Make It Official: International Conference In Delhi

The political center of gravity has already shifted to Delhi from Kathmandu. All worthwhile political dialogue on Nepal has taken place in Delhi since 2/1. Might as well make it official.

Let the international players bring the three parties together. In Delhi.

1. Paris Peace Accord 1973 - Text of The Agreement
2. Cambodia: Peace Agreements Digital Collection-United States ...
3. Safeguarding Peace: Cambodia's Constitutional Challenge
4. A/RES/45/3. The situation in Cambodia

In The News

• India ready to help end crises: Thapa Kathmandu Post, Nepal Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran ..... The meeting lasted for nearly two-and-a-half hours at the Grand Hyatt suite, where Thapa is staying.... It is up to the parties in Nepal, India can't do anything..... the need to immediately start dialogue between the palace and parties so as to take on the bigger challenge: resolution of the Maoist insurgency through peace negotiations..... Delhi is also believed to have started back-channel diplomacy with the rebel Maoists last month
• Surrendered Maoist commit suicide in army cell Kantipur Online, Nepal the third time that the Maoist had killed oneself while being detained at the security detention in the past seven months.... hung himself by the wire in his own room, while the sentry had gone to toilet.... Rayamajhi, however, had been refusing to go home and had asked not to call his parents..... the difficulties he would have to face after being released
• Autocracy cannot take us ahead: Nepal Kantipur political parties should not harbor any illusion that the nation cannot move without monarchy..... democracy and monarchy cannot go together.... If reconciliation doesn't take place any time soon, the Maoists may prevail
• Shortage of IC hits market Kathmandu Post, Nepal a massive rise in illegal imports of gold and silver from India was the main reason behind the current problem.... gold is cheaper by Rs 150 per tola (about 11.50 gram) in the Indian market and also silver is cheaper by Rs 200 per kg
• Conference for a fair deal Kathmandu Post, Nepal Given the adamant attitude of our leaders of all sorts, there is no escape from getting ensnared in New Delhi.....Thanks to the violent conflict, we lost peace. Thanks to our leaders, we lost freedom. Thanks to further political conflict, we lost democracy. A further deepening of conflict can result in a loss of what we have not yet lost. That is monarchy and national independence. In that sequence, it is the institution of monarchy that stands most vulnerable..... he opened battles in all fronts at one go against the Maoists, the political parties and the international community...... he may prefer to break, if inevitable, rather than to bend and compromise ..... Kathmandu is quiet but Nepal is not ..... In terms of political negotiations and peace exploration too, Kathmandu is equally quiet; but, in this process, it has conceded its central role, more pronouncedly since the royal take-over, to New Delhi..... king could not visit New Delhi for technical reasons before the royal action in February and for political reasons after it...... countervailing visits by Nepali leaders like Girija Prasad Koirala, Bamdev Gautam, Hridesh Tripathi and a string of second-ranking leaders pleading for end of the direct rule of the king...... Equally effectively it can threaten to witchhunt the Maoists in India to bring them to sense...... India is not alone to handle the Nepali affairs. It is actually acting on behalf of big powers like the US and the UK. Even China has also been kept well informed...... better to hold an international conference on Nepal like the one on Cambodia, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq
  
• SC seeks reply from Home Minister Kathmandu Post, Nepal The minister is required to reply to the court within seven days
• Extend help to HM, Camp urges political parties Gorkhapatra, Nepal Camp said that Nepal’s future was bright and the US would continue to assist Nepal in its fight against terrorism...... the government was eagerly awaiting for some high level visits from the US
• Rebels seize children as recruits in Nepalese civil war Telegraph.co.uk, UK Last month about 4,500 pupils, aged between nine and 15, were marched from their schools in five districts and forced to attend a Maoist rally where they were exhorted to abandon their education and join the revolution, according to witnesses. It was the first event of a six-month children's campaign planned by the rebels....... they were marched for between four and five days each way to attend the three-hour rally .... had never left their home villages before, spoke with excitement of seeing buses, cars and motorcycles for the first time in their lives ..... more than 12,000 people have died, including 10,000 since the end of 2001 .... "They don't know reality, and basically they are attracted by the 'cultural shows' [the singing and dancing propaganda troupes that tour schools]. And some of the children are very much interested to play with guns and they imitate the older ones." ...... girls, who are typically forced into arranged marriages at a young age in rural Nepal, were easily seduced into joining the Maoists by talk of women's rights...... families are often more willing to hand over their daughters to Maoist recruitment teams than their sons, who are considered more valuable...... ''They organise militia in every school, they are called the 'baseline army.''
• Cop missing after fresh police-Maoists encounter Times of India, India the second round of encounter between members of the CPI (Maoist) and the security forces — the district police, Special Task Force (STF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) — on Monday at village Piprahi Sultan under Bargainia police station in Sitamarhi district...... another encounter had taken place between the police and a group of Maoists near the Nepal border.
• Deuba cleared of graft slur Calcutta Telegraph, India ... was against standard procedure but did not amount to corruption
• Acquitted from one graft charge, Nepal’s ex-PM continues ... United We Blog, Nepal The Commission that has the extra-judicial right to accuse, try and give verdict in a case sensed that it’s decision to sentence Deuba and the company will have far reaching consequences to the royal government. That decision would have backfired ..... RCCC is a political arm of this government, it is expected that the game of harassment will continue in the days to come.
• Trauma treatment should be integral to Nepal's human rights ... ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland Torture, extrajudicial killings, disappearances and other abuses often result in severe trauma for victims and their families. This trauma outlives the violation, leaving an indelible impression on the minds of victims..... National Human Rights Commission had all but ignored this issue even prior to the February 21, 2005 coup.....
  
• NEPAL: Journalists stage nationwide protests Asia Pacific Media Network, CA
  
• Nepal king to celebrate birthday without son:- Webindia123, India there will be one important absentee at the royal bash besides opposition leaders - Crown Prince Paras.....
  
• Leaders say collaboration with Maoists impossible PeaceJournalism.com, Nepal Modanath Prasrit said that the Maoists have accelerated murdering unarmed and innocent civilians .... Dr. Narayan Khadka of NC (Democratic) warned the political parties that some invisible power is conspiring to bring the political parties and the Maoists together for their personal interest .... the duel nature of considering the Maoists as friendly power in some occasion and viewing them as the terrorists in other is complicating the crisis
• Nepal: Deepening Uncertainty Amid US Dilemma PeaceJournalism.com, Nepal to the United States: Reverberations of the Cold War-era Red Scare have combined with the imperatives of the ongoing War on Terror.... anxiety has deepened in the aftermath of King Gyanendra’s February 1 takeover of full executive powers ..... Amid the suspension of the democratic process and the curbing of civil liberties, including press freedom, it is understandable that a section of the U.S. government should feel the need to isolate the royal regime.... India and Britain -- responded to the royal takeover with a formal suspension of military assistance, the United States has demonstrated greater recognition of the realities on the ground...... Condoleezza Rice has said, the royal takeover will “crystallize” events.... The Maoists have suffered huge battlefield losses and deep rifts have weakened their political organization. The mainstream political parties, on the other hand, have moved closer toward recognizing the Maoists’ demands for radical changes in the polity...... Through sustained military pressure from the royal government and political encouragement from the mainstream parties, the Maoists might be willing to submit to peaceful methods of resolving the deep political, economic and social inequalities underlying the insurgency..... The kingdom stands to gain immensely as a potential transit point for trade between the two Asian giants. U.S. investment in Nepal's vast hydropower potential could target the huge markets China and India provide. Once peace is restored, Nepal could hope to regain its position as a leading destination for tourists and trekkers..... pattern of allowing the Europeans and the Chinese to mediate in the Iranian and North Korean nuclear crises ..... Indian interests in Nepal are primarily guided by that country's own perceptions and imperatives. Some, including those relating to Nepal’s vast water resources, are viewed with considerable suspicion in Nepal..... China has skillfully deployed economic incentives to draw Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka into its strategic orbit.... they all shun the Dalai Lama to Beijing's delight ..... they speak with one voice for Beijing's entry into the SAARC – to the palpable annoyance of New Delhi ..... Nothing should preclude the United States -- whose diplomatic relations with Nepal predates both Indian independence and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China – from constructing its own set of coherent and realistic policies aimed encouraging the kingdom to emerge as a strong, peaceful and prosperous democracy in South Asia.
• Their Royal Highnesses to visit Japan, South Korea Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• ‘‘Can't bid adieu to Nepal’’ Michael Gill Kathmandu Post, Nepal every time Gill returned to his motherland, he always found an excuse to come back to Nepal..... He thinks every stakeholder in this country should rise above one's own interest. "The far right and the far left and everyone in the middle should come together, forgetting personal interests" .... Nepal was certainly a peaceful country; but there also existed a great deal of injustice..... "The Maoists have asked many right questions, but they don't have the answers"..... "I think I'll come back. I've bought roundtrip tickets"
• Nepal: Measuring the economic costs of conflict - The effect of ... ReliefWeb (press release), Switzerland Economic growth slowed to an average of 1.9% over the FY2002-04 period compared to 4.9% in the decade preceding that...... economic disruptions have increased and development expenditures have decline sharply..... Measuring the Economic Costs of Conflict: the Effect of Declining Development Expenditures on Nepal’s Economic Growth...... physical infrastructures worth at least $ 250 million have been destroyed..... strikes, security checks, blockades, shutdowns, and extortion have increased the costs of economic activity..... 400,000 rural families have been internally displaced while thousands others have crossed over to India..... private investment rate(2) has declined from 15.4% in 1996 to 12.6% in 2004..... Government development expenditures stood at about 6% of GDP in FY2004, down from 9% of GDP in FY2001.... government security expenditures almost doubled from 1.6% to 3% of GDP ..... GDP per capita declines at an annual rate of 2.2 per cent relative to its counterfactual during civil wars ..... war directly reduces production and partly because it causes a gradual loss of the capital stock due to destruction, dissaving, and the substitution of portfolios abroad....... for conflicts after 1990, real GDP growth was 12.3 percentage points below normal..... civil wars reduce growth mainly by depleting the domestic capital stock in its various forms..... costs of conflict at 8-10% of GDP...... at US$66.2 billion for the 1996 to 2003 period..... 1% increase in development expenditure results in 1.57% increase in private fixed investment, 0.65% increase in public fixed investment, and 0.18% increase in public consumption..... the government investment may have multiplier effects on private sector...... A decline in development expenditure reduces government consumption, government investment and private investment -- lowering GDP growth...... FY2005-FY2009 ...... If the conflict intensifies and development expenditures decline at twice the current rate, total GDP growth lost is 10.3% - an average loss of 2.1% points of growth per annum...... the 3% overall growth loss observed for the FY2001-2004 period...... up to 57% of the loss in economic growth could be due to the decline in development expenditures..... the annual costs increase with each successive year of conflict. This is because the effects of decline in development expenditures accumulate each year, affecting GDP growth more as the conflict lengthens........ the effects of the conflict on GDP growth will persist well after the conflict is over, as low development spending during the conflict will have lowered the economy’s capital stock and development expenditures will take time to recover fully...... Nepal has benefited from a steady flow of remittances from overseas economies...... GDP per capita is forecast to be 7.8% lower over the FY2005-09 period in the conflict scenario than the no-conflict scenario......a poverty rate 4.8% higher than the no-conflict scenario.......