Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-10-27
HIGHWAY
Red Engineers Set
December DeodIine

operator who will stay to run
Indian-owned radio equipment
one more year, the four and
five-man military observers
teams at each post must pack
up this month and return to
the plains. Indian officials
here are seriously worried
about this latest asseration Of
Nepals independence. as they
have relied on the border posts
as one Of their chief sources
Of military intelligence on
Tibet.
Chinese Shun Others
Surprisingly, since China is
having some success Of its own
in establishing a fifth column
in Nepal. its 81 road engineers
keep to themselves and do
not act like Agitprop agents.
Most live in eight-man groups,
under the rigid discipline Of
a Communist Party man who
acts as interpreter.
The engineers thus have lit
tie contact with anyone but
their Nepali counterparts, to
whom they distribute Chinese
comic books and other soft-sell
propaganda. Instead of win
ming friends. they inspired
hostility in several villages by
refusing to transport sick Ne
pals in their supply jeep or
by not sharing their insecticide
with the bug-tormented vii
layers.
When the Chinese engineer
ing teams first arrived they
ate humble local fare, wore
shabby blue uniforms and
mixed freely with the local
peasants.
Three m on this ago, in q
sudden Transformation. living
standards zoomed UP as
watches. white dress shirts and
Stacks were supplied, as well as
special Chinese cooks. food
stuffs from Canton and mod
ern furniture.
The engineers are now APP
parently under strict orders not
to mix with the villagers or
speak to outsiders. especially
Americans. According to the
Nepalis. the Chinese fear at
tacks by wandering Tibetan
Khampa warriors and keep !
weapons in their houses.
When we approached them
in remote mountain hamlets or
on the trail, the Red Chinese
took flight. Once, two engineers I
went sloshing across a muddy I
rice paddy to avoid meeting {
this reporter on the narrow
track. When spoken to, one
might have been an unearthly '
spectre as the Chinese STAN
mered, mol MOI" in terror and
hurried indoors. The Nepali
engineers, who find them So
ciable, tried to convince them
We were harmless, but with no
success. |
Yet. ironically, the Commu-
mist Chinese along the road,
dressed in Western garb and
sometimes speaking English,
seemed like kindred souls.
Substitution Rife
Nepal is more like medieval
Europe than modern-day Asia
and more like the Land of OF
than either. Once, when pass
ing through a weird forest of
gnarled and twisted trees inl
late afternoon, we were grave
" warned by passing villagers
to reach shelter by sunset as
a traveller had been robbed and
beheaded by savage bandits
on that very spot only seven
weeks before. h
Later, this reporter Mortified 1
the hillmen in Balafi Village
by inquirnig who was the shy
person in white clothes who
had lurked in the trees near T,
his campsite the previous
night. The superstitious noun
tain folk 'solemnly declared
that our visitor had been the
ghost Of Balafi who haunted
the wood where we camped.
In such a world, trimmed by
mountain peaks and tortuous
trails, where gods and ghosts
have more reality than govern
ments, the shadow Of the Chi
nese troops looming Just be-
hind the Himalayas seems
faint, indeed.
Nor are the Chinese unaware
Of how to deal with magma
ton and skill in such a world
as they build their roads for
future conquest,
Recently for example, disre-
garding near famine conditions
in Tibet, the Chinese in a show
Of magnanmity sent down to
Kathmandu 10000 sheep to be
slaughtered as offerings to
Nepal's beloved Mother God
dess, Kali. In contrast, a youth
full administrative officer at
the United States embassy in
Kathmandu encountered stiff
resistance from the American
staff when he tried to take a
collection to pay for goats to
be sacrificed by the Embassy's
motor pool drivers.