Terai rebels meet in Bihar to plan strategy: report

Kathmandu : An armed group of former Nepal Maoists, who are waging a battle in the Terai plains for statehood, are meeting in India's neighbouring state of Bihar to plan their future strategy, a report said. The Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, led by former top Maoist leader from the plains, Jay Krishna Goit, has started a meeting of its central committee in an undisclosed venue in Bihar from Friday, a Nepali daily said Sunday.

The Goit faction, that broke away from the Maoists, accusing the communist rebels of having exploited the Terai belt to come to power, has begun intensifying its movement in the plains for a separate state for Madhesis, people from the plains, mostly of Indian origin. Since its revolt against the Maoists, the Morcha has been split into three splinters. Besides Goit, the other two groups are headed by his former aides, Jwala Singh and Bisphot Singh, both of whom are waging separate battles in the Terai, demanding a separate Madhes state.

The Naya Patrika daily said the government has sent a letter to Goit Saturday, asking him to open parleys. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's deputy, Peace and Reconstruction Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, who is heading the three-member ministerial team entrusted with negotiating with the different dissenting factions, sent the official letter to the chief administrative officer of a frontier district to convey the message to Goit, the daily said.

Following in the footsteps of his former comrades, the Maoists, who during their decade-old armed revolt had demanded UN mediation to open talks with the government, the Goit group last week made a similar demand. Goit reportedly sent a letter to the UN Mission in Nepal, that is facilitating Nepal's peace process and monitoring the arms and combatants of the Maoists, asking for help to start talks with the government.

However, with the government having had publicly ruled out UN mediation for talks with the Goit group, the UN agency told the Goit group that it would not be able to act without the government's consent, the daily said. But in his letter Saturday, the minister has agreed for UN mediation, the report said. The daily, considered close to the Maoists, also said the Goit faction would wind up its meeting Sunday, after which they are likely to send their answer to the government.

Most of the armed groups in the Terai, including the three different Morcha factions, take advantage of the open border between India and Nepal and frequently cross over to India for safety and secrecy, just as the Maoists did in the past. There is growing suspicion in Nepal that Indian authorities are in touch with the Terai rebels and are helping the Madhes movement. During the Maoist insurgency, India had faced the same accusations but always denied them, saying it regarded the rebels as terrorists. However, after King Gyanendra seized power in 2005, various Indian agencies, including leaders of its political parties, were involved in bringing the Maoists and the opposition parties together, with meetings between the top brass of both held in India.

Source: IANS, July 29, 2007