Indo-US Alliance For Democracy In Nepal Needed

The US is the world's oldest democracy, and India its largest. A total expansion of democracy is America's officially stated goal, with most of the remaining work in the countries of the Global South where India, for cultural reasons, might be in a better position to understand the local realities and contribute.

I laud the India-UK-US alliance that has emerged as a counter to the king's autocratic move and think the cutting of military aid was a great first step. And I also think it wise that the three powers have thought India should take the lead on the issue because of its proximity. That makes a lot of common sense.

But now the king has countered by suggesting he will instead go and deal with China and Pakistan. India alone might not be in the best position to counter that move, but the US is. The US has seen an ally in China on the North Korea issue, and is a close partner with Pakistan in its stated War On Terror, of Cold War proportions.

And so I urge the US to make diplomatic moves to deny the king the so-called Pakistan and China cards. In this greatest hour of need, the Nepali people should be able to expect help from democracies like the US and India. The king has to agree to the idea of a negotiated settlement with the rebels with possible international mediation. There is no better way.



I am sending this blog thread to the US Embassy in Delhi, and to the Foreign Ministry of India at their email addresses: ndcentral@state.gov, usxps@mea.gov.in. I hope Ambassador Mulford will look into this.

Some news I skimmed through a few minutes back, as I do on a near daily basis.

• UN Security Council condemns use of child soldiers Reuters India, India ..... called for sanctions and political measures against governments and groups that continue the abuses, saying "carefully calibrated and targeted measures" are effective ..... Abductions were common in countries like Uganda, Nepal and Burundi ..... A report by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan listed 42 armed groups in 11 nations that should be punished for recruiting or using children in war. On the list are Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Colombia.
• Nepal Military Aid Suspension Will Assist Rebels, Army Says Bloomberg An estimated 1,000 political and student leaders and other officials were detained under emergency rule, Agence France-Presse reported earlier this month. Some leaders remain in hiding and others have crossed into India. ..... The political changes in Nepal shouldn't prompt international donors to cut off aid, Finance Minister Madhukar Shumsher Rana said ..... The U.K. and India have returned their ambassadors to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to call for a restoration of democracy.
• NDA lauds military aid cut to Nepal: New Kerala The main Opposition alliance, the NDA, today lauded the Centre government's decision to stop military aid to Nepal ..... The Opposition alliance said this after a meeting with several Nepalese political parties in the Capital. ..... We have to snap relations of any kind with them. They should take up this issue in the international community, not only with the immediate neighbours. We are with the government on whatever steps the federal government decides to take on the issue. Rather we all are one on the entire situation," NDA Convenor George Fernandes told reporters .....
  
• Blow to business along Indo-Nepal border The Tribune, India Trade along the border has been a way of life for the traders over the generations ..... nearly six trade posts along the Indo-Nepal border that boast of a total business to the tune of Rs 50 crore annually ..... business has been slack due to an increase Maoist activities along the border but the emergency in Nepal has led to a trade collapse..... Odd traders in Nepal’s Jullaghat play cards and carom board while many others remain compulsively glued to the tea stall for want of anything better to do...... it’s the daily foodstuff, including foodgrains, jaggery, sugar and oil, among other things that people from Nepal depend on this market for ..... traders cross over to the Indian side every night ..... But the alcohol shop owners do a "no pain, no gain" business. The Maoists do not like this business and to drive the point home a few months ago they drained out bottles of liquor worth lakhs of rupees from the shops here ..... Last year the Maoists had banned Indian goods after the governments of the two countries were in dialogue over added military aid. But the ban was soon lifted .
  
• Five Editors in Nepal summoned over blank editorial pages: New Kerala, India ..... authorities here today summoned Editors of five Nepalese weeklies seeking explanation over blank editorial pages in their publications since the imposition of press censorship ..... Gopal Budhathoki of 'Sanghu' weekly, Kabir Rana of 'Deshantar', Rajendra Vaid of 'Bimarsha', Nawaraj Timilsina of 'Prakash' and Shashidhar Bhandari of 'Hank' ..... A team of senior advocates led by Nepal Bar Association Chairman Shambhu Thapa has provided legal consultancy to the scribes free of cost. ..... Seven Nepalese journalists, including General Secretary of Federation of Nepalse Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nishthuri, have been detained
• 'Nepal committed, India should reciprocate': New Kerala Nepal says it will honour all commitments made to the Indian government and expects the same from New Delhi.
• Nepal's political bosses hide, plan political movement against ... China Post Decades ago, Khadga Prasad Oli rebelled against the king and was sent to jail for 14 years. Then he became home minister. This month, the top communist leader was imprisoned again, in his own house, for 14 days..... Nepal's political roulette wheel has spun again, and politicians who dominated the country for 15 years are now detainees, fugitives or in hiding, with the rest plotting a political movement against King Gyanendra's regime that has yet to take off...... dozens of political bosses, student leaders, journalists, professors and other possible opinion leaders have been detained ..... To the 53-year-old Oli, it is a throwback to the 30-year "Panchayat" rule, the era of the Shah kings' authoritarian regime, when political parties were banned and civil liberties limited..... "It seems like those days again, when we could not raise our voice," said Oli, sitting at his home outside Katmandu. Until a couple days ago, it was surrounded by 15 armed police officers who built sandbagged positions and refused to let him out or anyone come in. The house arrest ended without explanation over the weekend...... Ram Saran Mahat, the top leader of the country's largest party, the Nepali Congress, sits on his sunny lawn sipping tea and meeting the rare visitor. Mahat, a former foreign and finance minister, is the most senior Nepali opposition leader currently not in custody. But he knows he is being watched. ..... "I will go and make a public speech only when I am prepared to be jailed," he said. ..... "We are not underground like the Maoists. Our protests will be on the streets," said Mahat. ..... "In the past, when mobile phones were working, it would take us just 10 minutes to arrange a crowd of 4,000 or 5,000 people. Not any more," said Keshav Singh, president of the Nepal Students Union ..... His group has hundreds of thousands of members across 300 colleges. .... "I haven't slept in the same place for 18 days now. ..... Singh's home was raided last week, and security forces took away his telephone diary, his photographs and documents related to the students union, the country's largest. ...... "We are trying to build up a movement against the royal move. We are going door to door, distributing flyers, organizing low key awareness programs," said Singh. "We can't forever remain underground. Students have to be on the streets."
• Nepal says no information on military aid cut Tehran Times The king's move has triggered a global outcry but domestic public protests have been muted because of a heavy presence of security personnel...... The Maoists have imposed a nationwide transport blockade to protest the royal power grab disrupting road transport and supplies of foodgrains and vegetables in the mountainous nation for the past 11 days.
• Nepal: Civil War Atrocities Follow Royal Takeover Reuters AlertNet, UK ..... both Maoist insurgents and the Royal Nepali Army continue to attack civilians ... violating the laws of war ..... the lives of some 11,000 people, mostly civilians ..... Maoist fighters have attacked civilian cargo trucks and passenger buses, and threatened to cut off the hands of drivers who defy the bandh. ..... "There is a real danger that war crimes in Nepal will spiral out of control." ..... The Maoist insurgents' bandh has stopped nearly all motor traffic on the Mahendra highway and nearby roads, cut the flow of commerce, including scarce petrochemical products, and closed down schools. Meanwhile, government security forces heavily censor all local press and monitor the activity of local human rights monitors. ..... Maoist forces on February 22 stopped and blew up an ambulance at a roadblock on the Mahendra highway near Kohalpur village, 18 kilometers from Nepalgunj and about a kilometer and a half from the Kohalpur Army Barracks...... Under the laws of war, medical transport is protected at all times from attack. ..... including the bride and groom, who were walking past an army checkpoint at approximately 7 p.m. Troops manning the checkpoint demanded they stop and put their hands in the air. Nearly immediately, some of the troops fired between five to ten rounds at the group. ..... The army has not claimed, as it has in some similar circumstances in the past, that its actions were in self-defense or otherwise justified. Nor has the army announced any investigation of the troops responsible for shooting at the group. ..... "Both sides claim to be fighting on the side of the people, but in fact their main targets have been Nepal's civilians."