On 20 August, a leader of the People´s War that has been sweeping through Nepal, Chandra Prakash Gajurel, known as Comrade Gaurav, was arrested by the Indian authorities as he attempted to travel to Europe to support the battle against imperialist intervention in his country. The reactionary monarchy ruling Nepal is now preparing a demand for his extradition from India, which has repeatedly sent Nepalese revolutionaries back to the government´s dungeons. For now the Indian government has only charged Comrade Gaurav with possession of illegal papers, but in countries like India this charge is normally dealt with as a minor matter and processed quickly. The fact that they are still holding Comrade Gaurav weeks later, with moves for extradition in the works, shows that what they are up to has nothing to do with “justice” and everything to do with political suppression. For much of the duration of the People´s War, the Royal Nepal army has engaged in a US-counterinsurgency-style “dirty war”, including by “disappearing” hundreds of revolutionaries.
To try to justify this crime, the Indian authorities are loudly repeating US government slanders of the People´s War and its leaders as “terrorist”. But the world´s press, even establishment media like the BBC, France´s Le Monde, the New York Times and India Today, have had no choice but to acknowledge that millions of Nepalese have rallied to the side of the popular insurgency in Nepal. At the core of this is the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), of which Comrade Gaurav is a leader. In no way can this struggle for liberation be called “terrorist”.
After seven years of revolutionary struggle, the Nepalese people, among the poorest of the world´s poor, now hold power in large parts of the countryside. They are seizing the land, building schools, organizing people´s clinics and beginning to chart their own destiny. One crucial factor in this transformation has been the emergence of a core of leaders who are determined to see the fight through to complete liberation – and one of these precious leaders is Comrade Gaurav.
The Nepalese armed forces have met the popular upsurge with vicious bloody repression. Amnesty International and many other human rights organizations have documented the campaign of torture, “disappearances” and the many people “killed while trying to escape” conducted by the US and Indian-backed Royal Nepal Army. A key part of any such campaign of suppression has always been targeting the leaders of the people´s struggle. The World People´s Resistance Movement calls on progressive people around the world to struggle to defeat the plans to extradite Comrade Gaurav to Nepal, and to demand his freedom. Act now, as tomorrow could be too late!
