Common Minimum Program: Constituent Assembly

The king disappointed in his speech a few days back. This is a rhinoceros, not about to change course, and headed into a ditch. Leaders of dictatorial outfits tend not to change their minds, they instead go down in defeat. Look at Saddam. He never compromised, and instead ended up in a hole, unshaved, a tiny pistol in his hand. Dictators are not capable of flexibility and creative political solutions. That is the alley of democrats.

Used to be the Monarchists, the Maoists, and the democrats were going their own separate ways. But now there is an informal understanding between the Maoists and the democrats. There is an emerging common minimum program. It is called Constituent Assembly. This shows the Monarchists are on their way out, and in a major way.

The Maoists are advised to follow the recent communique of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. He has sought a CMP of a Democratic Republic and a Constituent Assembly. The political parties are already behind the idea of a Constituent Assembly. This is the first time such a common ground has emerged between the Maoists and the political parties.

The longer it takes to get there, the more the country is going to tilt towards the idea of a Democratic Republic. Already the cadres in all parties are for it. The leaders so far have not had the guts to come out for it. But they will not be able to stand in the way of the tide. Once the momentum builds, they either come along with the idea, or they stand getting sidelined.

This is not a constitutional monarch, this is a feudal monarch, going by his public actions.

The country is going republic.

The people do not need his consent to declare a republic. He stands to get thrown out. The movement is gelling. As it gathers momentum, it will likely turn into a revolution.

At this point the worst thing the Maoists could do is engage the RNA militarily. It would be unrealistic to ask them to disarm unilaterally. And also unrealistic to ask them to declare a ceasefire. But they should refrain from picking fights. Just stay back. If they attack, and pick fights, and if the RNA stocks go down, the foreign powers will be forced to replenish the RNA stocks, and that the Monarchists will paint as political victory. If the Maoists have some sense, they should not allow such a development as a resumption of foreign military aid.

So, yes, do not necessarily declare a ceasefire, but act like there is one in place. Instead let the peaceful democratic movement gell. Let it gather momentum. Don't give the Monarchists an opportunity to quash it claiming there has been armed Maoist infiltration.

It was foolish of Prachanda to have put Baburam under arrest two months back. It would be foolish of him to not get back behind the Democratic Republic and Constituent Assembly CMP in the most effective way possible. And the most effective way right now is not military. The military way plays into the hands of the Monarchists and strengthens them politically.

Now it is for the democrats to work on the movement in the most effective way possible. It is an organizational challenge.

May 29

• Journalists protest closure of Nepal radio centre Peninsula On-line, Qatar The Ministry of Information and Communications on Friday ordered the centre, which provides programming to 14 of the 50 private FM radio stations across the country, to shut down...... Guragain, who insisted Saturday he would defy the closure order....... several newspapers had been shut down by the authorities or had closed due to financial problems....... more than 1,500 supporters of seven student unions demonstrated in Kathmandu demanding reinstatement of multi-psssarty democracy...... more than 40 refugees driven from the countryside by Maoist violence were arrested yesterday for demonstrating for food and shelter
• Nepal's Maoist rebels kill policewoman, child Reuters AlertNet, UK Maoist rebels sprayed the house of a policewoman with bullets killing her and her four-year-old son
• Nepal opposition defies king near Deuba's trial venue:- Webindia123, India Nearly 5,000 people braved the scorching mid-day heat and a possible police crackdown to take part in the first mass meet called in the capital Friday by a coalition of seven major opposition parties.... security personnel, who watched over the two-hour meeting, made no attempts to prevent the proceedings...... if the king continued to rule with absolute power, there could be a mass uprising ......
  
• Save my husband, pleads detained Nepalese leader's wife:- Webindia123 Lila Mani Pokhrel ..... has stones in his kidney, paralysis symptoms and diabetes. Pokhrel also has symptoms of hernia and needs immediate surgery ...... Pokhrel is deprived of "basic human rights", like not being allowed books, newspapers or even writing material ...... He is also not allowed to meet anyone except family members......
  
• India steps up patrolling on Nepal border to curb Maoists:- Webindia123
• Nepal king says aims to hold polls in stages Reuters AlertNet, UK said he planned to hold polls in phases to all elected bodies in the revolt-torn nation, but set no dates .... "Necessary preparations have already been initiated to hold these (municipal) elections and activate, in stages, all elected bodies" ......
  
• Nepal releases 75 political leaders and activists Sify
• King of Nepal now eager to bring democracy back in Nepal India Daily There is persistent rumor that Maoists are in direct secret talks with Indian Government.
  
• Crackdown continues in Nepal Hindu The crackdown on political activists and media appears to continue in Nepal with royal government detaining 20 political activists who were staging protests against King Gyanendra, even as it re-arrested a former minister immediately after his release from prison...... Others who were released on Friday include Nepali Congress spokesman Arjun Narsingh K.C., former Ministers Bimalendra Nidhi, Bhim Kumari Budhamagar, Suresh Malla, Mina Pandey and Dip Kumar Upadhyay as also ex-Parliament members Khem Raj Bhatta Mayalu and Tek Bahadur Chokhyal...... "We will not shut down our operation, we will continue the operation despite the government's instruction and go to the Supreme Court for a stay order when the office opens on Monday," said Suresh Acharya, News Editor of the Communication Corner and former President of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists...... Calling the government directive as the end of the rule of law in the country, Acharya said the ministry has alleged us of operating illegally without mentioning any law.
  
• UK resumes non-lethal military aid to Nepal Hindustan Times, India Britain has decided to resume non-lethal military assistance to Nepal on humanitarian grounds, following in the footsteps of India....... the meeting in Luxembourg discussed EU-India ties as well as regional and international developments, where Nepal reportedly featured on the agenda ...... the meeting, the resumption of non-lethal military assistance and the parliamentary notice have been kept low-key with even the British media not getting a whiff of it.

May 27

• Thousands attend Nepal pro-democracy rally Reuters AlertNet, UK .....5,000 supporters of seven mainstream parties, many punching their fists in the air, attended the second biggest rally in a week against the monarch ..... on Friday when a dozen rebels, armed with automatic weapons, fired at a security patrol in the western town of Bhairahawa .....the seven parties wanted the restoration of the parliament to solve the political crisis and were ready to hold elections to a constituent assembly to end the Maoist revolt ..... The demand for the constituent assembly was the sticking point in talks with Maoists in 2001 and 2003...... the royalist government ordered troops on alert fearing infiltration of Maoist rebels into anti-monarchy rallies
• Nepal on alert ahead of anti-king rally Reuters AlertNet ..... Witnesses said riot police armed with bamboo sticks and helmets had been posted around the site of the protests
  
• Nepal govt frees over 50 political detainees Sify, India .....Narsingh K C and two former ministers Bimalendra Nidhi and Dip Kumar Upadhyay
• NEPAL: National report fails to stress the impact of conflict on ... Reuters AlertNet, UK .... second periodic report to the United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child (CRC)..... "In many ways, Nepal was not a country fit for children" ..... The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) was particularly critical of the report, which had omitted the most important adverse effects of the conflict on children ..... Over 300 children are estimated to have been killed from 13 February 1996 to 28 February 2005. Of these, 168 children were reportedly killed at the hands of the state and 138 at the hands of the Maoists ...... The girls have been raped and molested by the security forces ..... Nepal ratified the Convention on the Rights of Children in 1990 ..... Since then, the country has introduced several laws and ratified key international conventions to promote and protect children's rights that were non-existent during the pre-1990s era.
• Bodies of 25 Maoists recovered in Nepal Hindu ..... Around 15 Maoists torched the ancestral house of Chief Justice Hari Prasad Sharma at Tarigaun village in Dang district on Monday night, an army official said adding the two-storeyed building was completely gutted..... Maoists allegedly raped two women in Singhdevi area of Ramechhap district ...... Eight Maoist rebels surrendered before security forces in Bharatpur Municipality in Chitawan district
  
• Progress in Nepal Washington Post, DC ..... 2002 ... All the king did .. was act in accordance with the Nepali constitution and consent to the dissolution of the parliament as recommended by the prime minister...... Since lifting the state of emergency on April 29, the country has begun to restore civil liberties..... Nepal is restoring peace and stability to accelerate the restoration of a fully functional democracy as soon as possible
• Bhattarai meeting raises questions on Nepal policy Times of India The revelation that Nepal's Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, has been meeting Indian Communist leaders in the capital .... Bhattarai carries an Interpol red corner notice on his head. .... One of the best proposals coming out of the seven-party alliance in Nepal, therefore, was to invite the Maoists. But the Maoists refused...... Bhattarai's hobnobbing with India, sources say, could leave the space open for a king-Maoist understanding, at India's cost.
  
• Nepal frees 18 political detenus Hindu, India Former Deputy Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudyal and hundreds of other political detenus are still languishing in different jails across the country. The Government last month extended their detention order by another three months despite their deteriorating health conditions.
• Ex-Nepalese PM Koirala to visit India:- Webindia123 will undergo his annual medical check-up at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. He had undergone a check-up at the same institution last year too..... will also be using his stay in New Delhi to meet Indian leaders and authorities to muster support for the anti-monarchy movement...... Koirala's daughter Sujata and nephew Dr. Shekhar Koirala are also currently based in New Delhi...... While Sujata was in the US and Britain to take part in anti-king rallies this week, Dr. Koirala met Indian leader and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha Wednesday...... with the Nepal government stopping several opposition leaders at the airport to prevent them from leaving the country, it remains to be seen if Koirala will be allowed to proceed to the Indian capital.
  
• Nepal opposition seeks Yashwant Sinha's support:- Webindia123 Rajan Bhattarai, member of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Shekhar Koirala and Mathura Prasad Ghimire of the Nepali Congress, Pradip Giri of ousted Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's Nepali Congress (Democratic) party, Hridayesh Tripathi and Rajendra Mahto of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (A) and Chandra Dev Joshi of United Left Front, met BJP leader and ex-minister for external affairs Yashwant Sinha at his residence.