Nepal's Maoist rebellion exacts heavy toll

Maoism has cost Nepal dearly, with over 3,000 deaths in the last six years

(CNN) -- Six years of rebellion by Nepal's Maoist guerillas has cost the lives of more than 3,000 people and battered the Himalayan kingdom's already weak economy.

The government calls them terrorists, but Maoist leaders say they are fighting on behalf of the majority rural poor to rid the country of an outdated feudal system that favors only a small urban elite.

The rebels, who follow the late Chinese communist party leader Mao Zedong, are insistent that what Nepal needs is a communist republic system.

At the center of the struggle is land -- a traditional passport to affluence in Nepal.

Much of the nation's land, from the low Terai to the high Himalayas, is subject to feudal ownership, where millions own nothing.

RESOURCES Photo gallery: Maoist insurgency goes on    EXTRA INFORMATION Nepal's Royal Killings

As parliament tries to bring about change, the Maoist army – which controls around 25 percent of the country -- continues to use the gun rather than political means to further its cause.

Reclusive Comrade Prachanda, the group's leader whose name translates as "awesome", comes from the same upper Hindu castes that he aims to topple.

Prachanda, born Pushpan Kamal Dahal, wants the once tranquil nation to be a "people's republic" with none of the feudal institutions currently in place.

His movement bases its teachings on Mao Zedong, whose revolutionary movement against the landowning classes in China also began in the countryside.

Royal massacre

A royal massacre, in which the much-loved king was killed, threw the country into turmoil

However, Nepal's Maoists, who have received little if no support from Beijing, view China as having deviated from Mao's teachings by adopting capitalist practices.

It was after the killing of Nepal's much-loved King Bihendra and most of the royal family by the late Crown Prince Dipendra that the situation took a turn for the worse.

Although anti-monarchist, the Maoists were quick to praise the late king for his patriotism and liberal virtues, describing the massacre as the result of a conspiracy.

The late King Bihendra never called the army out against the insurgents and in turn Maoist activity barely surfaced in the west.

But after the royal massacre, when disinformation and accusations were rife, the Maoists hit politicians and rural outposts hard, prompting the government to call a state of emergency.

Buffer state

Only the king can give permission to deploy the army, which the newly crowned and less popular King Gyanendra did for the first time against the Maoists last year.

With up to 10,000 rebels facing off against a 90,000-strong but ill-equipped police force and army, the death toll has escalated.

For its neighbors, India and China, the Himalayan kingdom has long been regarded as a convenient neutral buffer state.

Neither of the world's two most populous nations, who went to war in 1962 over a still disputed border, would relish an unstable Nepal.

Yet poor leadership from nine governments in a decade, political turmoil and a decimated monarchy has led to a weakened nation that the Maoists have taken advantage of.

As the war continues to escalate, no winner seems likely in the short-term with the inevitable losers being Nepal's millions of poverty-stricken citizens.