Democracy For Nepal: RNA, Declare Your Own Ceasefire, You Have No Choice

Saturday, September 03, 2005

RNA, Declare Your Own Ceasefire, You Have No Choice

The state army has no option but to declare a ceasefire of their own.

You are not going to legitimately declare war on a group that is not fighting you. You do, you end up at the Hague. One price you pay for peace is you let bygones be bygones. And so in an attempt to seek a political resolution to the civil war, it is a perfectly legitimate stand to take to say let's offer both the RNA and the PLA clean slates, as long as that leads to a permanent peace. But if you think of that stand as a weakness, and if you breach the ceasefire, and try to humiliate a group that has unilaterally declared a ceasefire, then I don't know what is going to prevent you from ending up at the Hague. After all, you are number one in the world in terms of human rights abuses. So don't take a chance. And America is not going to be able to protect you. First, why would it want to? Second, they don't really have the option to. As long as your atrocities can be documented, you are getting on that plane to the Hague.
Dashain and Tihar and Chhath are on the way. The Nepali people need a break. The Maoists have complied. You are going to also.
Suddenly there is this amazing opportunity to seek peace and reconciliation. You are not going to mess that up. Three months is enough time to bring the war to a legitimate end. And you are going to get out of the way, and you are going to stay out of the way. Yes, peace means the army is kicked out of the country's politics. Politics is for politicians. You are headed for civilian control anyway. So don't hurt your future. Behave.

Unless the RNA does something really stupid and forces the Maoists to take back their ceasefire, now I believe I am going to meet the king when he is in New York City. Protest rally on Friday. Darshan on Saturday.

Paras is a high school classmate, as is Uttar. And my blog has gained some notoriety over the months. I have a feeling the king might have come across my name.

I am going to offer him a draft constitution. Because that is my short, simple prescription to the civil war in the country. Next I am going to publish the latest draft of the Proposed Constitution.

In the mean time, take a look at this.

Subject: RE: Mandale haru ko INVITATION
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 17:42:50 +0545

Dear All,
PEOPLES` POWER WILL BE VICTORIOUS.

________

>From: _______
>To: ________
>CC: _______
>Subject: Mandale haru ko INVITATION
>Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:41:08 -0500

> >King Gyanendra's Character resembles Augusto Pinochet
>--Somnath Ghimire

> > ----- Original Message -----
> From: ________
> To: _______
> Cc: _______
> Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:06 AM
> Subject: RE: FW: Mandale haru ko INVITATION

> > > They can not show their face, they have to be undisclosed. What can we >expect from these kind of people ? Can they be proud of any good thing that >KG has done to Nepal & Nepalese? Of course, none.

> > Govinda

> > >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: _________
> To: ________
> CC: __________
> Subject: FW: Mandale haru ko INVITATION
> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:24:58 +0000

> > > Dear Friends

> > Find the attachment of Public(?) felicitation program. Royalists and >local Mandales are organizing this events as we?have received this >their?invitation from undisclosed source.

> > __________

> > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------

> > From:??Nepalipost >>
> To:_________
> Subject:??Mandale haru ko INVITATION
> Date:??Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:53:29 -0400

> > > > > Subject: Invitation!!!
> >Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:11:31 -0700 (PDT)

> > > >Dear friends,

> > > >US-Nepalese Felicitation Committee invites all Nepalese and friends >of > >Nepal to honor Their Majesties King Gyanendra and Queen Komal at a >public > >felicitation program to be held on September 17, 2005 (Saturday), 11: >30 > >am, at Pennsylvania Hotel, 401, 33rd Street, 7th Ave., Floor-18, in >front > >of Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. > >The Committee wishes you to invite your friends as well.

> > > >Thank you. > > >

Subject: Mandale haru ko INVITATION
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:41:08 -0500

King Gyanendra's Character resembles Augusto Pinochet
--Somnath Ghimire

Since the Royal Nepal Army and Police are under the direct and undisputed control of Black King "G", and since there is no evidence whatsoever that action has been taken to correct the abuses or hold the perpetrators responsible, this places the king in league with such lovely characters as Hitler, Saddam Hussain, Augusto Pinochet, Ferdinand Marcos, Mohammad Reza Pahlevi and others.

It should be noted that, like King Gyanendra, all but Hitler were also supported and armed by the US. The USï¿½s agreement to shield Nepali officials from the International Criminal Court has given a green light to atrocities, and the transfer of more of M16A2 rifles even as the savage treatment of pro-democracy protestors was ongoing raises questions of the violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of US law by the Bush administration. The USï¿½s refusal to condemn atrocities in Nepal and unconvincing stance that human rights training for new soldiers will cure the abuses that are widespread, systematic and under the supervision of senior officers is obviously sending an ambiguous message designed to give it political cover. The media, under army death threat for ï¿½insulting the king,ï¿½ cannot criticize him, while the pro-monarchist writers have free reign without fear of rebuttal of their ludicrous and illogical assertions.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet it spends 65 crore rupees (US$ 8.8 million; adjusted for purchasing power, over $50 million) on the royal family annually, a six fold increase since the dramatic decrease in the familyï¿½s numbers in the wake of the palace massacre. Thus, spending so lavishly on this very rich family deprives huge numbers of Nepalis, most of whom are illiterate and who suffer from appalling maternal, infant and child mortality, and whose life expectancy is as little as 37 years in some districts, of services they badly need and whose lack contributed in large part to the success of the Maoist revolution; the monarchists believe that it is more important to support the royal family in high style than to save the poor from death, disease and illiteracy, but most of the rural poor people would disagree. Nepal cannot afford both.

The phony, staged, highly secured ï¿½felicitations,ï¿½ in which BKG greet and will be worshipped by the lowly people living in the country of oldest democracy, do not obscure the fact that the vast majority of Nepalis intensely dislike the king and, indeed, the very institution of Monarchy. The majority of Nepalis continue to support republican democracy; a recent poll indicates that 11% support the monarchy, 9% the Maoists, and 80% republican democracy. And also the Nepal's largest Democratic Party, Nepali Congress has decided to opt out Constitutional Monarchy from it's statute. The king could have made inroads into Nepalï¿½s problems with corruption, poor heath care and lack of adequate educational facilities, but chose to accept continued deterioration in these sectors and to rely on repression and arrogant refusal to communicate honestly with the people. KG lied to the world and who believes him- only his followers and ass lickers.

Although they cleverly soft-pedal their alleged divinity when dealing with foreigners, the Shahs manipulate the uneducated, simple-minded people by claiming to be gods and thus making whatever crimes they may wish to commit acceptable and making dissent against them sinful. Although there is no way to disprove this notion of divinity, a logical person would find nothing in the intelligence, appearance, achievements or conduct of the royalty to indicate superiority or superhuman traits. Oddly, only the simplest villagers and the well-connected elite accept the notion of royal divinity. Without the king, the parties and the Maoists would far more easily come to terms and bring about an end to the civil war; both would likely accept free, fair, internationally supervised elections for a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution, but the king stands in the way because he knows that he has little popular support.

I do not believe that any argument marshaled by pro-monarchists, whether Nepali, Indian or American, can in any way outweigh the objections I have raised here to the continuance of this feudal, exploitative and undemocratic institution. Most of our people are illiterate but we are not stupid. We know bad things happening in our country under the chairmanship of BKG=Black King Gyanendra. We must awake now not tomorrow, to tell the world about the character of BKG.

----- Original Message -----
From: _______
To: ________
Cc: _________
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 8:06 AM
Subject: RE: FW: Mandale haru ko INVITATION

They can not show their face, they have to be undisclosed. What can we expect from these kind of people ? Can they be proud of any good thing that KG has done to Nepal & Nepalese? Of course, none.

________

From: ________
To: ________
CC: ________
Subject: FW: Mandale haru ko INVITATION
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:24:58 +0000

Dear Friends

Find the attachment of Public(?) felicitation program. Royalists and local Mandales are organizing this events as we?have received this their?invitation from undisclosed source.

___________

From:??Nepalipost
To:_________
Subject:??Mandale haru ko INVITATION
Date:??Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:53:29 -0400

Subject: Invitation!!!
>Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:11:31 -0700 (PDT)

> >Dear friends,

> >US-Nepalese Felicitation Committee invites all Nepalese and friends of >Nepal to honor Their Majesties King Gyanendra and Queen Komal at a public >felicitation program to be held on September 17, 2005 (Saturday), 11: 30 >am, at Pennsylvania Hotel, 401, 33rd Street, 7th Ave., Floor-18, in front >of Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. >The Committee wishes you to invite your friends as well.

> >Thank you.

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