Nepal's Maoists follow Peru's Shining Path game plan

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2004

KATHMANDU (AFP) — The blockade declared by Nepal's Maoist rebels of the ancient capital, Kathmandu, echoes the tactics of Peru's shadowy Shining Path militants -- the ruthless movement upon which they model themselves.

Like the Shining Path rebels, who waged an over decade-long battle to forge a peasant revolution in the South American nation, Nepal's Maoists seek to rule the countryside and now are boldly attacking big towns and even the capital.

The group launched their struggle in 1996 to overthrow the monarchy and feudal caste-ridden system, and to turn the Himalayan country of 26 million, one of the world's 10 poorest, into a communist "People's Republic."

Their leader, Prachanda or the Fierce One, has promised an agrarian takeover in Nepal, nestled...