In violence-wracked Nepal, where government forces have failed to defeat a nine-year Maoist insurgency, members of a small communist party have launched a nonviolent attempt to erode support for the rebels despite fears of attacks.
The People's Front Nepal split from the rebels 14 years ago, criticizing the guerrillas' violent campaign to topple Nepal's monarchy as extreme and against communist principles.
The group's members have recently fanned out into the rebels' strongholds in the countryside to paste up posters, distribute pamphlets and organize meetings to draw attention to abuses committed by the rebels and encourage people to peacefully defy them.
"They call themselves Maoists, but they have deviated from the visions of communism. They have become more of an ultra leftist force," said Pari Thapa, a senior party leader.
The rebels have been accused of attacking and even killing people who oppose them, as well as forcibly conscripting villagers and extorting money from them, calling it a tax for the "people's government."
The front, Nepal's fifth-largest political party, is the only group that has dared to venture into rebel territory to campaign against them, despite fears of being detained and beaten.
"It may not sound like much ... but we want to bring to light what they really are," Thapa said. "They frequently tell their cadres that they are winning the war and they will be in full control of the country soon. It is the only way to motivate their fighters who have faced some major setbacks recently."
The Maoists, claiming to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong (
Thapa said that his party believes in nonviolence and democracy -- it supports Nepal's constitutional monarchy, in which the king is a figurehead and an elected government is supposed to rule the country.
"We want to expose to as many people as we can all the wrong things which are going on within the Maoist group. Our campaign is a peaceful one," he said.
The campaign suffered a setback, however, when King Gyanendra seized absolute power in February and imposed emergency law. Three leaders of the People's Front were among hundreds of politicians arrested. Most were freed after Gyanendra lifted the emergency three months later, but some remain in jail.
Thapa hopes the People's Front can reach a much larger population in the country's rural interior, where the rebels have a strong presence. Hundreds of front members and supporters have been detained and beaten, and half a dozen have been killed by Maoist rebels in the past two years, Thapa said.
Even an attack on Thapa's wife in their rural home has not deterred them from their aim.
"We don't want to finish off the Maoists. We want to see them correct their mistakes. After all they also are our Nepalese brothers and sisters," Thapa said.
"Their violent movement will lead nowhere ... it will be futile," he said.
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