A recent decision to add state personnel to CPN-M chairman Puspha Kamal Dahal's security detail gives Dahal as many security staff as Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

With the deployment of these new personnel, the confidential basis the CPN-M generally works on has been compromised, since the personnel keep a close eye on their daily activities, behaviour, and other secrets. After the tape of the statement Dahal made against Baburam Bhattarai was leaked to the Nepal Army, it is clear that nothing is secret about the Maoists anymore.

There have always been moles inside the party. A highly placed source tells us, for example, about how Maoist Bhaktapur secretary Ranjit Maharjan was involved in the capture and arrest of many Kathmandu-based Maoists a few years ago, including Bhim Giri (\'Ajaya'), deputy commander of Maoists' Valley special task force in December 2003, and Kathmandu commander Nischal Nakarmi. Most of those captured with the collusion of Maharjan are suspected to have been taken to Bhairabnath and have not been seen again.

Senior Kathmandu-based Maoist leader Krishna KC was also captured because his \'friends' betrayed him and the party and gave his name up. KC says the extent of collusion will only become clear when those who made the captures at Bhairabnath are questioned.

Some Maoists broke under torture and gave up colleagues' names. "If you were captured you had only two choices: prepare to die or be used by them (state security personnel)," says Bijaya Bhattarai, central committee member of the ANNFSU (R).