Prachanda Press Statement

Prachanda has issued a press statement.

• Prachanda Press Statement INSN

Some observations I make:

1. He says he is ultra careful that his party does not become pro-King or pro-India. Okay, so you are for a republic. As for India, it can not be that you are against India as a country. You have active ties with the Maoists in India. So if that is ideological, that is okay? If it is okay for you to have ties across the border along ideological lines, why is it not okay for people of other political persuasions to have the same? Maybe the Nepali Congress is close to the Congress (I), maybe the Sadbhavana is close to the Janata Dal. Maybe they have ideological affinities too. Since when did your ideology become more relevant? But then political links are not all. Every Madhesi I know has family relations in India. Maybe your mother is from India, or your brother or sister got married to an Indian. If you are anti-India in a blanet way, you are trying to split up these families: undoable and laughable. It can not be the India of cultural and religious ties.
   
2. If you are a responsible leader of Nepal, you can not be ignorant of the political plight of the Madhesis, part of the DaMaJaMa coalition. The anti-India stick is the one primarily used to foment ethnic prejudice and hatred and discrimination against the Madhesis. I am not saying you are necessarily doing that. But you have to publicly draw the distinction and come out saying you are against the India stick used against the Madhesis. The Madhesis are as much Nepalis as Pahadis. Your ideology seeks Janajati liberation. It must also seek Madhesi liberation. Right?
   
3. Which brings me to some legitimate grievances Nepalis should have when it comes to Indian foreign policy. You have to be specific and say what is what. Is it the 1950 treaty that bothers you? Then be specific. Is it the Sugauli treaty? Be specific. I think the only true solution for small countries like Nepal is to come around to this idea of a reorganized United Nations.
   
4. When you are not specific, you just play into the hands of the false nationalists.
   
5. I am glad you use the word flexibility. It is much in demand.
   
6. I am extremely glad you have agreed to the idea of a Constituent Assembly as a common minimum program for all Nepali democrats and our friends, wherever in the world. I don't mean to say this is a new stand for you, and I don't mean to say your line is different or independent from Baburam's. I have always only sought respectful dialogue with the Maoist organization, which means I leave the Maoist inner-party differences to the Maoists, not that I am in any position to get involved even if I wanted to.
   
7. I hope you take heed of my last blog entry where I have urged you and your party to do the smart thing on military issues. Let your military thoughts be guided by this one issue alone. Ask yourself, am I helping or hurting the cause of a Constituent Assembly? Military refrain is the way you can best help the cause. And I urge you to do the right thing, the wise thing.
   
8. I am extremely glad you have finally decided to move beyond press statements to actual bilateral and multi-lateral dialogues. Better late than never. It is extra important to create and maintain communication channels. It is super important for the democrats and the Maoists to not row the boat in opposite directions.
   
9. Hold your gun, let the movement gather momentum.
   
10. I am glad your party is thinking in terms of an ideological transformation to fit with the times. Marxists are supposed to be scientists, and scientists are supposed to face facts, and new facts keep emerging. I urge you and Baburam to take a look at these: (1) Nepal Communist Party (Progressive) (2) Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace
11. 
    
What Mao did in the 1930s is not necessarily the best thing to do today.
12. 
    
Microsoft has an operating system: Windows. There was Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000. The operating system changes. My point being no dogmatic Marxist is a true Marxist. I urge the two of you and the others in your party to take a serious look at the concept of total, transparent democracy. That is surgery with anesthetics. I think it is foolish to insist on conducting surgery without anesthetics when anesthetics are available.
In The News


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Baburam Bhattarai: Only Visiting Indian Express ..... Bhattarai or Laldhwaj as he is called by fellow comrades is the man, negotiators hope, who can change the plot by steering the Maoist ship towards mainstream politics without a gun. .....
this 51-year-old ..... took shape in the famous Left bastion of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Bhattarai spent his crucial years in JNU as a research student under Professor Atiya Habeeb Kidwai of the Centre for Study of Regional Development. He received his PhD in 1986-87....... he was not in the thick of JNU’s political action. He was short, thin, frail, docile and distanced from any distraction to his academic pursuits ....... The 893-page thesis called ‘‘The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure in Nepal’’ is one of the longest submitted to the Centre. In fact, the original draft was 1,800 pages which was returned by Kidwai to be redone. He calls himself Kidwai’s ‘‘problem child’’ while acknowledging her contribution......... While in Delhi, Bhattarai had a near brush with death. He was hit by a bus while crossing the Outer Ring Road outside Old JNU campus. He went into coma and many of his friends thought they had lost him. He recovered and went on to complete his project........ Though not in the forefront of student politics, he and his wife Hisila Yami spent considerable time with Nepali immigrants in Delhi........ In the northern most mountainous region, he says, it was a direct conflict between man and nature...... In the central hilly region, it was a triangular conflict between the dominant class, nature and the exploited class while in the Southern Terai region it was a straightforward clash between the dominant and the exploited.......

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The Heavy Price Of Feudal Nostalgia The Guardian King Gyanendra, according to a foreign ministry official, believes that the Indian government, the EU and the US are offering too much support to the country’s democratic parties...... Seven leading political parties agreed earlier this month to oppose the king’s “cruel experiment in outdated tyranny” ...... Both India and the British embassy, speaking on behalf of the EU, welcomed the agreement, observing that it offered a possible basis for a dialogue...... India routinely interferes in Nepal’s affairs. It offers a retreat for Nepali politicians and activists of all stripes when they have to absent themselves from the country; it provides military equipment, training and intelligence to the army in its war against the Maoists; and it supplies occasional shelter to those same Maoists, perhaps with an eye to intelligence. India’s Hindu parties maintain close links with the monarchy, and bilateral treaties give India the power to veto arms supplies from elsewhere, while geography offers it the power to turn off the trade tap at will. Frankly, it’s a little late to complain about interference...... What the king really objects to is not interference per se, but the kind he regards as unhelpful to his plan to let the army rip, without human rights scrutiny, to defenestrate the legitimate political parties ...... When the US flew in a series of “security experts” last year to argue that talks with the Maoists would only bear fruit after the rebels had been given a “bloody nose”, the king raised no objection. Indeed, when a delegation of officers from US Pacific command flew in to give the benefit of their advice to the Royal Nepalese Army, he seemed quite happy. When the US offered special forces training and the UK offered military supplies, the palace was content. But to encourage democratic political parties, he says, is to go too far........ the army and the Maoists are in a military stalemate from which the only exit is via negotiation...... Nepal is paying a heavy price for his refusal to let go of feudal nostalgia.......

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Interview With US Ambassador Moriarty Nepali Times We welcome the lifting of the state of emergency but obviously things have happened since then to cause people to doubt the seriousness of that action...... I am not trying to defend the king’s actions, we have already said that we are concerned by them....... The parties say some reasonable things to me in private but if you look at what they say in public, well its pretty tough....... this should be the beginning point for talks rather than a bottom line ultimatum ..... The published record of what I say and the private record of what I do all is a recognition that the arrests are unacceptable, that the detainees have got to be released ..... I have been pretty outspoken since February 1st on the matter of curbs on civil liberties. It is just plain dumb. Frankly, they put in the state of emergency much more effectively than they lifted it....... Between 1990 and 2002, life expectancy increased 50 percent, education increased more than that, the network of paved roads trebled, income went up significantly. Frankly, if you had not had this ideological insurgency, you would have seen conditions for an economic takeoff, with the economy growing at seven or eight percents a year right now....... If the army has the weapons and ammunition, it will not be possible for the Maoists to win. What happens if your military runs out of bullets, is the number one question facing your country today......... Frankly if the army runs out of bullets, they can come in with khukuri knives........ you may actually see the Maoists come out more unified and tougher, leaner and meaner ....... two and half years ago Maoists were active in 14 out of 75 districts. Today, it is 70 out of 75 ....... You’ve got a glass here, obviously it is mostly empty, maybe only a quarter full, but there is some fullness here and it is not that everything has gone to the extent of your worst nightmare.
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Nepal Confronts Growing Insurgency Washington Diplomat “For some time, we will have to curtail some civil liberties, we will have to clamp down on human rights, we will have to put a few people behind bars, which may not be very pleasing to Western countries, but we have to take these measures,” says Shrestha, a career diplomat with more than 40 years of experience in Europe, South Asia and the United States........ Once we have peace, then we can talk about other things, like democracy and human rights....... has pledged to hold elections within three years. So far, however, no clear roadmap for reaching that goal has been annunciated...... “Last year as many as 10,000 schoolchildren and teachers were abducted for periods of up to seven days. They try to indoctrinate them and send them back” ...... The ambassador says there are an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 “hardcore” rebels, plus about 12,000 to 15,000 “militia” on whom they can call. “But that is a very rough estimate,” he cautions. “They seem to come in large numbers, but how hardcore they are, how well-trained they are, how willing they are to fight is difficult to establish.” ...... Their guerrilla-style tactics make it difficult to combat the rebels militarily, Shrestha adds. “They hit and run,” he says. “They have this advantage of surprise and assimilation. They surprise you in the dark of the night and then they disappear and immediately mix in with the common people. They are just not there.” ...... The ambassador says the government’s strategy for containing the insurgency focuses first on political dialogue, even though the Maoists have twice broken cease-fires during peace talks in 2001 and 2003........ The king had to make a very bold decision and take the reins of the government into his own hands ....... After Feb. 1, the government put several opposition leaders, including former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Girija Prasad Koirala, under house arrest .... “It was also for their own safety,” he adds. “When violence starts, you never know how it will end up.” ...... the media is now “lively and critical of the government.” ...... Shrestha admits that the king’s clampdown may have helped to unify the political opposition, but he insists that the move has significant popular support. “[Supportive] groups are not well organized, so you do not hear their voices as much as you hear the opposition’s voice,” Shrestha says.......