Kathmandu. The Communist Party of Nepal has expressed its opinion about the incident in Bangladesh.

The party’s opinion was made public through a press statement issued on August 9, 2024, Friday, signed by General Secretary Mohan Bikram Singh.

In the statement, the party’s views were also expressed on the peace process bill, loss of property due to floods and climate change.

Here is the full text of the press release:

“The meeting, held today in the presence of available Politburo members, and the central office took decisions on some national and international problems after discussion. This statement has been issued for the sake of general information.

1. Our party has taken concern over the recent event in Bangladesh. A dictatorial rule had been there in Bangladesh for a long. The elections were held there following a totalitarian style by imposing a ban on opposition forces. There had been deep resentment among the people against that dictatorial rule, and it has burst open now after fifteen years. Sheikh Hasina has been forced to resign after the nationwide people’s movement. Now she is forced to flee the country too. We would like to congratulate the people of Bangladesh for their brave actions. The events of Bangladesh have given a good education and warning too to the dictatorial rulers all over the world.

2. The dictatorial rule in Bangladesh has come to an end. However, the question arises whether it will be replaced by the military dictatorship. We cannot ignore that danger too. If that happens, the people of Bangladesh have to take the path of a long struggle. But we hope that politics will not take that turn, and the democratic system will be restored after the end of the previous dictatorial rule. Considering the high awareness of Bangladesh’s people and the successful movement against the dictatorial rule, we believe that no
dictatorial rule can ever survive in Bangladesh.

3. The students’ role has been historical to defeat dictatorial rule in Bangladesh. Students are the pioneer forces in society. Students’ role has been always important in the progressive change in all countries. In Nepal, too students have played historically in the end of the Rana rule, the dictatorial Panchayat system under the absolute monarchy, to abolish monarchy and establish republic and in the defense of nationality. Because of the power of the students, regressive forces feel threatened and try to isolate them from politics. In such a background, the students of Bangladesh have given an education and inspiration to students the world over to struggle against regression. Therefore, Bangladesh’s student movement is important on the international
level, and we thank them for the great role they have played against dictatorial rule.

4. Our party’s attention has been drawn to the recently reached agreement between the ruling parties and opposition parties concerning the peace process (TRC). Considering the Maoist armed struggle war, we had termed it ultra-leftist deviation because that struggle was not conducted based on the Marxist-Leninist principle by way of a concrete analysis of the concrete situation. It was for this reason the struggle turned into rightist deviation, which was inevitable considering the nature of the struggle.

5. Our party had been protesting against violent activities, violation of human rights, violence, sexual harassment against women, and many criminal activities either from the Maoist side or the ruling government during the period of insurgency. After the peace compromise between the Maoists and the then government, they did not feel any need to take action against each other in connection with the violent activities. But because of that compromise, their criminal activities against innocent people and also the violation of human rights cannot become null and void. Therefore, our party had taken the stand from the beginning that a high-level commission should be established to investigate all the crimes committed by both sides and culprits should be punished in accordance with the quantity of their crimes. We still adhere to the stand.

6. It is unfortunate that no action has been taken against the culprits or accused despite over sixty thousand applications urging for action against those accused. Several commissions were established but they have not taken any action.

7. For the last decades and even now the party in power and those involved in the crimes have been trying to give impunity to the culprits instead of taking just action against those responsible for the crime. There have been efforts to enact laws for this purpose now too; there has been agreement for this purpose between the ruling parties and the major political parties in the opposition. By doing so, they have been violating international law and the direction of the Supreme Court.

8. Our party opposes the reported agreement reached between the major ruling and opposition parties to forgive the accused of serious nature crimes to the extent of seventy-five percent and to forgive completely in case the victim sides agree to forgive. From the beginning, our party has taken a constant stand that all persons responsible for crimes against innocent people from either the government side or the opposition Maoists at that time should be punished as per the level of their crimes.

9. Several violent and criminal activities have been committed against innocent people by Maoists even after the conduction of a peace compromise. In this regard, the murder of the constituent assembly candidate member comrade Kamal Adhikari is an important example. The case lodged against that crime had been withdrawn by the Prachanda government and the accused Maoist cadre had been freed from jail. Likewise, the Prachanda government had dismissed hundreds of other cases in which persons associated with the Maoist
party were involved. We had opposed that arbitrary action then and do so now too.

10.Our party condemns their attempts to protect the people involved in the crime during the insurgency and the attempts to suppress such crimes either by not taking any action against the culprits or by giving impunity to them.

11.We express our deep sorrow over the great loss of people and property by landslides in different parts of the country and we express our condolence to the people who perished in the natural calamity. We urge the government to compensate for the people’s property loss and to take rescue action in the affected areas immediately and effectively.

12.In this regard, we want to emphasize our concern over the growing impact of global warming and climate change. Therefore, we want to draw the attention of all the concerned people to take long-term measures on the international level to solve the problem generated by worldwide warming and climate change.”