Kathmandu:

The Politics of People’s War and Human Rights In Nepal by Dr Bishnu Pathak, anatomises the ideology, causes, military strategy and tactics behind the 10-year People’s War waged by the Maoists and its impact on the people it was supposed to liberate. The book illustrates how the people’s rights to life, liberty, security and dignity have been infringed due to the war. The author has given birth to the book from his Ph D thesis. He has adopted the Marxist approach for the study.

The first chapter explains the basic understanding of Marxist theory of conflict, people’s war and human rights. The next chapter explains ideological perspectives on human rights. The Marxist perspective talks about economic and social freedom and ‘equality, dignity and justice for all for ever’ but not about the present day civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights. The writer details the evolution and development of human rights from Magna Carta of 1215 to Second World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 and international instruments on human rights. Nepal has so far ratified 16 such instruments but the implementation is pathetic. The writer also talks about the Hindu-Buddhist philosophy that is based on the principle of social justice. Human rights situation in Nepal in different periods and the evolution of constitutionalism are also discussed.

Chapter three analyses the Maoists’ 40-point demand before launching the war. Except a few demands, the writer says all demands were genuine and could have 0been met. However, how honest were Maoists while putting forward the demands can be debated as they began the war four days before the deadline they themselves had set to meet the demands. Nobody can disagree that poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment, socio-economic disparity and injustice are the factors that gave birth to the People’s War. The fourth chapter says the hungry bellies provide fertile ground for People’s

War and the fact cannot be denied by anyone. The writer does not talk about Maoists’ ambitions, as there are many people who, based on Maoist activities, do not believe them as liberators.

In the fifth chapter, one can find in detail the causes of People’s War — purpose, motivating factors and actors, strategy, tactics, leadership, recruitment and organisation. The chapter helps understand the three-stage strategy of the war — strategic defensive, strategic stalemate and strategic offensive; propaganda, urban armed struggle and protracted rural warfare, encircling of the cities from the countryside, hit-and-run tactics and many others. Once reading this chapter, one can understand what Maoists are doing at the present and the purpose behind it.

While talking about civil and political rights, the writer presents the alarming trend of extra-judicial killings, involuntary disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests and the like. However, the data represent only the situation before 2001. The successive chapter discusses pathetic situation of social, economic and cultural rights. The writer comes down heavily on the state for rights violation and he seems to have adopted a soft stance while detailing the Maoist atrocities. The final two chapters analyse the first and second peace talks, which the Maoists used as part of their strategy to strengthen their military power, propaganda war and political campaign.

While concluding the book the author recommends a negotiated settlement to the conflict through an election for a constituent assembly.

Related annexes at the end of each chapter and the human rights situation after 2001 to 2004 in epilogue I, and the 100 days after the February 1, 2001, in epilogue II have added to the beauty of the book. Throughout the book the writer heavily criticises the political parties and leaders, which they deserve. He finds Nepali Congress the most responsible for giving birth to the Maoist war. He seems extra-sympathetic towards Maoists even though he does not forget to mention that violence begets violence. The writer does not talk about the psychological impact of the conflict on people.

At some places you feel like reading a Maoist document rather than a book that was born out of a Ph D thesis. Most of the data used are secondary which were either published in newspapers or on web sites. Cases included do not represent the whole scenario of rights violation and the author alone knows whether he did not find or dropped some of the most gruesome cases of Maoist atrocities. Nowhere in the book does the author talk about the human shields used by the Maoists when they attack security posts.

Despite some weaknesses (every book does have them), the book can be very useful to understand the politics behind the Maoist’s People’s War and its impact on overall human rights situation. The book is worth reading but I doubt how many people can afford it (Rs 1,095).

Book: The Politics of People’s War and Human Rights In Nepal

Author: Dr Bishnu Pathak

Publisher: Bimipa Publications, Kathmandu

Edition: First, 2005

Pages: 472

Price: Rs 1,095 ($30 including postal charge)