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Posted
on 15-May-02 02:35 AM
Story of nepali guerrila(From msnbc.com)
For three years, Rek Bahdadur Gharti says he trudged through Nepal's dense forests as a Maoist guerrilla, living a strange life of austerity and violence.
He said he was forbidden alcohol, radio and card games, but allowed to have forced sex with the group's female fighters, if he had desired it.
Gharti, a freckled 19-year-old, said he survived on pocket money of 150 rupees a month, about $2, given by his platoon commander and thought about the young girl he had married and left behind as he trained to be a fighter.
Gharti's is the story of several thousand young people who have joined the Maoists since 1996, drawn by the desire for liberation from crushing poverty, passionate about the promised revolution, or driven by sheer terror.
''I think more than 50 percent of people are forcefully taken by the Maoists,'' the captured rebel told The Associated Press during a military-guided tour to the western battle zone last weekend.
Gharti said a local rebel commander forced him to join in 1999, after he had quit school, done odd jobs in neighboring India, and returned home to his village in the western Rolpa district, where the Maoist rebellion was born in 1996.
He was given physical training — how to crawl, jump, and sneak undetected through the brush. He fired at police and soldiers with a World War-II era rifle seized from a police station.
''I have not killed anyone myself,'' he claimed, speaking in the Nepali language. ''But I watched the others kill a lot of people.''
There was the rush of adrenaline before a difficult attack — but few other joys. The Maoist leaders have banned the fighters — and villagers under their control — from listening to the radio, playing cards, or drinking alcohol.
The life of constant training and shifting from place to place was much worse for the women in the ranks, he said.
''I had heard that the girls are forced to have sex. I wasn't involved, but the girls complained to me, saying they had been exploited,'' Gharti said. ''I am married and I did not do that.''
The army says the rebels rape women in their ranks; torture, rape and mutilate their victims; and use civilians as human shields in battles.
The rebels deny the allegations and, in turn, accuse the army of large-scale human rights violations and summary executions.
Gharti claimed he had attempted to escape. One night, when there was little else to eat, he was asked to go and make popcorn for his group's dinner. He said he fled and was recaptured within days.
On Nov. 24, Gharti and his comrades were summoned by the commander of their platoon, Tirth Bahadur Pun. Pun spread out a detailed map, showing buildings, roads, and military positions.
''He gave us instructions. We started to walk in the night,'' Gharti said. ''We walked for two days. It was plain land and we did not know where we were walking.''
On the night of Nov. 26, Gharti said he and 100 other fighters, including several girls, fired for two hours at army garrisons, attacking for the first time in Dang district, 250 miles west of the capital, Katmandu.
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