At Babichaur near Surkhet recently, guerrillas of the Maoist 'People's Liberation Army' brought out their most prized weapons for a photo shoot: GPMGs, SLR and mortars.

Dressed in combat fatigues with ammo clip harnesses, they posed for photographs at a clearing, tightening their jaws and pretending to aim the weapons at the surrounding jungle. Watching his men from the sidelines was the rebel's central committee member and the Seti-Mahakali regional bureau in-charge, Lekh Raj Bhatta, or Comrade Rakesh. He explained that the entire Maoist western command was now preparing to "liberate Nepali territory from Indian occupation".

"We are now moving from a domestic class struggle to a national liberation war," Rakesh told us at his remote jungle hideout. "Our priority is to remove Indian troops from Kalapani, by force if necessary."

Indeed, across western Nepal there are freshly painted slogans on school buildings, walls and rocks denouncing the "occupation" of Nepali territory by India, which they call "the stooge of American imperialists".

Another central committee member and a western division commissar, Comrade Pratik, harangues visiting reporters with fiery rhetoric: "We shall use diplomatic and political pressure to get the Indians out of Kalapani, but if that doesn't work we will use military force."

It is hard to say whether all this tough talk is a pressure tactic to obtain the release of more than a dozen of their senior comrades arrested in India in the past year, or whether it is for real. But by turning attention towards an outside enemy, analysts say the Maoists may be trying to shore up waning domestic support for their movement.

The Maoist analysis seems to be that America is now bogged down in Iraq, and there is no immediate danger of US intervention in Nepal but Washington will use India as a proxy. Rebel leaders say that they are mobilising Indian Maoists and other allies in India to pressure New Delhi.

On the return journey, a Maoist on sentry duty bids goodbye to visiting journalists with characteristic bravado: "We are ready to fight against Indian expansionists, you must also help in this patriotic war."