Nepal gays hit by Maoist clean up drive and Maoists now protect rhinos

I think the Nepal Maoists have got this one wrong here, homosexuals have existed long
before capitalism arrived on the scene.

Nepal gays hit by Maoist clean up drive

After being persecuted by King Gyanendra's regime and the new multi-party government, Nepal's homosexual community is now at the receiving end of a society clean up drive launched by Maoist rebels.

The communists, who now freely roam in the capital after they signed a peace accord with the new government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and had the terrorist tag lifted, have now turned their attention to cleaning "social pollutants", ranging from pornographic films to homosexuality.

Kathmandu's gays, who had joined hands with the Maoists and political parties to oppose King Gyanendra's direct rule, felt the new communist crackdown last month after Maoist cadres went around ordering house owners not to let out rooms to homosexuals and lesbians.

Alarmed at the new diktat, members of the community met the former Maoist commander of Kathmandu valley, known as Sagar, to persuade him to call off the drive.

"We don't want to evict anyone," Sagar told the agency.

"So we have asked house owners to allow tenants. However, we are against any aberrant activity that could have a negative and vitiating effect on society."

The insurgents, who have been campaigning against polygamy, polyandry, infidelity and drunkenness, have a zero tolerance policy towards homosexuality.

Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's only NGO fighting for gay rights, last month met a senior Maoist leader, Dev Gurung, to try and explain the rights of gays, lesbians and transgenders to him.

The rebel leader reportedly told the organisation that homosexuality was a byproduct of capitalism.

"Under Soviet rule and when China was still very much a communist state, there were no homosexuals in the Soviet Union or China," Gurung reportedly said.

"Now they are moving towards capitalism, homosexuals may have arisen there as well.

So homosexuality is a product of capitalism. Under socialism this kind of problem doesn't exist."


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Nepal Rebels to Help Protect Rhinos

Nepal's communist rebels, who have halted their decade-old insurgency, agreed to patrol the country's southern jungles to protect endangered one-horned rhinos against poaching, officials said Friday.

Maoist rebels at Chitwan National Park are to begin patrolling the jungles in the area about 125 miles south of the capital Katmandu, said local rebel leader Abiral, who uses only one name.

The rebels and forest officials agreed Thursday to jointly patrol the Chitwan forests where there have been several reports of rhinos being killed by poachers in recent weeks.

Thousands of tourists flock to the Chitwan jungles each year to catch a glimpse of the endangered animals, but the rhinos are rapidly disappearing in other parts of Nepal.

Officials estimate that there are several hundred one-horned rhinos in the Chitwan forests, but forest officials fear that all 84 rhinos in the nearby Bardia area may have disappeared altogether.

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