The PLA: Magic Weapon of the Nepali People

A report by Members of WPRM Britain and Ireland

On our trip to Nepal, one of our main priorities was to gain access to one of the seven cantonments in which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been stationed since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in late 2006. The PLA had fought many battles during the People’s War (PW) and had gained many glorious victories, providing the backbone for the revolution and the main crucial link with the masses. But now it is in the cantonments and its arms are monitored by the United Nations (UN), even as the key to those arms remains with the respective PLA commanders. Since the CPA, many revolutionaries around the world have become worried that the Maoists have ‘given up’ the armed struggle, because as Mao said “without a people’s army, the people have nothing.” We were therefore intent on finding out how the PLA maintained its revolutionary nature within the cantonments, kept its links with the masses and whether it still provided a source of struggle for the future revolution, if that time came about. Gaining access is not usually straightforward, but we were hoping to visit the 7th Division of the PLA in Kailali district in the far west of Nepal. However, we were fortunate to meet the acting commander, Comrade Jeevan, while he was in a meeting in the district headquarters of Danghadi. Comrade Jeevan, whose name means ‘life’, instantly commanded our respect and over a cup of tea he made all the necessary arrangements to facilitate our access the very next day. For the rest of the post please follow the link: The PLA: Magic weapon of the Nepali People.

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