The Maoists announced a ceasefire, and it is like the Monarchists got hit with a taser gun. They froze. If this regime were at all interested in peace for the country, they would have positively responded to the ceasefire by now. But their attitude is like, oh no, if the Maoists are going to do the sensible thing, and work towards peace, then we might be out of power soon. They are worried the civil war might come to an end.
And now these monkeys are out arresting the political leaders all over again. Senior leader Girija Koirala was physically assaulted. How low can you get? You don't physically assault someone of Girija Koirala's age and stature. Arresting is one thing, but to outright assault? That is heinous.
These Nepali Rasputins are fundamentally misjudging the situation. If the movement were to turn into a revolution, some of the things that could happen are:
- The king is expelled from the country.
- All his property gets nationalized.
- Tulsi Giri goes to jail. For life.
- Sachit Shamsher Rana and Bharat Keshar Singh. Sharad Mandal Shaha. All these crooks end up in jail. All their property gets nationalized. An interim government born through a revolution can do all that legitimately.
I was toying with the idea of going to meet the king when he is town. That was a misjudgment on my part. That is not going to happen now. A regime that physically assaults peaceful demonstrators deserves no sympathy and belongs in the dustbin of history, its chief actors all belong in jail.
I commend the courage of the peaceful demonstrators in Kathmandu. This is truly remarkable what they are doing. The country is indebted to them. And will be even more so as the movement marches towards success.
The protests have to be ceaseless. From New York to Kathmandu. All discussions have to do with the logistics of the movement. Peace and reconciliation are not options no more. It is a fight to the finish line.
The king and the world will see it on September 16. Right here in New York City. We here are in total solidarity with the soldiers of democracy there in Kathmandu and all over Nepal.
I thank the Maoists for their unilateral ceasefire. This is the most effective offensive they have launched against this regime to date. Now a firm Maoist-Democrat alliance can possibly be formed in earnest. The ceasefire gives so much more room and political space to the democrats.
The king's three-week vacation abroad has to be made the best use of. The protests have to be escalated to the max.
But the movement only becomes a revolution after the seven parties drop their demand of House Revival. The movement, to be a success, has to have a roadmap that does not depend on what the king does or not.
The monarch himself is the ultimate Monarchist. This is not a nice guy getting ill-advised by his yes men. This is a guy with the ultimate attitude problem. The other day he was on TV claiming King Prithvi was a democrat! This guy just does not get it, does he?
The king is offended by the Maoist ceasefire. He needs the Maoists to keep on with at least a low intensity war to keep being relevant.
The f___ with this guy.
We should wage demonstrations in New York City, in Los Angeles, in Hawaii. We should follow him like a shadow. We are doing this to boost the morale of the people back in Nepal.
There is a report of a clash in Jajarkot barely a day within the declaration of a ceasefire. Both sides are claiming the other opened fire first. The Maoists have said their forces will stay on "active defense." The clash does not amount to an end to the ceasefire. The Maoists have to make sure they maintain their ceasefire with discipline. The democrats need that space to wage a decisive movement.
The government has this weird stuff where you can demonstrate maybe here, but not there, a hundred yards away. Right to peaceful assembly is a fundamental human right. But then since when did this regime start caring about human rights?
The Maoists should not feel too bad about the possibility of a House revival through the Supreme Court's action. Interim government and a constituent assembly are guaranteed if the House gets revived. A revived House means the power in the country gets snatched from the Monarchists and goes to the parties. The parties are already wed to the idea of a Constituent Assembly, which is the meeting point they have with the Maoists. On the other hand, the Monarchists in power will never go for an Assembly. So think step 1, step 2.
In The News
- Emergency cabinet meeting underway; detained leaders freed NepalNews ...... the Council of Ministers (CoM) is underway at the Narayanhiti Royal Palace from this evening under the chairmanship of His Majesty King Gyanendra....... government’s formal response to the truce announcement would come after the meeting...... Political parties, human rights groups, the business community and the civil society organizations have already welcomed the Maoist truce...... All 85 leaders kept at the Mahendra Police Club and other arrested activists were freed at around 6:30 p.m.
- Parties flay police intervention in protest rally NepalNews
- Over 60 oppn leaders arrested, dozens injured in protest rally in Kathmandu NepalNews
- No Prospect Of Talks With Government: Mahara
- Government Media Blacks Out Ceasefire News
- No immediate possibility of govt-Maoist talks: Former talks facilitator NepalNews
- Mum on Maoists move, Nepal king lives for Europe Business Standard, India King Gyanendra is setting off on a three-week tour of Europe and the US that will be red-carpet all the way...... Obviously taken aback by the Maoist offer of an unilateral cease-fire, the official establishment is yet to respond...... The peace offer puts the Royal Nepal Army on the backfoot, as it cannot really proceed against a group that has announced a voluntary and unilateral cease-fire, without attracting charges of human rights violation........ the cease-fire will help in quickly building up a political movement against the King ..... indications are that the King is unfazed by all the sabre-rattling. His supporters say he is firmly ensconced as the “constitutional” monarch for the next two years, maybe three....... He is going to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York after a stopover in Europe and will visit Los Angeles and possibly Hawaii while in the US........ He has asked for no meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh so far, so that he is one leader the Indian prime Minister will not get to see......... Obviously, the King feels the situation in Nepal is secure enough to survive his three-week absence. Information filtering in from the capital indicatws that strikes and lathicharges on political meetings are the order of the day in the Kathmandu Valley as well as Nepalgunj, the biggest town in the plains.
- Police Arrest Former PM at Nepal Protest
Los Angeles Times About 5,000 people chanting "We want democracy" marched ..... Koirala, 80, briefly lost consciousness during a scuffle with police....... - Police use batons, arrests Koirala and senior leaders in Nepal Outlook (subscription), India
- Police Arrest Former PM at Nepal Protest
Leading The Charge Koirala faints, 60 arrested during pro-democracy rally India Daily Leading The Charge "Koirala fainted while being dragged away by police" ...... Koirala fainted for about 10 minutes...... more than 160 people were arrested and dozens injured in a baton charge by police..... "The royal government must suspend military operations and give a positive signal that it is ready for a political solution" ...... "This (the truce) is basically a challenge to the king who has been consistently saying that he would not talk to the Maoists"- Koirala hurt, top Nepal leaders arrested for defying ban: NewKerala.com, India
- Koirala, others held in Nepal Navhind Times, India
- Koirala faints, 60 arrested during pro-democracy rally India Daily, NJ
- Maoist, Security Forces Clash In Jajarkot Kantipur .... Just a day after declaration of a unilateral ceasefire by the Maoists, the security forces and the Maoist rebels have clashed in Jajarkot district. ..... continued for several hours Sunday afternoon....... The security sources said the clashes erupted when the Maoists opened fire at a security patrol at about 2 p.m. this afternoon. The Maoists, however, said the security forces attacked them first....... The clash site is 10 miles away from Khalanga, the district headquarters of Jajarkot.
- RCCC Asked To Furnish Reply On Its Constitutionality Kantipur The Supreme Court (SC) asked the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) Sunday to furnish a written reply regarding its constitutionality within four days...... The SC heard the writ petition questioning the constitutionality of RCCC something which it had earlier deferred on 12 occasions..... Advocate Santosh Kumar Mahato had filed the writ petition, questioning the constitutionality of continuing to the controversial RCCC when he withdrew emergency in April this year.......
- Parties stage protest rally; 150 arrested, dozens injured Kantipur ..... 84-year-old Koirala fell on the ground and became unconscious as police manhandled him during the demonstration...... NC leaders Sushil Koirala, Ram Chandra Paudel, Ram Saran Mahat, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, Bal Bahadur Rai, Arjun Narsingh KC, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Bal Dev Majgaiya, Ram Baran Yadav, Mina Pande, Dilendra Prasad Badu, Ananda Santoshi Rai, Tilak Bhandari, , Narayan Chaulagai, Pradip Pudasaini, Rabi Aryal Rudra Sapkota and UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and leaders Bam Dev Gautam, Ishwor Pokhrel, Jhala Nath Khanal , Bishnu Paudel, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Madhav Poudel, Rameswor Phuyal, Rajan Rai, Suman Shrestha, Pitambar Timilsina, Rup Narayan Shrestha were also arrested today..... Chiranjeevi Wagle of Nepali Congress-Democratic and student leaders Bashu Koirala and Gagan Thapa were among the arrested this afternoon...... Ranga Bahadur Sahi, a leader of the NC, Ram Chandra Maharjan, a UML cadre, Irsad Ansari, Kamal Dodari, Binod Karki, Shiva Dhakal, NSU cadres were seriously injured in the police baton-charge...... Police also fired over five-dozen tear gas shells ..... The Police indiscriminately fired tear gas cells at the Nawa Adarsha Secondary School at Basantapur ..... The police indiscriminately baton-charged even at the senior leaders of various political parties while trying to control the protest rally..... Meanwhile, issuing a statement this evening, the agitating parties said they would violate the government's prohibitory order at Ratna Park at 3 p.m. Monday.
- Nepal Maoists Seek To Isolate King BBC .... Prachanda, said that with this change in stance, the possibility of forming an alliance with the parties had increased..... Madhav Kumar Nepal, said an alliance with the Maoists would only be possible if they declared their commitment to a multi-party system...... the aim of Mr Prachanda's statement is also to build public opinion against the opposition parties' demand for the restoration of parliament........ Mr Prachanda said the restoration could not resolve the present crisis in the country...... The Supreme Court is currently considering a petition requesting the restoration of the House...... The Maoists fear that if parliament were restored by the court, that would break an impasse between the king and the political parties...... Prachanda reiterated his party's longstanding demand for an interim government and elections for a constituent assembly........ Krishna Bahadur Mahara, said the interim government and the elections could only come after the toppling of the monarchy...... The country's security forces, so far, have demonstrated an unwavering loyalty to the king...... Though there is a growing discontent among political parties and sections of the public to the king, he still exerts considerable influence on a large section of society........ Sachit Shamsher Rana, said the opposition had been "appealing for people's support for the past four years... but people are not coming out on the street because they support the king"......... party leaders do acknowledge their movement has not yet gained enough momentum to bring about change...... It will be no surprise if the seven-party alliance, despite its current reservations, ultimately decides to work with the rebels in the absence of other options.
- Police use batons, arrests Koirala and senior leaders in Nepal
Outlook (subscription) Senior Nepali Congress leaders like Ramchandra Poudyal and Ramsharan Mahat, United Left Front leader CP Mainali and Nepal Sadbhavana Party leader Hridayesh Tripathi participated in the demonstration - Will Peace Fire? UWB ..... I welcome this as every soul in this war trodden nation is doing today. Everyone is jubilant, thanks to Prachanda, and celebrating the hope of peace. Still, there is no immediate response, like this, from those who matter most. We want the WELCOME from other side of the coin. What are they doing now? ........
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