing from within. The Himalayas extending to Afghanistan in the west, Sikkim and Assam in the east with the south-north Trans-Himalayan passages in between render them more vulnerable to the New Cold War agents.  The impetus of new US administration in Afghanistan against anti-US forces and Chinese concerns to have safeguards in Afghanistan against "the “East Turkistan separatist force" (The Rising Nepal, 20 January, 2009) together add unprecedented angle to the Himalayan continuum.

China, which used to typically describe Sino-Nepali relations in terms of "the traditional friendship," appears to have recognized the added angle in the continuum. In a meeting with Nepal's visiting foreign secretary Gyan Chandra Acharya in Beijing Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi gave expression to this recognition when he said, China always viewed  "dealing with and developing ties with Nepal from a strategic and long-term perspective" (Xinhua, 18 February, 2009).

About the same time around the US secretary of state Hilary Clinton was in China that was also the start of her inaugural year and the 30th anniversary of Sino-U.S. diplomatic relations. She described her engagement with China as "the beginning of a new era" of cooperation in the Sino-US relations.  Chinese leadership and the new US secretary of state seem to have clicked well with each other leading to forge an initial common understanding between them on "the complicated and ever-shifting international political and economic situation" (read US war in Afghanistan and global economic recession). So much so that in the new era of bilateral cooperation they are not only prepared to "cross the river in a common boat," but also to "progress together hand in hand" (China View reports, 21 February, 2009). The post-Bush Sino-US relations appear to be inspired by proverbial strategies contained in "The Art of War." This book is China’s oldest treatise extant on the principles of warfare. Sun Tzi, a Chinese military strategist, wrote this book more than 2500 years ago. Given the pragmatism flourishing between the two countries, one can be hopeful that the Sino-US joint strategy of cooperation will have positive impact on enabling peace in the Himalayas.  

Posted on : 2009-03-01 09:48:44

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