On Dec 22, when Dahal publicly declared that he would directly hold talks with New Delhi to resolve the political crisis at home, he also met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and expressed concern over such threats. [break]
On Saturday, Dahal publicly stated that he was receiving death threats. Though Dahal did not categorically say who may be hatching such a plot, he claimed that foreign imperialist and expansionist forces were behind it. He said that former CPN-UML General secretary Madan Kumar Bhandari and late King Birendra were murdered because they did not bow before foreigners and he may as well share the same fate for the reason.
“Madan Bhandari [former CPN-UML General Secretary] had publicly challenged monarchy and the imperialists. And he was murdered,” said Dahal while addressing an interaction program entitled “National Independence and civilian supremacy” organized as part of the party´s fourth phase of protests.
Dahal said late king Birendra was a nationalist and the Maoist party had initiated dialogues with him through his brother just a month before the royal place massacre in June 2001 took place. “We were going to hold direct talks with him. We were going to ask him to be the first president of republic Nepal and abdicate his throne. But Birendra was killed against the backdrop,” said Dahal.Dahal was of the opinion that if any leader advocates national independence to redeem the country from the clutches of imperialists and expansionists, he would be murdered. “But they should not assume that they could stop the new battle for national independence the way they did in the past -- by killing Birendra or Bhandari,” he said. “There will be an army of 30 million Nepalis to fight for national independence. No one will be able to defeat them,” he said.
Maoist chairman is concerned over “increased security threats” in recent days. “Yes, he told the prime minister that he was receiving death threats after he addressed a rally in Baneshwar on Dec 22, but the government has not so far received any information about such threats,” said Prime Minister Nepal´s press advisor Bishnu Rijal. “It could just have been his feeling.”
However, Rijal added that the home ministry had warned Dahal against participating in the rally at Singha Durbar on November 1. “There are Maoist splinter groups, and there was a threat on Dahal from them. So he was asked to be cautious,” Rijal said.
Home ministry officials say the government has beefed up security for the Maoist chairman. “The security for the Maoist chairman has been beefed up since the past couple of weeks,” said an official requesting anonymity. According to him, the ministry has directed the security agencies to adopt all measures to ensure his security. “It is possible that something bad might happen to him, and the ministry is cautious about it,” said the official.
Leaders close to Dahal claim that there is credible information about threats to his life. “We cannot reveal the sources and the nature of threats. Just understand that there is a serious threat to his life,” said an aide to Dahal, adding measures have been taken to ensure his security.
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