Major Fermentations In The NC And The UML

The UML has already made a democratic republic their official line. A majority of the NC central committee members also seem to favor the same. They are close to making it official. This has to be seen as a major development. I think partly it is that they feel the need to make the movement more focused. Partly they intend to politically preempt the Maoists. Once peace is achieved, they do not wish the Maoists steal the show. So their move is as much about the Maoists as about the monarchists.

Or they would respect the Maoists' central committee like they respect their own. When the UML central committee goes for a democratic republic, that is the UML's official party line. When the Maoist central committee comes up with the same slogan - Democratic Republic - that is not official enough. That double standard is the reason I have criticized both the UML and the NC of putting their party's political interests ahead of peace for the country. The two are not being proactive enough to bring the Maoists into the mainstream.

On the other hand, if the seven party alliance were to ditch their 4-point agenda, and come forth for a simpler slogan of a Democratic Republic, the Maoists will have had all they wanted. At that point, the country gets in a position to skip the idea of reviving the 1999 parliament, and possibly the idea of a Constituent Assembly. Or there might end up an Assembly in which a republic has been decided upon prior.

This newfound boldness of the UML and the NC is also reflective of a major shift among the people at ground level. It is not like the majority of Nepalis are for the monarchy, and these politicians are swimming against the stream. Not so. Politicians, by definition, are creatures who ride the waves. Their political antenna is telling them time is ripe. They are merely articulating what they feel to be the public mood.

The king is hurting himself big time by not negotiating in good faith. The ground is shifting from beneath his feet and fast. All these new developments are only a click away from his computer screen as well. So I don't think he is in the dark. Makes you wonder.

Another detail I note is, when you look at the proceedings of the central committees of the two parties, the UML comes across as the party that is better at internal democracy. I would give the Nepali Congress almost a failing grade. They have much to change.

I think the UML is working hard to emerge as the largest party after both peace and democracy are achieved.

In The News

• NC leaders discuss relevance of monarchy Kantipur ...... The Nepali Congress (NC) Central Working Committee (CWC) Sunday formally began discussing the relevance of monarchy in the country with majority of the members arguing that democracy and monarchy cannot go together...... "Democracy cannot remain safe as long as the monarchy remains in place." .... Dr Ram Sharan Mahat argued that omitting "monarchy" from the statute was an apparent bid to opt for a republican set up. "We should either dare to opt for a republican set up, or we should skip dropping the term," a member quoted Mahat as saying.
• UML meeting: Nepal to spearhead people's movement Kantipur ..... CPN-UML Sunday decided to form a 27-member Central Peoples' Movement Committee (CPMC) ..... CPMC includes party Standing Committee member Bam Dev Gautam as deputy-coordinator and has Yuvraj Gyawali, Iswor Pokharel and Bishnu Poudel ....... also formed a committee under the coordination of Nepal to prepare details regarding the restructuring of the state...... appointed Standing Committee member Pokharel as in-charge of the party's valley coordination committee. After intense discussion over the paper presented by politburo member Jhala Nath Khanal, the meeting formed a new committee under Khanal's coordination to continue preparing the review of the party's performance since 1991...... also formed a committee under the coordination of Standing Committee member K P Oli, which includes Pokharel, Gautam and others, to prepare a paper regarding democratization within the party
• Disturbance In Gaura Parva And Kathmandu Andolan UWB .... for this coward and autocratic regime of his majesty king Gyanendra, that festival is full of political significance. That is why the government used police yesterday against the people gathered in Tundikhel, Kathmandu to celebrate the festival. That repression continued today as well. Police intervened the religious gathering and dispersed the devotees...... “Why this government is so much afraid of our tradition? Can’t we even celebrate our festival?” ....... Occasional college fighting between students and the police has become the sole representative of Andolan on the streets. Civil society has gone out of Kathmandu. Yesterday, Krishna Pahadi was giving speech in front of a very impressive and patient crowd in Hetauda. Parties? Well, parties, parties, parties. They are there, I mean here, in Kathmandu...... in Nepali Congress, an Andolan of sort is going on between the pro-reform camp and the ‘oh-my-god-lets-not-go-anywhere-from-here’ group. His Highness of Nepali Congress, the self proclaimed king of Nepal’s largest political party Girija Prasad Koirala is heavily defending the king.
• Politico-Economics Of Royal Takeover In Nepal INSN ....... two royal coups in past 50 years ...... The first royal coup of 1960 orchestrated by the King Mahendra not only lasted for thirty years, but also resulted to a massive incidence of poverty ...... The second royal coup of February 1st 2005 is leading to insurmountable damages in the socio-economic and political fronts........ his actions are reversing the socioeconomic development in country....... started his own Rules promulgated by his own decrees. Impunity to his supporters and intimidation of opposite thoughts are routine works of security forces and his Council administration....... a club of the South Asian dictators along with Pakistan, Burma (Myanmar), Bhutan and Maldives...... the royal council is failing to realize the power of invisible hands of economics, and general people have yet to suffer as the cumulative cost of multidimensional conflict in Nepal is consolidating....... economic growth slowed at an average of 1.9 percent over the period of 2002-2004, and if it will be the trend for future years (2005-2009) then the country will lose about 57 percent of the economic growth due to decline in development expenditure....... foreign grants recorded a slower growth, government could not spend development expenditure due to the on-going internal conflict in the country, and distorted terms of trade between India and other countries....... the remaining foreign reserve can finance merchandise imports of 12.4 months...... economic growth scenario is comparable of seventies and eighties....... the development indicators are nose diving......budget allocates nearly 20 percent of resources for security, which is more or less equal to the socioeconomic development activities. It is unclear who will fund the royal budget, as donors are shying away owing to king’s political ambition....... After February 1st, it is estimated the more than $ 250 million development aids are either suspended or postponed that directly hampered major programs...... Norway a major development stakeholder of Nepal decided not to support to a half billion dollar project of water supply in Kathmandu. To which, the World Bank had already withdrew its 65 million investment....... The king simply has overlooked these rural masses (85 percent of total population of 25 million) as if they don’t play any role in his power equation......... subsequent activities of the King proved that a reconciliatory approach for coexistence of both parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy has failed....... Baburam Bhattari recently said in the Washington Times (July 30) that “we are working for a negotiated political settlement either directly for a democratic republic or for the election to a constituent assembly.”......... an innovative constitution........
  
• Anti-Social Elements Active In Capital: King Kantipur “Unfortunately, I have been getting messages from the capital…Some anti-social elements are trying to fish in troubled waters there.” ...... “I think they are doing so not because they don’t understand, but because they don’t want to understand,” the king said, adding, “and, this must stop… anything that helps terrorists should stop.” ........ has also called on the concerned to “stop such uncivilized acts in which those who do not want to study stop others as well”...... He also said although Rapti Zone has been mislabeled as a stronghold of terrorists, “I want to assure you that there is no such place in the kingdom where security forces cannot reach”.
• South Asia Boiling NewsKerala ....... never before has every country bordering India at the same time got tied down by extremist forces, mostly bloody in nature and with international ramifications........ “Almost the entire neighbourhood is on the boil,” said S.D. Muni...... Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh....... “I don’t see any other country as uncomfortably placed as India. ......... Maoists in Nepal, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and Islamic hardliners in Pakistan and Bangladesh - are all ranged against New Delhi........ Nepal is of course the hotbed of the world’s bloodiest communist insurgency....... one reason Islamist forces were getting more restive in Pakistan and Bangladesh was the post 9/11 scenario in which governments around the world have been forced to crack down on their own local terror networks........ “The situation in Bangladesh is worse than (that of) Pakistan. One shudders to think who is in control in Bangladesh.” ...... Our policy is heavily influenced by what the West will say, particularly the US...... “At the moment I don’t see an active policy, or any initiative. It is almost like saying: ‘Well, let things continue.’ That won’t do.”
• Student Activism In Nepal: Repression And Perseverance INSN ..... 1) Pro-democracy students are an important force in Nepali public discourse, and 2) they have been politically targeted and unconstitutionally oppressed. Regardless of ideology, Nepali students have filled the role of being at the forefront of political activity, making the boldest statements in the loudest voices ever since the first democracy movement of 1950........ Because of the threat the active students pose for the current government, they have been targeted much more regularly and indiscriminately for exercising their democratic right to protest since the February 1st royal takeover.......... During the state of emergency there was a prioritized list circulated among the security forces of whom to arrest regardless of whether there was any legal reason to do so. Category A contained activists who could incite the masses, Category B contained central committee members and elites of the political parties, and Category C contained common cadres who were disobeying state of emergency statutes. This situation gave particular student activists’ arrests priority over seasoned elite politicians, depending on their charisma and ability to convince the masses to oppose the state of emergency. The majority of post February 1st political detainees, who had been charged under the Public Securities Act, have been students. The United Nations’ Office of the High Commission of Human Rights has documented that of the 1614 individuals that have been arrested, 367 of them have been students. These student leaders have been jailed unjustly and court orders to release the students were often circumvented with re-arrests........... Since May they have raised their voices of opposition against the government’s national education policy, the proposal to make the king the chancellor of all the country’s universities, petroleum price hikes........ Their efforts are not only to regain their right to exist as political entrepreneurs but they are articulating a value-oriented struggle for the protection of human rights and the political dignity of all Nepali citizens........ the HMG has begun an even more dangerous policy of targeted arrests in order to curb the agitation of the students—a policy that manipulates the kingdom’s legal system making international actors blind to the reality on the ground. For instance, on July 14, 2005, six students, Thakur Gaire, Pradeep Poudel, Saroj Thapa, Narayan Bharati, BP Regmi, and Pushpa Shahi, were arrested for burning the kings’ photo on the street in order to oppose the new national education policy. These students were charged with the Public Disturbance Act, which carried a sentence of twenty-five days and the lowest fine of 500 rupees. These students ended up remaining in jail for twenty-seven days because of their refusal to pay the bail fine............ Another student leader, Gagan Thapa, has been charged with sedition for screaming anti-king slogans on the street that everyone would agree are the most common slogans of the youth generation........ The day after Gagan Thapa’s first court hearing, Takendra Kambang and Buddhabir Lama were picked up by civil dressed police....... in spring 2004 Raj Kumar Dhungana was held for over a week on similar charges. In another case, on August 13, Harish Chandra Poudel and Anil Thapa were arrested at Hanumandhoka jail while they were visiting Gagan Thapa, they were charged with destruction of government property during a protest that took place demanding the release of Gagan. They are now being held under the Public Disturbance Act........ over twenty-six arrests and fifty injuries during protests ....... there are under-documented cases in which students have been arrested for whatever cause but later to be under the threat of being pegged as Maoists and held for an indeterminate periods......... over one hundred and twenty-five injuries since mid July....... Public arrest cases over the past month and half represent a new strategic policy to incarcerate students yet divert international pressure. When a representative of the International Commission of Jurists asked Gagan Thapa what he would like them to do, he asked for the international world to continue consistent pressure in support of the students because the government has taken him as a case to test the tolerance of the Nepali general public and the international world........... their own mother organizations, the mainstream political parties are inconsistent about which students they choose to support and which ones they abandon in times of trouble. Many fear that if the student activists are forgotten then the regression of the political situation will increase to the level of Panchayat, pre-democratic times.
• Nepal: Democracy Of The Beggars INSN Beggars beg because they cannot earn. And what the beggars get, they cannot keep for long........ the Delivered Democracy of the fifties or the Imposed Democracy of the nineties....... a geopolitically imposed democracy could not dare to subject itself to be endorsed by the people through a referendum.........