General Rookmangud Katawal is a former Nepalese Army general, who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Nepal Army from 2006 to 2009. General Katawal has come across controversy after the then prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal unilaterally decided to sack him on May 3, 2009.
During the Nepalese Civil War, he was alleged to have committed many human rights atrocities, war crimes and crime against humanity, yet faced no court proceedings.
Early life and education Rookmangud Katawal was born in Okhaldhunga District, Nepal on 12 December 1948, to Khadgadhoj Katawal and his wife. After impressing the then King Mahendra by reciting a poem of the National Poet Madhav Prasad Ghimire during the monarch's official visit, Katawal was brought to Kathmandu at the age of 8 years and looked after by King Mahendra himself. After residing at the then COAS General Toran Shumsher's residence for about 15 days along with King Mahendra's other 'adopted sons', at the age of 10 years, he was enrolled at the Pharping Boarding School. After completing 5th grade, he was directly transferred to 7th grade due to his impressive academic endeavor.
However, Katawal along with several other students were kicked out of the Pharping Boarding High School for involvement in a protest against the 'corporal punishment' which was given out by the school's authorities to the students then. Later, Katawal was enrolled in another school with the help of the same teacher who had expelled Katawal from Pharping in which he completed his high school.
Military career Junior Officer Katawal was commissioned into Shree Shreenath Battalion (Infantry) of the then Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) on 20 December 1969, after graduating from the Indian National Defense Academy. Katawal holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tribhuwan University, and a master's degree in National Defence from the Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. Katawal is also the Distinguished International Honour Graduate of the US Special Forces Course and has earned the coveted Gideon in the US Ranger Course. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and Staff College, Camberley, UK; the Senior Command Course, India; and the National Defense College, Pakistan. In 1973, he served as an instructor at the Royal Nepalese Army School. In the same year, he donned the blue beret to serve in the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Suez Canal area.
Senior Officer Between 1976 and 1977, Katawal commanded the Independent Company- Shree Kalidhoj- which is currently a battalion. Between 1983 and 1986, he served as the Nepalese Government's Liaison Officer to the Brigade of Gurkhas of the British Army and Government of Hong Kong following several key staff appointments.
In 1988, he was appointed the Chief Military Personnel Officer of the United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). In 1990, he took over command of Shree Pashupati Prashad Battalion. In 1993, he took post as the commandant of the Royal Nepalese Military Academy, following Service in the Research and Development Wing at the Army HQ.
In 1996, he was promoted to Brigadier General. He holds the distinction of having commanded three consecutive Brigades, two infantry and one Special Forces. In 1999, he was appointed as director of military intelligence. In 2001, he was promoted to major general. He then took over as Adjutant General (AG) of the Nepalese Army. On December 29, 2001, General Katawal was appointed the first co-coordinator of the National Security Council Secretariat. He has participated in various conferences and seminars around the globe concerning security, peacekeeping and planning fields, such as Multilateral Planner's conference in Romania and the International Symposium Course on Asian Pacific Security in China.
He commanded the then Western Division on combat operation in the peak of the counter insurgency effort between December 2003 and August 2004. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general on 10 September 2004, and took over as Chief of General Staff. He was also ‘Colonel Commandant’ of his old battalion: Shree Pashupati Prashad.
Maoist Insurgency in Nepal
Major General of the Nepal Army In a telephone conversation with the then Ambassador Michael E. Malinowski in 2003, Major General Rookmangud Katawal, reported that the Cabinet was planning how to respond to the morning incidents. Katawal indicated that, with the King's support, the government would likely re-declare the Maoists a terrorist group, resurrect the suspended anti-terrorist act, and request Interpol blue-corner notices for Maoist leaders. Katawal also said, although the ministers had discussed the possibility of nationwide state of emergency, they were not likely to declare it. Katawal sought support from the international community for the government's efforts to combat the insurgency. The Ambassador counseled against the declaration of a state of emergency at the time.
In 2003, Major General Rookmangud Katawal, Nepal's National Security Advisor, had told the then Ambassador Michael E. Malinowski that the Maoist leadership twice had contacted DFID's Wood to ask for details of DFID's ongoing and future programs and plans in Nepal. On both occasions Wood refused to comply with the Maoist request. Katawal did not provide the source of his information.
Mission Kotwada Major General Rookmangud Katawal had been appointed as the commander to lead the Unified Armed Forces of Nepal during Mission Kotwada by tricking the then Chief of Army Staff Pyar Jung Thapa and the then King of Nepal Gyanendra Shah. The mission was very important, as it had to ensure the successful tour of the King Gyanendra Shah. Being accompanied by another senior army officer and several other military and police personnel, he ordered mortars to be fired consecutively to scare the Maoist rebels into retreating and ceasing fire which failed. However, upon requesting air support from a nearby military unit, the mission succeeded after successive missiles fired from the helicopter forced the rebels to escape. After a two-hour march up the hill in Kotwada, the unit led by Katawal found the place deserted.
Lieutenant General of Nepal Army Civilian leadership should explain counter-insurgency plan On January 20, Lt. General Katawal, Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) Chief of General Staff, told Ambassador James F. Moriarty that he was worried the government did not have a unified strategy for tackling the Maoist insurgency. Katawal reiterated that there was no purely military solution to the insurgency; the army could only create space for political negotiations. He noted that the civilian government should lead the effort to inform its citizens about Nepal's overall plan to tackle the insurgency. Katawal stressed that a civilian government had to explain to the people what the military was doing, especially why the government needed to restrict civil liberties.
Katawal had explained that the then Home Minister Kamal Thapa had tried to work with the political parties on January 19 to avert the need for a day long curfew on January 20, the day Parties planned to hold mass demonstrations in Kathmandu. Katawal noted that the government had confirmed evidence that the Maoists intended to infiltrate the Parties' demonstration; the Maoists had already brought automatic weapons into the Kathmandu Valley, and had attacked police stations in the valley. He pointed out that, during their rule, the Parties had placed restrictions on citizens for security reasons but now were unwilling to accept those restrictions. The ambassador agreed that Nepal needed a national consensus on how to address the insurgency. The ambassador told Katawal that he had met with the foreign minister, Home Minister and vice chairman to urge the government to postpone elections, reach out to the parties, and declare a cease-fire to create space for the legitimate democratic forces to discuss a counter-insurgency plan.
Katawal asserted that the Maoists skillfully exploited the lack of government vision by using the political parties themselves to create tension among the legitimate democratic forces. Katawal admitted that the Maoists' strategy had been "successful to an extent," but added that the political parties should learn from their mistake of aligning with the Maoists through the 12-point understanding. He noted the irony of the Parties linking with the Maoists: it was the Parties themselves who first labeled the Maoists as "terrorists" when the Parties were in power. Katawal believed the Parties and the Maoists had reached an agreement to pressure the King and the army. He stressed that the army had no political aims, saying that the RNA army "obey any constitutional government." Katawal stated that the parties, especially the Nepali Congress party, were beginning to feel trapped, but acknowledged that it was "hard for the Parties to back down publicly." He added it was "time for the state to take steps so political parties could come to the negotiating table." Katawal hoped that the international community could urge the leaders of the political parties "to understand the gravity of the situation" and to understand that the army was not the enemy of democracy.
He added that Nepal's monarchy and political parties have, over the past ten years, viewed the Maoist insurgency primarily as a chip to be played in their political games; at various times, each of the major Parties and the King have used the Maoists to advance their own interests vis-à-vis the other legitimate political actors. Thus, there has been no broad agreement on a counter-insurgency strategy. They had reached the stage where, Katawal added, if the legitimate democratic forces do not stand together, there is a very real risk that the Maoists will succeed in their goal of forming a totalitarian state. Katawal's readiness to assure the ambassador that the RNA had no political ambition might be an indication that the military understand that the King must reach out to the political parties in order to ensure implementation of an effective counter-insurgency plan.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Nepal Army The then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala swore in Rookmangud Katawal as the new chief of Army Staff on September 18, 2006. Katawal, who had repeatedly affirmed his intention to loyally serve the democratic Government of Nepal (GON) received cabinet approval on September 5, becoming the first Commander-in-chief of the Nepal Army from a common family; not from one of the families that have traditionally the chief of army in Nepalese Army like "Shah", "Basnet", "Thapa", "Pande" or "Rana". After several unsuccessful political attempts from other influential political leaders to appoint Kul Bahadur Khadka, Katawal was appointed. Some had even conspired to bring back former Lt. General Chitra Bahadur (CB) Gurung (retired) and appoint him as the COAS instead of Katawal.
Human rights allegations The government's decision to appoint Katawal as the Army Chief came in the face of complaints by human rights activists and some politicians that his human rights record made him unfit for the position. Their criticism focused on Katawal's tenure as commander of the mid-western division headquarters from December 2003 to September 2004 and his actions during the people's movement in April 2006. According to the defense secretary, there is no plan by the government of Nepal to issue a formal SIPDIS in response to the human rights accusations against Katawal. Whether the High-Level Probe Commission will issue any findings on the General's activities remains a mystery.
Katawal and his democratic bona fides