Friday, July 2, 2004
Nepal low-castes in line of Maoist fire
Keshab Poudel (OneWorld.net) Kathmandu, July 2
Impoverished Dalits, considered untouchables in the Hindu caste hierarchy, have become prime targets of increasing Maoist violence in Nepal, with the guerrillas abducting around 700, killing four and smashing the legs of eight in the last month alone.
The attacks have shocked many because the Maoists traditionally proclaim themselves to be the champions of the Dalits, who are often ill treated in this Hindu kingdom because of the position they occupy on the social ladder.
Says a former chairman of the National Dalit Commission, Padma Singh Biswokarma, "Earlier, the Dalits used to be victims of government security forces, but now we are also being targeted by the Maoists. The violence against us is condemnable."
Conflict experts feel the Maoists are attacking Dalits to warn people that anybody who defies them will be punished.
Explains a professor of political science at the Tribhuwan University,
"The recent atrocities against Dalits are part of the Maoist strategy to scare every community into believing that anyone who goes against their diktats will be penalized."
He says the attacks also help the Maoists isolate the Dalits from the upper classes and ensure reports of the rebels' growing influence among the community do not leak out.
While the Dalits have not directly rebelled against the Maoists, around 90 per cent of them work as agricultural laborers for upper caste landlords who the Maoists oppose. Their employers are now telling the Dalits not to work for them.
A statement issued by the Maoists claims the rebels are only targeting army spies and Dalits who disobey their orders.
On June 22, the Maoists broke the legs of eight Dalits at a school in Thalsa village of Achham district, located 500 miles west of the capital Kathmandu. The poor Dalits were targeted because they worked as ploughmen for a landlord in the area.
Eyewitnesses said the guerrillas had threatened grave action against anyone who provided medical treatment to the victims.
Earlier, the Maoists abducted 700 Dalits from Dadeldhura district, located 600 miles far west of Kathmandu, to warn them against working for landlords.
They also hacked to death a Dalit named Kailash Dhobi in Bithuwa village of Kapilvastu district, 300 miles southwest of Kathmandu, on charges of spying on them. The police recovered his beheaded body.
Two weeks ago, they shot dead a Dalit tailor in Melamchi district, 50 miles northeast of Kathmandu, on charges of spying.
Security forces are also accused of brutalizing the poor Dalits.
In a bizarre incident last month, Kancha Damai of the district of Ramechhap, 100 miles east of Kathmandu, was badly bitten in custody, after being accused of working for the rebels.
The attacks came days ahead of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, on June 26, when the UN appealed to the government here to allow the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit the country and assess the situation.
A UN statement asserts, "The number of reports alleging torture and other human rights abuses by Maoists has climbed significantly."
Nepal's National Human Rights Commission has also expressed concern over the rise in atrocities against Dalits.
Emphasizes Commission member Sushil Pyakurel, "We urge all concerned parties to respect basic human rights, particularly of vulnerable and deprived populations like Dalits. The Maoists should stop targeting the backward classes."
Adds Subodh Pyakurel, president of nongovernmental organization (NGO), the Informal Sector Service Center, "Since Dalits are economically backward and culturally discriminated against, they are targeted by security forces and Maoists. These kind of atrocities must not be repeated."
He explains that, "Apart from the physical torture, Dalits are also subjected to psychological trauma."
The government has recognized people from 23 castes as Dalits and oppressed classes but activists from the community put the number at 50. People from these castes include laborers, blacksmiths, tailors, butchers, dancers and washer men. Dalits account for around 14 per cent of Nepal's population of 23 million.
The government constituted a National Dalit Commission in 2001 to protect the rights of the community but it doesn't seem to have ameliorated their situation in the least.
According to a research study done by the Dalit Commission in 2002, 23 per cent Dalits are landless and 48.7 per cent have less than half an acre of land. Their per capita income is $39.6 a year - compared to the national average of $220.
Asserts the executive director of the Center for Victims of Torture, Dr Bhogendra Sharma, "Torture by state and non-state parties is increasing by the day. No situation, no matter how extreme, can ever justify the infliction of severe pain and suffering on one individual by another."
Agrees Anita Pariyar of the Feminist Dalit Organization, who feels that,
"Because of the country's internal political conflict, torture, forced disappearances, extra judicial killings, rapes and discrimination on the basis of caste have greatly increased."
The Maoist insurgency that began in 1996 and claimed around 10,000 lives has intensified in the past year because of political instability and an understaffed armed force.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.