- http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/02/02/58035.html "..The new king thought his brother was mistaken in handing over power to the government...." ".....Prachanda, or "the fierce one", denounced Gyanendra as a "national betrayer" and urged citizens to "shut down Nepal" from Wednesday to Friday. Witnesses in Kathmandu said life was going on as normal with shops, schools and businesses open and streets jammed with traffic....." - http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050202/asp/nation/story_4326997.asp "..Many Nepalis say the portly, severe man, usually dressed in narrow daura-suruwal trousers and a knee-length shirt, is the reason their country is in crisis...Gyanendra?s popularity has steadily fallen in the last three years and his performance had some Nepalis talking about what would once have been blasphemy: turning the world?s only Hindu kingdom into a republic...........He is said to be scornful of most politicians, who have been locked in interminable squabbles since democracy was introduced in 1991. ?Gyanendra is not very enthusiastic about democracy. His brother, the former king, promoted democracy,? said Kalim Bahadur, a South Asian political analyst in Delhi........" - http://www.satribune.com/archives/feb05/P1_arun.htm "..Nepalese Maoists and insurgent leaders have crossed over into India.........In a strongly worded statement, India said the move would bring the monarchy and mainstream parties into direct confrontation and would strengthen the Maoists......Indian officials said they had received reports that senior Maoist leaders had crossed over into India shortly after the crackdown. These officials say that one of the most wanted Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, is reportedly hiding in Bihar......Likewise Ram Bahadur Thapa, (who has Badal, Lakhan, Bhimsen and Prem as aliases) and who is also a ?Politburo and Standing Committee? member and incharge of special central command has also entered India. Krishna Bahadur Mahara alias Amar Singh, who acts as the Maoists? spokesperson and is incharge of the ?Foreign Section (India)? may also cross over to India......Other top-level commanders of the insurgents include among others, Yan Prasad Gautarri alias Alok, Chitranarayan Shrestha, Shashi Shrestha, Hisila Yani, Man Bahadur Mahara, Santhosh Bura, Lekhraj Bhatt, CP Gajurel......In the political wing, the important Maoist leaders include Comrade Parvati (a nom de guerre of Baburam Bhattarai?s wife Hsila Yemi), Matrika Yadav, Deb Bahadur Gurung, Krishna Dhoj Khadka, Rekha Sharma, Rabindra Shrestha, Bamdev Chhetri and Mumaram Khanal are among the Wanted List. All of them are soon expected to enter Bihar or the Terai region of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal......Nepalese Maoists have made their bases in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal......Nepalese Maoists come here, they stay here, get arms and ammunitions from their counterparts and return to their original bases in Nepal....Baburam Bhattarai heads the political wing of the Maoists called the United People?s Front. Bhattari also has many aliases including Lal Singh, Jitbir, Mukti Manab.....In the Central Committee meeting of the Maoists in September 2004, he was given the charge of the mid central command......The Maoists are infiltrating India mainly through border areas in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal and Sikkim. Recently, arrested militants have disclosed that arms training are being conducted in the forests of Bagha in the West Champaran district of India......the Maoists of Nepal have well-established linkages with Indian left-wing extremist organizations, primarily with the People?s War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). ....they began the process of laying a corridor, which is now widely referred to as the Revolutionary Corridor (RC) extending from Nepal to across six Indian States, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. This entire area has been identified in Maoist literature as the Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ). Now Uttaranchal has been added to it.....It is a co-signatory, along with 41 other left-wing extremist groups ranging from South America to South East Asia, to a resolution that ?condemned and opposed the malpractice of the fascist state of Nepal?............................But Yubraj Ghimare, Editor of the Nepalese Kantipur Times has a different story to narrate. Talking to the South Asia Tribune from Kathmandu on telephone, he said: ?It is simply a step to undermine the democratic set up of the country. People, including Maoists, are in favor of democracy. They want royalty to go, and they want to establish full and complete democracy in Nepal?.....?Now the King will initiate action against the Maoist forces and their sympathizers who are fighting for the lawful and democratic rights of the people?, he added.................according to rough estimates there were approximately 5,500 combatants, 8,000 militia, 4,500 cadres, 33,000 hard core followers, and 200,000 sympathizers of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in early 2004..........?The main fighting and support forces consist of Magars, Tharus, Janjatis (Gurungs, Rais, Limbus, Tamangs, Dalits, Brahmins and Chhetris, the last two also providing the political and military leadership)?...........about 60 per cent are deployed in the mid-west and west in their strongholds. Another 10 per cent are in the far west with around 10 per cent in Gorkha, the rest is located in Kathmandu valley and east of it. All of them want democracy in Nepal,?..........The guerrillas operate to varying degrees in 68 of the 75 districts.........."