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 7^th 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.

Rising early in the morning we set off on the two hour drive to the main cantonment, each one also having three smaller satellite sites. Driving out of the city our translator pointed out to us a number of small makeshift huts on public land. These were the homes of former bonded labourers who had been ‘freed’ in 2000 by the Nepali Congress government but without any provision for their livelihood. The Kamaiya system of bonded labour was a structural example of the discrimination built into the class, caste and ethnic system of Nepal, particularly evident in the far-western districts, where the Tharu and Dalit communities was greatly affected. As is typical of the Nepali Congress approach to exploitation in society, the form of the oppression was belatedly abolished, but the essence which is built into the socio-economic conditions of the country was completely ignored, leaving the ‘freed’ bonded labourers at the mercy of continued caste and class discrimination. Later on our journey we passed through land in the countryside which had been seized from local landlords and redistributed to landless peasants during the PW. The issue of land in the Nepali revolution remains crucial. According to the CPA, the Maoists were supposed to hand back all land that had been seized but the exact nature of this question is not clear at the moment. We could see however that the Maoists had clearly not handed back all the land because here was a community that was obviously still benefiting from the Maoist revolutionary land reform.

Turning off the main highway, we went beneath an impressive red gate with the five portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao on one side, and one of Comrade Prachanda on the other. Rather than restricting access however, this gate was inscribed with the English word ‘welcome’ and it was apparent that we were in Maoist dominated territory. Indeed, the hammer and sickle logo was painted onto the sides of many buildings. Our drive continued for another hour passing through many small villages slowly approaching the mountain range in which the cantonment was very intelligently strategically placed. The cantonment was situated in an area from which the PLA had operated during the PW. The forests beneath the camp operated as a natural border and the high ridges at the top offered perfect surveillance of the plains area below, stretching to the city of Danghadi and even as far as the Indian border.

We passed through the checkpoint at the perimeter of the cantonment, with a young female PLA soldier waving us through. We made our way to the centre of the cantonment and getting out of our car we were soon welcomed to the camp with tika and garlands of flowers, the traditional Maoist welcome to guests. Here was our first chance to meet soldiers and various leaders of the PLA, sitting under a straw roof in the hot sun, sipping cups of Nepali tea. It was straight away apparent how friendly and eager to communicate everyone was, with many people dropping by to contribute their opinions. One of the first people we met was Comrade Sangharsha, meaning ‘struggle’, who provided us with many facts about the logistics of the cantonment. The perimeter of the main cantonment is 6kms in circumference and is home to 4000 soldiers, though only 3500 had been registered by the UN. This consists of four brigades, each made up of three battalions. At any given time 12% of the soldiers are on leave, with each soldier getting 24 days off a year. However, because their homes are often far away and transportation in Nepal often takes many days, few of the soldiers spend their whole quota of leave outside the cantonment. Comrade Sangharsha told us that the soldiers in the cantonment have three main responsibilities: military training, which occurs daily, road repair and building construction. It certainly seemed as though the cantonment was in a constant state of development, with new buildings going up. Far from being temporary, these buildings were clearly built to last, as were the camps themselves. For recreation, PLA soldiers spend much of the afternoons playing volleyball and badminton, a variety of martial arts including wushu and judo, and playing chess, at which, certain soldiers are famed in the local area.

Amongst the group of people we were talking with, we were surprised to find that one young 22 year old man was not actually a PLA soldier but a teacher. He explained to us that the PLA is now organising lessons for the soldiers in English, health care and information technology. This man was in the cantonment to train the soldiers in computer skills. There is a computer lab with ten computers and courses are run in beginners and intermediate levels. While not formerly a Maoist supporter, he had accepted the job even though people outside had warned him of the dangers of the PLA. He explained to us however, that “while some people outside have a bad opinion of the Maoists, in here I could straight away see the reality is very different.” Eating and sleeping with the soldiers themselves, to our eyes he was as much of a comrade as the rest. Comrade Sangharsha then told us of the financial situation in the cantonment. According to the CPA, soldiers in the PLA and Nepali Army (NA) should receive equal treatment and equal wages. However, the situation inside the cantonments has been far from equal, especially in its early stages. Now the PLA soldiers receive a monthly wage of 5000 rupees [about GBP (£) 40], while the NA soldiers receive almost double, 9000 rupees. The soldiers were not so concerned about their monthly wage however, as this amount was more than sufficient for a revolutionary soldier and easily enough to live on. For us though this was still a clear example of the failure of the government in this transitional period of bourgeois democracy to ensure fair treatment and equality for their own nationals.

We talked to many comrades about their experiences during the war and the battles in which they fought, and soon the conversation turned to the future possibility of foreign intervention in Nepal, specifically at the hands of Indian expansionism and its backer US imperialism. Comrades explained to us that they understood this possibility was very real. They were firm in their conviction that the PLA would be able to carry out defensive guerrilla warfare against foreign aggression, although the sheer size of India and its army with its complete control of airspace poses a huge threat to the national sovereignty of Nepal. They also explained however that the PW has laid the basis for the armed struggle of the masses and in the future the arming of the masses will be crucial in this eventuality.

Later we discussed military aspects of the Cultural Revolution in China, where at one stage the entire ranking system was abolished. While this remains a possibility for the Nepali PLA in the future society, the importance of the ranking system in the PW and the current situation was emphasised, even as it is also taken with great flexibility. What was immediately evident to us however was that the relationship between all levels of the PLA from the commander down is not the same as in most national armies around the world. Here the leaders and the soldiers mix comfortably, often sitting with their arms around each other as is the culture of Nepali men in wider society. When leaders walked past groups of soldier sitting on the ground in discussion, the atmosphere remained relaxed and the soldiers did not have to stand to attention and salute. On the contrary, they would greet each other with informality but with evident respect, not based on rank but on their mutual experience in fighting the PW.

After our discussion we ate lunch in the canteen, a simple meal of rice and lentils with some vegetables. In the afternoon we interviewed Comrade Jeevan. His office was smart but minimal and the walls were again decorated with the portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Prachanda on one side, with portraits of martyrs of the PW on the wall behind his desk. Jeevan was wearing simple military fatigues and answered our questions clearly and with precision. In Nepal, many people shake their head from side to side in a rising and falling movement in affirmation to a question or point, and Comrade Jeevan did this to extraordinary effect, producing a genuine feeling of warmth and respect. In general he explained to us how after the CPA only the main section of the PLA entered the cantonments while many others entered other organisations, how the PLA maintains its links with the masses, now especially important as it is in the cantonments, and how the PLA will work to continually revolutionise itself and guard against becoming a reactionary army as happened in the USSR and China after the restoration of capitalism. Our translator, a young man studying in university in Danghadi with no previous political affiliation, and the similarly non-aligned driver of our car, were both highly impressed with Jeevan too, describing to us on the way home their happiness at the chance of having heard him talk. 

From Comrade Jeevan’s office we were taken on a tour of the cantonment, walking up the steep slopes to the height of the mountain ridge where the UN helipad was located. The view was spectacular, reaching to Danghadi and to the Indian border, with the plains of the Terai stretching from east to west. We could also see the UN compound situated near the centre of the cantonment. The soldiers told us that the UN observers fly in from Kathmandu by helicopter, bringing with them all the food and drink they need for their week long missions. Nearly all of the time they remain within their small compound, as the soldiers laughingly explained, watching television in their air conditioned chalets. There is minimal contact between the PLA and the UN team, though the soldiers also said that the UN role is important, acting as a kind of buffer against further foreign intervention. For us, in this situation where the possibility of direct foreign intervention by Indian expansionism and US imperialism remains high, it seems the Maoists have been able to utilise contradictions between imperialist powers to minimise the chances of this eventuality.

One important way that the PLA maintains its links with the masses was apparent to us through our observation of the cantonment. With its training and its experience of health care in the PW and after the CPA, the PLA runs a health post to deal with the common ailments of the soldiers, many of whom suffer from various diseases because of the poor sanitation in the cantonments. However, this service is also being utilised by people all over the local area where basic health care provision is generally still rare and expensive for the masses. The PLA provide a free health service and people come from near and far when they need help. This was one way which allowed the PLA to remain as a ‘fish in water’, keeping in touch with the masses even while they are generally kept forcibly apart because of the terms of the CPA.

In Kailali district, which is part of the Terai, the caste and ethnic systems as well as gender oppression form important expressions of the inequality in society. One soldier however was quick to point out to us that the cantonment is an “example of the new society.” During the PW the PLA was the main instrument with which the Maoists broke down traditional boundaries, accepting members from all groups of society and oppressed groups, such as women, Dalits and ethnicities in particular, and training many of them as leaders of the revolution. In the cantonments the PLA has worked hard to continue this role. We were told that marriages within the cantonment have been occurring with caste and ethnicity playing no role in the decision at all. Soldiers and leaders are respected according to their revolutionary spirit and their skill and not their caste, ethnicity or gender. To us the PLA indeed looked like a microcosm of Nepali society, with the physical appearance of the soldiers very different, obviously consisting of many different castes and ethnicities and with a large number of women.

One thing that the various soldiers and leaders stressed to us was that this period is a ‘transitional period’. While the PW has officially been declared finished, the spirit of these soldiers is certainly not one of resignation to life in a cantonment or outside of military affairs. It is also not one of resignation to the impossibility of revolution. They stressed the importance of the party utilising all measures to succeed in the New Democratic Revolution, both military and peaceful ones. They also poured scorn on the process of army integration, a process guided by the official principle of “democratisation of the NA and professionalisation of the PLA.” In fact, as was regularly pointed out to us, the PLA is already a professional army and proved to be more than a match for the formerly Royal Nepalese Army during the PW.

As the sun began setting we left the cantonment to return to Danghadi, passing through the gate on the perimeter with the words in English “thank you for your visit.” Our visit had indeed shown to us some crucial aspects of the role of the PLA in the Nepali revolution, not least its continued links with the masses and the preparedness for the time when it is once again needed to push forward the struggle of the Nepali people. One sentence Comrade Sangharsha said to us seemed to sum this all up, that “for the PLA now is a time of waiting, but we’re sure that we’ll be needed in the future.”