Posted by: mandale murdabad May 5, 2009
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| PLA's real strength 7-8K: Dahal 'Will capture state by all means'' | |
| REPUBLICA This startling revelation comes from none other than Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. He said this while addressing PLA commanders and combatants at Shatikhor cantonment in Chitwan on January 2, 2008, a video of the meeting -- in possession of Image Channel TV -- shows. Dahal said contrary to popular belief that the number of PLA had been reduced by the verification by UNMIN (United Nations Mission in Nepal), the strength was actually up. "We all know what the real strength of the PLA is: it is between 7,000 and 8,000," he said. Had we given the real figure, the number would have come down to about 4,000. But, added the chairman, the party said the number of the PLA was 35,000 and that resulted in around 20,000 verified PLA. "Did the number increase or decrease?" asked a smiling Dahal, evoking laughter around him. [BREAK] He also said that even a small number of PLA combatants´ entry into the Nepal Army was enough to establish total Maoists control over the army. Our soldiers are politically awakened and they will easily dominate who just parade, referring to NA soldiers. He also said that army chief Rookmangud Katawal was thus against entry of PLA into the army. This address was two months before the Constituent Assembly elections, on April 10, which had looked uncertain then due to sharp differences between the Maoist and non-Maoist parties over percentage allocation between first-past-the-post (directly elected by people) and proportional representation electoral systems. Dahal also said the party had not forsaken the ultimate goal of bidroha (revolt) and asked his men not to be swayed by compromises struck by the Maoist party with other political parties. He said party workers may be thinking that their leaders are having tea with enemies, forgetting their revolutionary agenda. But the reality is the leaders are still working for a revolution, he said. The Maoist chairman said that money that the "martyrs" in villages throughout the country and the PLA in cantonment receive will help them move ahead in their goal of total victory. The money that will go to the "martyrs´ family" will help repair the party´s deteriorating relations with the common people. "We will tell them this is just a relief (of Rs 100,000) and you need to support us to get the remaining Rs 900,000," Dahal revealed his strategy of winning the CA elections. Each martyr family has been provided Rs 1,000,000. He had also said that the Maoists were not keeon on an election that they would lose. "We will not allow election that we might lose." He added that one third of the Rs 600,000,000 that was agreed to be given to the PLA cantonments would be used to further the goal of Maoists´ control of the state. (Republica will post the video soon.) |