Sunday, June 19, 2005

Constituent Assembly Will Still Be A Lot Of Work In The Form Of Political Dialogue


The seven parties did a wonderful thing when they came up with their four point agenda: (1) revive parliament, (2) all-party government, (3) peace talks with Maoists, and (4) constituent assembly.

But now they are stuck on it.

Reality has to be faced. Strategies and tactics are supposed to be dynamic things.

It boils down to doing homework. It is called political dialogue. You can do it now, or you can do it after (1) and (2) have materialized. You can not change the king's intransigence. But you can work on your unwillingness to talk. To each other and to the Maoists.

The party leaderships need to talk to their own young cadres. The new generation is seeking fundamental reform. These are not Maoists. These are people in the seven parties. And the four point agenda just is not enough for them.

Then there are the Maoists.

The seven parties have been invited by the Monarchists for muninicipal elections and by the Maoists for local elections in 10 western districts.

I think the seven parties should do all they can to engage the Maoists in dialogue.

You can wait until you have a Constituent Assembly. Or you could start work on a proposed constitution right now. The document does not have to take final shape as yet, but agreements and disagreements can be worked on right now.

So I think it is wonderful that the seven parties have launched the Nepal Democracy and Human Rights Advocacy Centre in Delhi with the express intention of holding talks with the Maoists.

In The News

    • Nepal parties to boycott planned municipal elections Reuters AlertNet, UK

    • Nepal rebels say will not target civilians Reuters AlertNet, UK ...... Nepal's Maoist rebels said on Sunday they would stop targetting civilians in their bloody campaign to overthrow the Hindu monarchy ...... Our party has issued special instructions to all cadres, (our) People's Liberation Army and other units not to carry out physical attacks on any unarmed person until another decision ...... People found to be government informers would be detained and tried in Maoist courts ...... a day after Nepal's seven mainstream political parties urged the Maoists not to kill their workers and disturb their pro-democracy campaign against King Gyanendra

    • Opposition to boycott Nepal elections Japan Today

    • Nepal advertises for new weapons BBC News The Royal Nepalese Army said it was looking for various types of arms, ammunition and explosives, armoured personnel carriers, tanks, aircraft, helicopter gunships, communications equipment, optical instruments and security equipment.

    • Nepal education officers said to have held clandestine meeting ... Monsters and Critics.com, UK Indications are that the Maoists will withdraw their strike from educational institutions, following a clandestine meeting held between the government education officers and top Maoist leaders on Friday [17 June]..... the committee held talks with Lalit Dhanal, central member of the student union of the Maoists..... The Maoists showed some flexibility in the issues they had raised

    • Nepalese army seeks new sources for arms:- Webindia123, India

    • Nepalese Army seeks arms from foreign suppliers Press Trust of India Nepalese Army has invited foreign-based manufacturers and distributors for supplying defence equipment

    • RNA asks foreign arms suppliers to provide weapons Kantipur Online, Nepal

    • UN stresses on Nepal’s conflict resolution Kantipur Online, Nepal conflict could never be resolved by suspending democracy and civil rights.... Nepal is on the verge of becoming an economically difficult state..... Afghanistan, where the conflict, once fragmented, gave rise to small armed groups

    • Nepal Maoists deny killing policemen's wives, son(LEAD):- Webindia123, India Radha Devi Singh, 42, was the wife of constable Man Bahadur Singh, Durga Devi Aiyar, 22, was the wife of constable Upendra Aiyar, and Laxmi Shah, 23, was the wife of constable Keshav Shah..... Laxmi's one-year-old son Dipendra was also killed ..... But the rebels issued a statement, denying any involvement in the "inhuman, criminal" act.....Prabhakar alleged that the killings were a result of "internal quarrel" within the security forces...

    • EU asks Nepal Maoists to return to talks:- Webindia123, India The EU presidency issued a statement in the wake of the communist guerrillas ambushing a civilian bus

    • Maoists positive over seven parties’ call NepalNews "Now, although late, the parties have given commitment to constituent assembly, absolute democracy and an end to the despotic monarchy." “In consideration with the historic demand of the movement against authoritarianism as well as the request of the seven political parties, we hereby give special direction to all organs of the party, the People’s Liberation Army and the new people’s government, not to carry out physical attack on unarmed persons even if they are criminals”

    • Seven parties back Deuba’s resistance against Royal Commission NepalNews Leaders of the seven-party alliance, which is waging a pro-democracy movement, Sunday met former prime minister and the Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba at Police Academy in Maharajganj where he has been detained since last two months.... Madhab Kumar Nepal .... CPN (Marxist Leninist) general secretary CP Mainali, People’s Front Nepal chairman Amik Sherchan and other central leaders of the alliance also met Deuba collectively today whereas Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala “could not afford time” to meet the beleaguered former PM.

    • Royal Nepalese Army asks foreign arms suppliers to enlist with it NepalNews the RNA has asked foreign suppliers to make available their company’s profile, ISO certificate of their products and has made it mandatory to inform it about their local agents within 30 days.

    • Democracy and peace: challenges ahead Nilambar Acharya NepalNews The talk about the dialogue between the "constitutional forces" has no practical sense without first returning to the constitution itself....... Russia of Stalin, post-Shah Iran, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Taliban's Afghanistan ..... Nepal's modern social and political forces have to act without vacillation ..... Seven political parties have proposed a road-map to democracy and peace on May 8, 2005. It is a non-confrontationist, conciliatory and reformist proposal ...... No proposal can be more modest than the one put forward by the seven political parties for bringing back the derailed constitution to the track by reviving the House of Representatives....... Three more years for February regime without elections and without democratic control are apparently needed to erect absolutist structures in place of the democratic ones..... while one side is enough to make a war, two sides are needed to make a peace...... unacceptable government cannot produce acceptable elections..... the joint statement issued on July 30, 2003 by former chief justice Biswanath Upadhya and six other persons including myself involved in the making of the present constitution...... talk about unavailability of explicit and well-formulated wordings in the constitution for reinstatement of dissolved House...... the last ten days of October 1990 when the Palace produced a parallel draft of the constitution that was not acceptable to the political parties...... Democracy is not a gift to the people but is their inherent right...... Multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy are not equal in their strength, in their role, in their durability and in their universality. Multiparty democracy can exist without monarchy, but constitutional monarchy cannot survive without multiparty democracy..... Rule by proclamations, decrees, ordinances, making arbitrary appointments, creating structures like non-party government headed by the king himself and without prime minister, Royal commission for control of corruption, creating posts like vice-chairmen of the Council of Ministers, zonal and regional administrators, making royal will as the source of authority, obstructing the reactivation of the constitution are the manifestations of absolutist course of monarchy. The constitution is not what the palace feudal complex or the authors of February regime and their serfs say. The constitution is what the constitution says. It is not a secret document, everyone can consult it and make his or her own judgment. Besides, there are universal principles of multiparty democracy, which have been flouted...... What will they do if the monarchy, contrary to any sane logic, continues to insist on its absolutist course? How long will they confine themselves within their modest programme?

    • Maoists holding local elections from Sunday: Report NepalNews ..... Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is holding local elections in its “base areas” from Sunday, a pro-Maoist newspaper reported..... Janadesh weekly ...... in ten districts in western Nepal described as `special zone’ by the Maoists...... on June 19 and 22 in Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang, Gulmi, Baglung, Myagdi, Arghakhanchi and Kapilvastu ...... chief and deputy chiefs of Village People’s Government (VPGs) and chiefs of Ward People’s Government will be elected through these elections. The (Maoist) Election Commission has started the election process from May 29 and several candidates have already been elected unopposed ...... the Maoists had called mainstream political parties to take part in the elections ....... a strong possibility of some “independent candidates” getting elected to the local bodies. People supporting the royal regime and frauds have been barred from taking part ..... keenly wanted the parliamentary parties to take part in the elections.......

    • Maoists Are Financing Their Revolution With Himalayan Viagra Nepali Times Every able-bodied person is up on the mountains collecting yarsagumba..... This unique Himalayan fungus that grows like a worm out of the soil after the snow melts is in high demand internationally. Called ‘Himalayan viagra’ for its alleged potency, prices have shot up as China becomes more affluent....... yarsagumba is the district’s lifeline .... nobody wants to miss this opportunity, they have to earn enough now to last them the whole year... In the absence of government, the Maoists have now monopolised revenue collection from yarsagumba in Dolpa..... Rs 180 million revenue from yarsagumba taxes...... One kg of yarsagumba costs Rs 5,000 in Dolpa and Rs 18,000 by the time it gets to Nepalganj and $3,000 by the time it gets to Shanghai..... “It is very difficult to see the yarsagumba, you have to have very keen eyes” ...... Although no one admits it, all civil servants, traders, NGO workers and shopkeepers pay the ‘revolutionary tax’...... Teachers and students are made to dig bunkers and trenches to thwart an ‘Indian invasion’.

    • Maoist Meetings Jana Aastha 15 June A Maoist delegation under Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Baburam Bhattarai has been busy meeting Indian political party leaders in Delhi and Nepali politicians currently in Delhi. Most were face-to-face, while a source said Girija Prasad Koirala spoke to the Maoists on the phone. But the Maoist met UML leader Bamdeb Gautam who reached Delhi via Lucknow. Among others that the Maoists met are: NC-D leader Pradeep Giri, Chandra Deb Joshi and Krishna Prasad Sitaula from the NC, Unity Centre Masal’s Prakash. However, the Maoists did not meet Masal’s Chief Mohan Bikram Singh but his Spokesperson Chitra Bahadur KC who reportedly poured his angst against the Maoists. The rebel group leaders also had informal sessions with diplomatic representatives of India, America and Britain. The political leaders who met the Maoist duo told them the crisis could not be solved through violence but only by working with the king to bring the army under jurisdiction of parliament. According to one leader present at the talks, the Maoists were not sure that the Indians trusted them.

    • Regional Security Or Democracy? Both by Dipta Shah Nepali Times Aside from the apparent divide within the Maoist leadership, the most important post-February First development within Nepal has been the formulation of the seven-party alliance. This is a feat we haven’t witnessed since 1990...... American policy-makers appear to have selected the only viable path to achieving both security and democracy simultaneously by refusing to fall prey to the prevailing polarisation..... Bhattarai’s alleged engagements with CPI-Marxist leader Prakash Karat could be a positive development. ......India’s status as a regional power is inextricably tied to her performance as a regional stabiliser is a reassuring realisation -especially for Nepal where Indian moves are constantly misconstrued as evidence of imminent invasion...... Admission of guilt is insufficient if the only alternative is indefinite agitation. Rigid positions are untenable if room for inclusive politics is decimated. Propagation of petty gossip and name-calling is counterproductive when the ability to absorb and interpret is lacking. Using threats as political leverage when their ramifications are not fully understood is risky and there is a danger that such threats may become self-fulfilling prophecies.

    • Trial And Terror Nepali Times Indian and Nepali politicians tried in New Delhi last week to convince Maoist ideologues to join the mainstream through a constitutional compromise. But the comrades know that as soon as they put down their bombs, they will be chased out of the villages.... sustainable peace-building... needs visionaries.
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