I Don't Feel Sorry For The King

If Nepal were to become a republic, the king will end up one of the richest private citizens. The guy has several up and running businesses. If he has superior management skills compared to, say, the hapless Congressias, then he should exhibit those with his businesses. Heck, he could even launch his own political party.

Hosting executive powers in an institution like the monarchy makes no statistical sense. What are the chances that the son of a son of a son of a son will be good, do good? It is the "marketplace" of democracy that produces the best the country might have to offer. As long as the democratic process is in place is all it takes.

The democratic leaders have been a letdown in the aftermath of 2/1. The new generation needs to seek options, including perhaps launching a separate political party of its own. At this juncture, democracy needs to start from within the parties. Intra-party democracy needs to come out in full force. Not that I am blaming the democrats. After all, it does not take a genius and a general convention to come to the conclusion what needs to be done is a restoration of all fundamental rights, and it is for the king to do it. All democrats foreign and domestic have been saying that in one voice. The democratic process allows for differences in opinion, but that does not mean the democrats need to get lethargic on organization.

In The News

• Nepal walks in Pakistan’s steps Calcutta Telegraph, India ..... to understand the Nepali state, India must first understand Pakistan...... The ruling cliques in both countries are given to abusing or blaming India to legitimise themselves....... problems arising from the exclusion of large communities and regions from power and the armed forces are a constant factor in their political life ..... Particular communities and ethnicities monopolise the top jobs in the armed forces in both countries. They constitute a small feudal elite whose writ runs in virtually all spheres of public life ...... “King Gyanendra’s blueprint for Nepal is the same as Musharraf’s for Pakistan.” ...... “Both seized power forcibly claiming that the political class was incompetent and corrupt. Both asked for three years to restore democracy. Musharraf set up his National Accountability Bureau to fix the politicians, King Gyanendra set up the Royal Commission for Corruption Control. Musharraf promulgated the Legal Framework Order to govern, Gyanendra rules by ordinances. Musharraf manipulated the Supreme Court, in Kathmandu, too, the Supreme Court is being manipulated. Musharraf talked of his fighting a war on terrorism and the king is also making similar claims.” ....... “Musharraf talked of ‘enlightened moderation’, King Gyanendra is talking of ‘twenty-first century society and idealism’, Musharraf promised democracy with the adjective ‘real’; the king talks of ‘sarthak prajatantra’ or ‘constructive democracy’. In short, Pakistan seems to have the manual for the authoritarian take-overs and Nepal consults it.” ...... Gyanendra’s father King Mahendra copied Ayub Khan ..... using Ayub Khan’s notion of ‘grassroots democracy’, King Mahendra brought in the panchayat system after subverting democracy ......Musharraf created a parallel structure of administration through district nazims elected on a non-party basis who reported directly to Islamabad. King Gyanendra has decided that he, too, does not trust the existing bureaucratic and administrative institutions. He has decided to nominate zonal and district commissioners and members of the village development committees....... Unlike Musharraf, however, Gyanendra has not as yet announced pre-qualification norms for these elections, for example, that the elections would be without party affiliations or that only those with some minimum qualification can contest........ a “Hindu” king and a “Muslim” dictator ...... The Pakistanis say that their dictatorships have always had a tragic ending with the incumbent leaving office horizontally. King Gyanendra may need to do some original thinking to avoid the denouement of Pakistan’s authoritarian regimes.
• Buta concerned about influx of extremists from Nepal Deepika, India ..... rise in exremism affecting nearly 30 of the 38 districts in the state, Bihar ...... Nepalese extremists were finding refuge in Bihar ....... constituting special task force, specially trained for guerrilla warfare and equipped with modern weaponry, the state had undertaken several measures for the development of the affected areas ...... a scheme to encourage the surrender and rehabilitation of the extremists
• Buta concerned over rise in Left wing extremism in Bihar Press Trust of India .....recent merger of MCC and the People's War outfits in the state..... welcomed the multi-purpose identity card scheme
  
• The crackdown and after Nepali Times Not even armed soldiers can stop an FM signal..... Isolation is not an option...... Journalists from the regional and global press filled in the blanks within days. ...... Stolen two-way radios crackled in jungle glades and along terraced hillsides, clandestine and illegal FM transmitters spread the words of the leadership, unfettered by the military and civil administration crackdown in Kathmandu and other places..... Some day, the mobiles may be switched back on, now that the innocent have been fingerprinted..... let’s be honest, who among us could realistically fault the press or the broadcasters for any of the woes of the past 14 years? ...... Kantipur Television, Space Time and Image Channel were acquiring talent and technology with the joint aim of earning a profit and informing the public...... Most strikingly, the FM radio dial was growing ever more crowded. Community stations in the tiniest of towns and in the capital linked people of all castes and ethnic groups. They kept politicians and traders honest. They provided information on health, education and, yes, the insurgency. In Kathmandu, commercial radio helped Nepali rock, folk and classical music flourish and pushed Bollywood and western pop into niches of limited popularity....... The independent media was world class and getting better and more confident with time. It was also responsible and by no means interested in encouraging totalitarianism or violence of any sort....... Voices for peace, reconciliation and development are silenced or forced into cat-and-mouse games with capricious authority. ..... In the tarai and midhills, the only voice that speaks without government censorship comes clandestinely and illegally over an FM band where informative, independent thought has been banished. The Maoists are free to speak their minds. No one else is.
  
• Foreigners visiting Nepal after royal takeover are not tourists United We Blog, Nepal Sadly, we have not been able to welcome foreign heads of state or heads of government because we have no vibrant bilateral relations with major nations. What we have is a bloody conflict that attracts only international right observers.
• A State on the Verge of Failure New York Times The last thing the world needs is another failed state in south Asia, but that is what threatens to emerge in Nepal, where a spiraling conflict between the army and insurgents has taken a turn for the worse....... by attacking the moderate political center, the king made peace more remote ......At the root of Nepal's anguish is some of the world's deepest poverty and a monarchy that seemed happy to allow the misery to endure...... It has long been obvious that there is no military solution to the insurgency. In any case, Nepal's army is too busy rounding up demonstrators and censoring the news media. The rebels will have to be brought to the negotiating table by a legitimate representative government, which could then tackle the hardship that feeds the insurgency.
• Nepal schools shut after threat BBC News, UK
• Nepal's king to let elections `activate democratic process' Taipei Times
• Nepal king finally meets Indian envoy Hindustan Times, India
• Nepal Urged to Leave Schoolchildren Out of Fighting Scotsman, UK
• Nepal King to visit Indonesia Business Standard, India
• Nepal pol parties reject royal declaration on civic polls Press Trust of India, India
• King announces civic polls, creates new controversy Hindustan Times
• Photos provide rare look into caste system in rural Nepal Hingham Journal, MA
• NEPAL UPS DEMOCRACY SPREAD MichNews.com, MI
• Death Toll Mounts In Nepal Civil Conflict World Forum The king is corrupt, and a dictator, he has taken over in an illegal coup, He has no right to rule as he is from a serial killer's family ..... India is richer than Nepal, and Bhutan, because India is a democratic republic ..... Monarchy has killed more people than communism in the 20th century if you include the flu epidemic of 1919, and World War I .... Some claim politicians are corrupt, but in what way, they are not as corrupt as king ..... under him, the economy slowed down for the first time in decades ..... there was also a Maoist revolt in the 1970s, which saw deaths, and riot ..... Nepal has more child labourers and serfs per head than any ...... king claim all credit, and blame advisors for all failings .....if you compared one on one the king with any politician the king would be worst, as he killed so many, and saw so many deaths in his 3 year stint in power, and has lost so many allies ......
• Letter From The US Congress To The King INSN We do not want the future of Nepali democracy undermined permanently by this centralization of authority.
  
• Mystery Of The Missing Baburam Bhattarai INSN “He was such a good architect that the Americans offered him 1 lakh dollars to work for them but he refused,” the taxi driver went on........ “Woh Maobadi ka raja hai (he is the king of the Maoists),” he explained...... March 24 ..... “We are glad to be under the glorious protection of the people’s red army” and that this was preferable to being in the king’s jail....... enough indication of major ideological and personal differences between Bhattarai and Prachanda ...... The decision of the politburo against Bhattarai and Hisila Yami was not unanimous, according to Sharma, with seven out of 14 full members present (three are imprisoned in India) writing a note of dissent. Ten alternate members do not have voting rights...... he has been suspended for six months from the central committee and the politburo on the issue of inner-party democracy ...... major differences surfaced among the Maoists during the last plenum of the central committee held in August 2004...... Bhattarai’s view, Sharma claims, was that the main enemy was the monarchy. He apparently argued that to establish a democratic republic, as opposed to a communist republic, even India’s help was needed...... “Bhattarai warned against looking hopefully towards the king for a compromise and argued against peace talks with him.” ....... Bhattarai also wrote in the Kantipur daily against lack of inner-party democracy and the “raja-rajouta pravratti (feudal tendency)” of the Maoist leadership........ His explanation was sought and he replied with a 13-point reply that challenged the leadership further. He questioned the elevation of the revolutionary path called “Prachandapath” to “Thoughts of Prachanda”, the centralisation of party, army and state posts in one person and adding Prachanda’s photograph to the pantheon of Marx, Engles, Lenin, Stalin and Mao........ It is Prachanda who has gone against the party line and not Bhattarai...... “There will be no split. Prachanda does not want to expel Bhattarai. He only wants to control him. Bhattarai is also not in favour of launching a new party” ...... A party body larger than the politburo will have to settle the issue .... there will be no revolt in the Maoist rank
• King Baiters Grow Bolder The Telegraph A 70-year-old retired Gorkha soldier of the British army has voluntarily gone to jail thrice protesting against the king’s actions since October 4, 2002. Each time he offers his arrest, police officials urge him not to do so at his age. He replies: “But I like it here. All my friends are here in jail, what will I do outside?” ..... When an octogenarian communist leader, suffering from high blood pressure offered his arrest, the deputy superintendent of police apologised to him ....... Nepalese newspapers are also getting bolder...... Intellectuals, academics and politicians are challenging government orders restricting their movement. People sitting in restaurants and coffee shops criticise the king’s actions without fear of being overheard. The Bar Association of Nepal is filing habeas corpus petitions free for those believed to be in illegal custody..... The struggle between the old feudal elite, reasserting itself through Gyanendra’s regressive actions, and the emerging elite whose interests lie in free competition in public life is clearly intensifying...... Rarely are the leaders of the student unions in Kathmandu, for example, from the valley itself....... this war — whose indications are in the wind in Nepal — is not going in favour of the monarchy...... “The king’s actions are already helping open up the space for dissidence because of inherent structural contradictions” ...... The bureaucracy is not only afraid, it is also offended...... The Supreme Court also feels miffed because the newly-appointed Royal Commission on Corruption Control is outside the judicial system. The commission itself has thrown up a case of corruption involving a member of royal family ...... the army tried to monitor banking transactions after February 1 but the privatisation of banking and the confidentiality requirements of modern banking meant that the banks refused any such direct intervention .... “Everyday, the Supreme Court judges are issuing notices to the government to explain its actions ranging from banning mobile phone services, prohibiting intellectuals from travelling abroad to unlawfully restricting the movement of prominent people outside the Kathmandu Valley, etc.” ....... junior officers in the army, entry-level officers in the bureaucracy who have got in through open competition, independent and new entrepreneurs, newer professionals who have not yet found accommodation in the power structure and the grassroots-based community organisations ...... “They want careers open to talent which is only possible in a democracy or else elite domination will never end. So, they are personally committed to democracy,” claims Lal...... the political parties are meeting together to decide on a united struggle; the press is creating national and international pressure on the monarchy despite censorship; and the civil society is uniting against the king
• Koirala Spits Fire And Spews Smoke The Telegraph For someone who took up smoking only at the age of 58 and went on to become a chain smoker, he is fit as a fiddle...... “I will not compromise on democracy with anyone — forget about this king.” .... “We will offer talks to the king after the democratic political parties come to a consensus among themselves on how to restore the constitutional process. If he agrees with our demand, fine. Otherwise, he will be isolated and we will start an agitation against him.” ...... In the 1960s, he took up arms to fight Gyanendra’s father King Mahendra ....... it is around Koirala that the political opposition to the executive monarchy is crystallising ....... “All the experiments of the king with nominated Prime Ministers since October 2002 have failed. Even when he has assumed charge himself, his failure is apparent.” ...... “Today the international community says that the olitical parties should be united in their movement for democracy. But when our movement was at its peak in 2003, the international community did not help us.” ....... “The US and British ambassadors in fact told us categorically to pull back. We stopped two lakh people from coming to Kathmandu to encircle Narayanhitti Palace (the king’s residence and office) because of their assurances” ...... the US and the British had assured the agitating political parties that they would be able to persuade the king to briefly revive Parliament for the sole purpose of forming an all-party government authorised to talk to the Maoists. The Parliament itself was to be adjourned after government formation...... “But that is history now. Had the international community supported us then, democracy would have been restored. Now they realise what this king is all about and so they are asking us to unite,” says Koirala........ spent nine years during the Rana and Shah regimes in jail .....one-room flat he occupies on the top floor of his nephew’s house ...... His telephone lines are still disconnected and his visitors monitored. ...... his house in Maharajganj is where politicians of all hues are coming to discuss strategies to restore democracy over endless cups of tea. Those who are evading arrest and cannot come to his house, the octogenarian goes and meets in the city’s hotels or at other convenient meeting points ...... “My release from house arrest should not be seen as the king relaxing the emergency or restoring human rights. He wants to discredit me —because other political leaders are in jail. I cannot even visit them or evolve a common strategy with them. The king wants to tell the world — see, I released him and he can do nothing to challenge me.” ...... He is trying to unite the democratic political parties on a common agreed programme..... Koirala’s solution to get out of the present crisis is to revive the Constitution by reinstating Parliament and form an all-party government, which would offer talks to the Maoists. This constitutional government could then either go for a referendum on whether or not Nepal needs a new Constituent Assembly or it could even decide to directly organise elections for a Constituent Assembly....... In a remarkable change from the past, showing flexibility, Koirala says this is not a formula written in stone. “Once the political parties start discussions, some new and better formulations may emerge. I am completely open to that. Only on the basis of the consensus that emerges would we go and talk to the king” ....... “The longer the king resists the demands of the people for democracy, the more he will lose. His support is declining.” Although he admits to the growing Republican sentiment among the youth, he feels: “In the current situation merely talking about republicanism will not make us a republic. But if the people want it, it will happen even without my saying so.”