Archive ref no: NCA-20986
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Central Committee
Press Statement
The news that the Indian police arrest of Comrade Mohan Baidhya, a veteran member of the Standing Committee of our glorious party, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) as well as the in-charge of the eastern central command has made the whole Party stunned. Comrade Mohan Baidhya has been staying in Siliguri, West Bengal of India for some times in terms of cataract treatment. The Indian police also arrested Narayan Bikram Pradhan who was assisting on his treatment.
Hence a preplanned conspiracy to shadow the main political issue is ongoing by imposing false charge about weapons, against Comrade Mohan Baidhya. The arrest of Comrade Baidhya is not an occasional and simple incident but a product of intrigue and exchange of the Indian and Nepalese feudal rulers against Nepalese rivers and natural resources. Our Party strongly condemns such preplanned conspiracies and the arrest of Comrade Mohan Baidhya and demands a respectful political conduct against an old and veteran political personality.
Any disrespectful conduct against Comrade Mohan Baidhya, a theoretician on philosophy and aesthetics and who has persistently been struggling for 40 years for the freedom of the Nepalese people from the clutches of feudalism and imperialism, will not be tolerable not only for the Nepalese people but also the just loving people of India and of the world. Our party humbly appeals to all the human right organization and institution, intellectual personalities, pro-people political forces and broad mass of the Nepal and India and the world to raise their voices for the security, respect and release.
March 31, 2004
Prachanda
Chairman
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Unofficial translation