Girija Koirala is out. But none of the news items carry any statement from him. Yet. But the elder statesman is known to speak his mind. So I am expecting some action. I would think he is consulting with his colleagues.
I sense it that the king is slowly loosening his grip. It will be to his credit if he follows the constitution and lifts the emergency by the end of the month. A 3-month limit is specified in the constitution. Only a parliament can extend it, and the country has no parliament.
When India - the world's "office" - and China - the world's "factory" - are contemplating a free trade area between the two, Nepal's sorry state is even more glaring by comparison. The political paralysis engineered by a reluctance to go for a Constituent Assembly prevents the nation from focusing on the economy, like China, like India.
In The News
- Nepal lifts ex-PM Koirala's house arrest
Times of India - Nepal ex-PM Koirala, others freed
Indian Express ... Kishor S. Rathore, president of the Nepal Students Union—affiliated to NC-Democratic—was also among those freed. - Nepal Lifts Politician's House Arrest
ABC News - Koirala freed to calm India Calcutta Telegraph, India In an attempt to placate the international community including India, the US and Britain, King Gyanendra’s government today released former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala from house arrest after a two-month detention...... the “Grand Old Man” of Nepali politics ...... 82-year-old ...... Prime Minister on four different occasions ..... he is expected to spearhead the movement for the restoration of multi-party democracy for the second time in two decades ...... Bush administration had promised to deliver a large cache of small arms and ammunition in May ..... two weeks after former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was freed ..... Indian embassy had been tipped off about the release earlier in the day ......embassy issued a statement saying that it hoped today’s development would lead to the immediate release of Communist Party (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and other detained political leaders and workers, human rights activists, student leaders and journalists ...... In a statement, Nepali Congress leader Bipin Koirala said
- China defies world to support embattled Nepal king
Reuters AlertNet "The international community should respect the choice made by the Nepali people" .... "We support the king and the government of Nepal to ensure national stability and reconciliation and for economic development" ..... Kathmandu, home to 1.5 million people, had stocks of fuel and food supplies to last more than a month. - Li appreciates Nepal’s one China policy Gorkhapatra, Nepal .... thanked His Majesty the King and the government of Nepal for the “continued support for China’s reunification cause for the motherland.” .... Li said he was happy about the audience he received from His Majesty the King..... taking advantage of development of China’s western region and train service to Lhasa by 2006.”
- Security alert in Nepal ahead of nationwide strike Ireland Online, Ireland .... government hoped to foil the strike .... “We have a heavy presence along the major highways. There is no way they can disrupt the traffic” ....
- UNICEF appeals for fear to be banished from Nepal’s classrooms I-Newswire.com (press release) The start of the new school year in Nepal should be a time for all parties involved in the conflict to ensure that violence and fear stay out of the classroom ..... Schools, teachers and students have been a key casualty of the last nine years of the conflict ..... “Older children are much better able to pick up where they left off if their education is disrupted. Younger children have to start again with this difficult business of learning to read, write and count. Too many disruptions and it just gets too hard.”
- Bangladesh, Nepal among world's leading disaster hot spots
Express Newsline A new study conducted by researchers at Columbia University in New York suggests that Bangladesh, Nepal are some of the world's most vulnerable countries as far as natural disasters are concerned..... implement a preventive, rather than reactive, approach to disasters - India asks Nepal to remove all curbs on civil liberties Press Trust of India, India ....
- Nepal Monarchy showing signs of weakness in the middle of drifting ... India Daily, NJ ....showing signs of weakness in the middle of drifting foreign policy ..... Dahkal also said opposition parties "should stop" secretly associating with Maoist rebels, and said that the Nepalese government could lift restrictions on freedom of the press if the media does not encourage terrorist activities..... The King and his monarchy is following a directionless foreign policy with little support from the world except non-democratic power centers like Pakistan and China...... The political parties are spectators watching slow destruction of their country.
- A strange anti-India coalition – China, Pakistan, Nepal ...
India Daily Hundreds of Nepalese journalists defied a government ban on protests and demanded restoration of press freedoms in Nepal. Police closely monitored the protesters but, unlike previous protests, did not disperse them or arrest anyone involved. Nepal deploys troops to block fresh bid by Maoist Daily Times, Pakistan Violence in the valley, where bombings were an almost daily occurrence last year, has virtually halted since King Gyanendra seized total power on February 1...... a statement urging the masses “to create a storm of action in favour of full democracy and against autocracy.” ..... although bloodshed has subsided, it was not clear if the rebels were wounded or preparing a major assault, the general admitted. “We have been expecting a big attack somewhere,” he said. “They have the initiative to chose a place and time ... They have been collecting weapons.” ..... The army has grown from 45,000 troops in 2001 to 80,000 today, facing what the spokesman estimated to be 6,000-8,000 well-armed combatants and a militia of 20,000-25,000 equipped usually with homemade weapons..... insurgency has since 1996 claimed more than 11,000 lives — about two-thirds of them Maoists, according to the army ..... - From The Ringside In Geneva .... the situation cannot be improved without serious intervention by the international community ..... A military solution is not possible .... democracy is the only option to improve the situation .... Royal takeover is illegal .... International intervention will work to prosecute every CDO and army officer who is involved to violate the rights of people in Nepal. He further said that international community should restrict the government of Nepal and its official to travel any part of the world...... Diwaker Panta, Director of HR Promotion Centre, said that this government is legal and that the government has provided for a budget for the NHRC...... the constitution does not permit the formation of such a type of government, which violates the jurisprudence of constitutional monarchy .....
- Forces Of Democracy And Peace Are Winning Mathura P. Shrestha ...... corner meetings, public agitations, lectures, interaction programs, debates, discussions in families and communities, campaigning by graffiti writings, pamphlets, posters, placards and flags ..... People who are enslaved by feudal autocracy for centuries and who are denied of their rights have nothing to loose except their chains and virtual slavery. They have however to rebel...... The so called military discipline in Nepal is based upon and dominated by slave mentality. The senior officers, commanders treat their subordinates as slaves .... Same advice goes to the Maoist military personnel who commit atrocities against the provisions of international humanitarian laws. Both categories should remember the likelihood being referred to International Court of Justice as War Crime Suspects in future...... Nepali Congress ....dissolving its liberation army in 1941... compromised with the palace by forsaking its objective of Constitutional Assembly during 1957 political agitation ..... Its armed revolution of 1962 was withdrawn because of Chino-Indian War ...... The revolution was waged for the republican democracy. ... Communist Party of Nepal - UML ..... The party stopped collecting monthly revenue or fees or donations from about a quarter of million of their cadres that amounted to only one or two rupees per head per month....... lost a large financial base to depend upon large financial houses and rich gentries ...... so called elected governments including the interim one .... became virtual stooges to palace gentries in order to strike ‘non-confronting compromises’ with the monarchy ....
- Violence Precedes Nepal Nationwide Strike Scotsman, UK ... Businesses were closed in most areas of the Himalayan kingdom because of the strike ..... a series of blasts at government buildings and a marketplace ...... Many of Nepal’s roads and highways were deserted because of the strike ..... Security forces were on alert and highway patrols were stepped up in a bid to foil the strike....
- One killed in Nepal blasts ahead of rebel strike Reuters AlertNet, UK ....a string of bomb blasts in west Nepal .... "The blasts were apparently aimed at scaring people to enforce the strike." .... Maoists have urged factories, businesses and schools to shut down during the strike .... about 200 cars, buses, trucks and oil tankers bound for Kathmandu and the tourist town of Pokhara were waiting in the southern town of Aaptari on Saturday for army escorts ...... people generally heed the call of the rebels
- Divisions among Nepal's Maoists Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Nepal's Maoist movement has grown so fast that it is now a proud citation for revolutionaries around the world..... the communists who until the 1980s ruled one-fourth of humanity.... Nepal's Maoists stand at a crossroads ......Bhattarai, who holds a doctorate in engineering and remains the intellectual force behind one of the most potent Maoist movements in the world, is said to be unhappy with Prachanda's alleged megalomania. Followers of the party boss Prachanda believe he has given an entirely new meaning to the Maoist revolution and hence his brand of Maoism, Prachanda Path, puts him alongside such giants of the international communist movement as Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong....... The Maoists have indiscriminately torched transport vehicles that have defied their shutdowns, forcibly recruited thousands of children in their ranks as soldiers and levied parallel taxes from teachers to businesses ....... Maoist workers were aware of the "differences in the party and actions have been taken against the dissidents at various levels". ...... "Prachanda will do all he can at damage control, in the event that Bhattarai has actually been expelled from the party."
- BP’s son Prakash Koirala hails Royal move Gorkhapatra, Nepal said Prakash Koirala, the central member of Nepali Congress. “Setting aside the truth and reality of what the Nepalese people want, the foreign media have been trying to mislead the people against which we all need to remain cautious.”..... He said that he was following the footsteps of his father late B.P. Koirala who had firm belief on constitutional monarchy ......“I had also raised voice in support of a government led by late Manamohan Adhikari and I had said that the government should be allowed to complete its full five year tenure.” ...... “All forces should isolate the terrorists and there is no possibility of joint works between the Maoists and other parties.” ......“If all people set their personal interests aside and support the Royal move, peace and order will be restored earlier than three years.”
- Eight killed, 20 injured in Nepal violence OregonLive.com, OR
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