India's U-Turn: Nuanced As Predicted

The news today is clearer on that. But the king will do himself a big favor by letting the emergency expire at the end of April. Arms supplies might resume after that, although starting in a trickle.

On another note, the fall of the Maoists' "capital" Thawang is major news.

And Sujata Koirala is in New York City. I got informed earlier today over email. Kind of coincides with the Dinesh Prasain tour. I sent out this email to the mailing list I am part of:

Sujata Koriola should be extended all help possible

Thank you ____ for the key info.

I got to interview her over the phone for my blog.
http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/

The idea is of a Common Minimum Program. And she is
very much part of it: democracy and human rights.

It might not be a great idea, technically speaking, to
mix the Dinesh Prasain tour with hers, but people in
the same network should be individually requested to
extend her all help possible.

Plus since there is a strong feeling that we should
keep Dinesh long after May 6, it would be possible to
turn that phase of his stay into something more
political. And more integration would be possible. To
those of you who do not know, Dinesh has a family
relationship with the Nepali Congress. His father has
been part of it for decades. So Dinesh, in his
personal capacity, might feel very comfortable doing
it.

Koirala can get more media attention, as well as
attention in DC on Capitol Hill due to her last name,
and we should cash in on that.

At this difficult time for the country, when Girija
Koirala personifies the struggle, as his close
confidante and voice in the global arena, we should
extend Sujata all help we can. She has been one of the
top 5 leaders in exile. And Girija Koirala has
repeatedly asked her to stay out of Nepal still: that
is his reading of the ground situation in Nepal. And
leaders inside Nepal are on the cusp of organizing
some major street protests. We should move in tandem
with that.

And also in the name of supporting aspiring women
leaders.

Plus, she is articulate and media savvy. That has been
my personal observation.

P.S. I am copying this mail to her.


>>--- _________
>>wrote:
>> > Hey all,
>> >
>> > I just got an email from Sujata Koriola via a
>> > friend.  She is in NYC and
>> > would like help/contacts to arrange meetings in
NYC
>> > and D.C. 

There are unconfirmed reports Gagan Thapa might have been arrested. The regime is not doing
itself much good by actions like this one: "... around–2.30 a.m. Nepal time .. arrested them .... 
whereabouts are not known ..... security people have been going through all of their personal 
documents including books and articles .... Yesterday, Keshav Singh, national president of
Nepal Student Union and Sanu Shrestha, District President of Nepal Student Union, were
arrested by plain clothes security personnel. Their whereabouts are also unknown."

In The News

• Coming Anarchy In Nepal We’re talking about illiterate peasants with no education adhering to a blind devotion to violent insurgency. They slaughter teachers and destroy schools, bomb bridges and roads, abduct children into their army, terrorize villages, and would do much worse give half a chance.
• Amnesty Nepal: Reports
• Elusive Respite by SD Muni The Monarchy is part of the problem in the Himalayan Kingdom, it can hardly be a part of the solution to the present crisis.
• Counsel For A King Times Of India New Delhi is willing to engage the monarch in efforts to restore democracy ..... Already, over a million refugees have sought sanctuary in India ...... the Maoists have made common cause with Naxalite groups in Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, purportedly to carve out a communist revolutionary zone slicing through the Indian nation ....... If necessary as an eventuality, an inter-national force could be set up under the aegis of the blue helmets ..... a Security Council resolution....... the bulk of the peacekeepers could be from South Asian nations
• Nepal arms on hold after Left volley Calcutta Telegraph, India ..... arms supply would not be revived unless King Gyanendra took serious steps to restore democracy .... Today’s linking of arms supply revival to restoration of democracy is the result of the realisation that more forces could join the Left and turn the move into a major controversy, souring the success of talks with China and Pakistan...... On April 30, the ordinance the king issued to impose emergency expires. Opinion in Delhi as well Kathmandu suggests he might not extend the ordinance.
• Military aid to Nepal: PM meets Left NDTV.com
  
• No decision on Nepal military ties yet: PM Economic Times, India .... the government was yet to take a formal decision on renewing military ties with Nepal
• Kälin calls for humanitarian action in Nepal Swissinfo, Switzerland .... the country was in the grip of a "climate of fear"...... the overall situation in the country was "very difficult and dangerous"..... Large numbers of people have been displaced due to violence and threats by the Maoist rebels. However, many people are also scared of getting caught in the crossfire between government forces and the Maoists. The bad security situation makes life unbearable in places..... Many of the IDPs have left for India in the hope of finding work but a large number remain in Nepal. Their situation is increasingly difficult. Some of the women are even forced into prostitution...... Many people are afraid of government forces....... I hope the rebels will accept my demand to respect the basic principles of international humanitarian law. If they do that, one of the main causes of displacement will almost certainly be eliminated ......gives the UN and its human-rights monitors access to both sides...... The situation is in fact very serious outside the capital.
• 10 killed in Nepal violence Times of India, India The banned student wing of the Maoists has been on an attacking spree ..... an increasing incidence of the communist insurgents switching their ire to civilians from security forces
  
• CPI calls for cautious approach to Nepal Hindu, India
  
• Do not resume arms supplies to Nepal: Left Hindu D. Raja, found it strange that it was the King who announced what the Indian Government planned to do.
• Maoist heartland falls to army Times of India launching concerted raids and capturing the village of Thawang ..... Royal Nepal Army (RNA) has sent hundreds of soldiers to clear out Maoist strongholds in Rolpa district, the heart of the rebellion ....... the first concerted offensive against rebel strongholds since King Gyanendra seized total power on February 1. Most of the fighting since have been defensive operations ...... capturing Thawang and surrounding areas is not enough to declare victory .... "Since the Maoists are a guerrilla force, they will withdraw rather than face a conventional army"
  
• India's Resumption of Arms to Nepal Not Due to China - Analysts Inter Press Service (subscription), World India and China are no longer competing in Nepal or elsewhere ..... already the pressure from India has shown results and if this continues there is a chance for the restoration of democracy .... ''It (the resumption of arms supplies) had to happen sooner than later,'' Mehta told reporters. ''We could not have kept the supplies blocked indefinitely, having undertaken to modernise the Royal Nepalese Army we could not back out.'' ...... Nepal is probably the deadliest conflict in Asia with an estimated 10 killings a day ..... Harsh realities remain. India is obliged to supply arms to Nepal under a 1965 treaty and also it has open borders with the Himalayan kingdom, which has allowed at least 10 million Nepalese to cross over to India and take up employment and residence in this country. ..... India also faces a Maoist insurgency in several of its own states, especially in southern Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and in eastern Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. But New Delhi prefers to regard this as development issue and has refrained from unleashing its army on extreme left-wing groups.
  
• Expert warns of spread of Kala-azar in Nepal Xinhua, China Nearly 6 million people living in Nepal's Terai Belt are vulnerable to Kala-azar ..... A poor family is forced to spend over 25 percent of its annual income on prevention and treatment of malaria .... Nearly 50 percent people are threatened by mosquitoes but there are only two mosquito experts in Nepal
• Naxals getting arms, rocket launchers from Nepal: DGP Deepika, India
  
• When Only The Wrong Parties Are Right FreeNepal.org it was the constitutional obligation of the government to protect the monarchy that handicapped the political parties in dealing with the Maoists. The Maoists are always ready to settle down with the multiparty democracy without the kingship........ the crucial matter of bringing the pre-democracy corruption into the book--points to the power the passive monarchy still held after the democracy....... the political parties have power and freedom enough to abuse, but not enough to challenge the King and his interests....... The slowly emerging voices for doing away with the ever ambitious monarchy have become louder and are spreading rapidly among political party workers since Feb 1...... October 4, 2002, when the King decided not to remain in the shadows and determined to show everybody who had the real power in Nepal by sacking the elected government with an authority he did not legitimately wield...... This shocked the political parties. ..... the political parties--even after learning through three rounds of formal talks with the rebel that the rebels were ready to end the insurgency for a democratic republic, or at least for the acceptance of a democratic process geared toward that possibility--unanimously decided to crush the rebels militarily and protect the monarchy by declaring the state of emergency on November 26, 2001....... leaders of political parties ..... there have been just too many mistakes for too long a time to admit to all of them..... they have yet to present clear roadmaps ..... the collective failure of all parties, all the time..... what we had was still a quasi-democracy, and a quasi-democracy is not a self-correcting but a self-destroying system..... when the words that Maoist ideologue Dr. Baburam Bhattari writes in national dailies become the most stimulating and bold ideas ever read by common people in Nepal
• Constitutional Crisis In Nepal, The Way Forward INSN ... former judges of the Supreme Court spoke against the autocracy of the king .... spoke unequivocally about the unconstitutional nature of the king’s 1 February proclamation and move and the need for a new constitution for the country..... The speakers included representatives of the Nepali political parties (Rajendra Mahato, General Secretary, Nepali Sadbhavana Party; Mr Swanaam, spokesperson, Communist Party of Nepal–Unity Centre-Mashal; Rajan Bhattarai , International Department, CPN-UML, CD Joshi, CC Member, CPN-United; Pradip Giri, Nepali Congress-Democratic, Krishna Sitoula, CC Member, NC)...... the need for evolving a common agenda ....... The clear and unanimous view of all the representatives of the political parties was the consensus was unambiguously in favour of constituent assembly and for the need for support from the international community ...... some speakers underlined the need for a peace agreement and a broad alliance across the political spectrum, including the Maoists, against the king ......