Streets Filling Up

This is great. The first day of the movement has been heartening. Just when things are heating up in Bihar as well.

I have also noted with interest Manisha Koirala's father's ouster from the Congress. The guy apparently gave an interview suggesting there is nothing in the 1990 constitution that allows for a reinstatement of the parliament, which apparently happens also to be my line. Forget the 1999 parliament, and forget the 1990 constitution.

There are three camps. If you are not for the king's move of 2/1, you are against peace and for terrorism, the Monarchists will tell you. If you are not for reviving the parliament, you are against democracy, the democrats will tell you. If you are not with Prachanda, you are against the Maoist party, the Maoists tell the Maoists like Baburam.

These hardliner stands are great for group cohesion in the three camps, but they are a major disservice to the cause of peace. All three camps will have to soften if peace is to be possible.

And if the Gulf News story reported in the Telegraph is to be believed, Baburam is back go doing business on behalf of his party. That is great news. Baburam is back in the swing. The guy is a progressive more than he is a textbook Maoist. He is capable of having a moderating influence on the Maoists without selling away the basic progressive thrust of the party. He is reasonable. It is possible to talk to him.

The letter by the three human rights organizations to Prachanda is meaningful. Human rights monitoring, to which both the army and the Maoists have agreed to, is the only and best hope to end the conflict on the table for now. That option has to be exploited to the fullest.

In The News

• Bihar Assembly dissolved Times of India
• Despite cold vibes, Indian diplomat on way to Nepal Indian Express, India
• No end in sight to Nepal's woes Bangkok Post .....the country has far from regained the normalcy King Gyanendra promised to bring within 100 days ..... Gyanendra had ``achieved a fantastic way of exercising control over almost every aspect of life'' ..... 1,516 individuals are still detained. Among the most prominent is Sher Bahadur Deuba ...... Other prominent detainees include student leader Gagan Thapa and former minister J P Gupta, who were re-arrested on May 5....... the problem ultimately has to be solved by the Nepalese ..... the crisis is an opportunity for the Nepalese people to come out and say what they want
  
• Opposition protests around Nepal BBC News Protesters want the reinstatement of the dissolved parliament and the formation of an all-party government...... Biratnagar, Janakpur and Pokhara...... The opposition parties argue that an all-party government would create an environment for holding peace negotiations with the Maoist insurgents..... opposition leaders say restoration of peace is not possible unless people's democratic rights are restored first.
  
• More than 10,000 rally in Nepal's capital; largest anti-king rally ... Santa Fe New Mexican
• Manisha’s royalist father gets party boot Calcutta Telegraph Prakash Koirala was today expelled from the Nepali Congress for toeing the royalist line ..... the party was founded by Prakash’s father B.P. Koirala and is now headed by his uncle and three-time Prime Minister, Girija Prasad Koirala ...... the toughest action taken by the party against a senior leader after the expulsion of former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on May 26 2002 ...... forced to act after Prakash gave an interview to the English daily The Himalayan Times yesterday opposing the party’s demand for reinstatement of the House of Representatives. He argued that such a move would be against the spirit of the constitution and suggested a round table conference to discuss the issue ...... He also said that since the Supreme Court has quashed a writ challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives, there was no point in pursuing the idea any further...... a member of the Central Working Committee
  
• Nepal's army gears up to better rights record:- Webindia123, India Dogged by allegations of human rights violations and the spectre of a permanent embargo on foreign military aid, Nepal's army has announced a clutch of "positive steps" ..... welcomed the setting up of a monitoring office in the capital by the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and was ready to provide access to detention sites ...... "We also hope they would show up the human rights abuses committed by the Maoist insurgents and help push them towards peace talks"...... Besides the UN agency, it said its detention sites were also open to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as Nepal's National Human Rights Commission...... the army said it would have a national central registry of detainees to keep track of people under arrest...... The army's home page on the Internet has a human rights section through which complaints can also be made anonymously...... the RNA said tainted soldiers will not be sent to UN missions.
• Maoists say Prachanda tape is 'propaganda':- Webindia123 ..... the rebels issued a statement that described the tape's contents as "witless propaganda". ..... Prachanda issued a statement Sunday, admitting it was his voice on the tape but clarifying it was an earlier tape and not relevant to the current times.
  
• Nepal Army plays tape saying India in league with Nepal Maoists Newindpress
• Nepal Democracy Movement: A scene from the rally. Pic by Chandra ... United We Blog, Nepal .....In an encouraging beginning of Jana Andolan 2062, at least five thousand pro-democracy activists rallied in heart of Kathmandu demanding restoration of democracy and civil liberties in Nepal. Activists from all seven political parties of the recently launched United Front ..... Riot police were stationed on all the corners- on way to Dillibazzar, on way to Ghanta Ghar, on way to Baghbazzar and on way to Jay Nepal Hall....... In front of Democracy Wall in Baghbazzar, a truck full of riot police was parked. Police were moving around....... A big truck and at least 50 police were standing at the Bhotahitti Chowk...... Being in the rally is always a strange experience for me. I mean you feel aroused, energized. Blood starts circulating fast...... all most all participants of the rally were hard core political activists...... Did that mean the rally had no public support? ...... “Well, they definitely don’t have public support,” shop keeper Prabin Tuladhar, 35, told me...... “The rally is not different to that of 2046,” he told me, “people didn’t come in the beginning at that time too. I think the momentum will gain momentum in the days to come.” ..... Yogesh Upadhaya of CPN UML was on the microphone. He spoke of the need of unity among democratic forces and continue fighting for full democracy. Then spoke Hari Bol Bhattarai, a NC leader. “The King should be constitutional. Parliament should be restored. People should rule over themselves.” ...... KP Oli, a CPN UML heavyweight walking in Ason Chowk talking with someone over the cell phone.
• Democracy protests in four Nepali cities CBC Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Janakpur and Pokhara ..... the political parties have demanded the monarch reinstate the dissolved parliament to allow a multiparty government to negotiate a political settlement with the insurgents...... more than 10,000 protesters gathered at Asan..... Hundreds of police in riot gear were posted around the market, but did not intervene...... future rallies, including one planned for Friday, would be bigger ..... The king lifted the emergency at the end of April and rallies are now allowed
• Prachanda's Statement INSN
  
• Delhi Sniffs King's Ploy Telegraph ...a report in Gulf News that some key Maoist leaders, including Baburam Bhattarai, held meetings with CPI leader A.B. Bardhan and his CPM counterpart Prakash Karat recently ..... the army, prompted by the king, was “trying to play hardball” ..... Neither the king nor his close aides took the Indian statement lightly. The palace, unhappy with critical reports that have appeared in the Indian media in the past few weeks, feels these reflect the view of the government.
• Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists Write To Prachanda INSN .....an ongoing wave of human rights abuses by Maoist forces over the last few months casts serious doubts on the credibility of your repeated public commitments to that effect..... in a press release of 5 April 2005 the CPN (Maoist) publicly called for an international human rights monitoring presence in Nepal ...... the CPN (Maoist) also pledged to cooperate fully with any such mission, if established, and to be answerable for any human rights abuses by CPN (Maoist). On 12 April, you personally reiterated the pledge to fully support and cooperate with any human rights monitors ..... On 16 May 2005, Shanker Sarki, a soldier, who had returned home from Congo where he had served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces, was abducted from his home in Dhangadi, Kailali district by 12 armed Maoist cadres in civilian dress and killed...... Specifically, we call on to publicly to prohibit CPN (Maoist) forces from engaging in targeting civilians and civilian objects and carrying out indiscriminate attacks, arbitrary killings, torture and other ill-treatment, taking hostages and recruiting child soldiers. We also call on you to remove from their post any CPN (Maoist) cadres who are responsible for human rights abuses....... With reference to your interview of 18 April, we remind you that the civil war in Nepal falls under the purview of international humanitarian law. Among the fundamental protections during internal armed conflicts are those contained in Common Article Three in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, regarding the treatment of persons taking no active part in the hostilities. This article prohibits, among other things, summary executions, torture and other ill-treatment, the taking of hostages, and punishment without fair trial. Credible information indicates that CPN (Maoist) forces routinely violate Common Article Three by engaging in brutal and abusive activities against civilians and others not taking active part in hostilities....... Common Article Three binds both states parties and insurgent groups. Adherence is not based on reciprocity ...... arguments set out in the interview published on 18 April that RNA abuses “outnumber” abuses by your forces or that your ideology justifies your actions in no way exempt you and your forces from your obligations under international law....... mechanisms to allow transparent and independent investigations by the UN teams in areas under (CPN) Maoist control ...... each side is responsible for the conduct of its own forces
  
• India Should Talk To Maoists: Gen. Mehta Nepalnews.com it is true that India is trying to talk to (Nepali) Maoists ..... Speaking in Nepali language ..... “As India is holding dialogue with Nepali (parliamentary) parties, there should be no problem in holding dialogue with the Maoists” ..... even from the point of view of `balance of power’ (within Nepal) it was important that the Maoists army did not disintegrate...... Indian authorities have been saying, of late, that Maoist problem has emerged as the no. 1 internal security problem in the country.