Breakthrough

Breakthrough Reported In Arms Management Negotiations In Nepal Playfuls.com, Romania
Nepal Maoists agree on arms management: report India eNews.com, India
Nepal Maoists agree on arms management: report Telugu Portal, India
Breakthrough reported in arms management negotiations in Nepal Raw Story, MA
Nepal Preace Process: Breakthrough On Arms Issue, UML Has New ... United We Blog, Nepal
Breakthrough on arms issue Kantipur Online, Nepal all of the rebels' weapons will be stored and locked up in the respective cantonments where the combatants are cantoned, before the Maoists join the interim government. The Maoist leadership will keep the keys to the stores. But the UN will install fixed cameras to monitor the storage and will have the right to make inspections whenever it desires. ...... an element of reciprocity: Equal number of weapons belonging to the Nepali Army will be stored and locked up at the barracks and the UN will inspect these as well. Until the constituent assembly elections takes place, both the Maoist combatants and Nepali Army personnel will be confined within their respective cantonments and barracks. ........ A cabinet sub-committee, which might potentially evolve into a separate ministry over time, will be formed to take up the issues of restructuring and reform of the Nepali Army, integration of the Maoist combatants into the army and reform of the whole security system. It will also develop a comprehensive plan to "right-size" the army and to rehabilitate the extra combatants from both sides into society. ........ The parties and the Maoists have also agreed to form a powerful commission that will study and explore the options and modalities on restructuring the Nepali state to make it more inclusive and progressive. ..... agreed to form a 23-member interim government in which the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the Maoists will get five ministries each. The rest of the ministries will go to the Nepali Congress (Democratic) and fringe parties. ...... the interim legislature will have 300 members with more or less equal representation for the NC, the CPN-UML and the Maoists. The NC, CPN-UML and other parties will nominate all the sitting lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the upper house to the new legislature. ...... the Constituent Assembly (CA) will have 425 members. 205 members will be elected from the current constituencies and the parties will nominate 204 members in proportion to the popular vote they garner in the CA elections. The prime minister will nominate the remaining 16 members. The parties have agreed to decide the future of the monarchy through the first meeting of the constituent assembly.

I think this political breakthrough puts October 31 almost in the same league as April 21. April 21 was when we ended the king's dictatorship. October 31 is when finally the eight parties saw light, like I had predicted they would. Finally they are now worthy of the trust of the Nepali people, although that trust is going to have to be renewed all the way to the country getting a new constitution. This is a major milestone and a cause for celebration.

The Summit Talks Will Succeed (October 6, 2006)

But I am alarmed that these leaders have not done right by the Madhesi people on the question of the constituent assembly itself. Perhaps now time is ripe for a full fledged Madhesi movement.

UML Regression On The Madhesi Question
Federalism: Four Layers Or Three Layers
Email To All Madhesis From Rajendra Mahto
DaMaJaMa Coalition: The Morcha Concept
Madhesi Rights
Three Emerging Poles
Janajati, Madhesi: Too Vague, Dalit: Not Assertive Enough
Rajendra Mahto: नागरिकता विधेयक खोतल्दा
Hands Off The Madhesi Activists
ANTA NYC Gathering In Prospect Park
Citizenship Acquiring Process Eased
50-30-10-10: Four Layers Of Government
Madhesi Self Hate
Language Policy
Global Federation Of Indigenous People Of Nepal
Janakpur Gherao
Mainstream Jay Krishna Goit Also
Madhesi Caucus In Interim Parliament Needed
Hindi Is At The Core Of The Madhesi Identity
Girija, Resign
In Solidarity With The Kamaiya Movement
C.K. Lal: NRIs In Nepal
Madhesis, Social Justice, And The DaMaJaMa Equation In Nepal
June 17 Madhesi Gathering In New York City
MaMaMaMa
Frustration, Chemical Imbalance, Mental Imbalance
Bahun, Chhetri, Sunni
Jay Prakash Gupta
MaDaMaJa
Democracy Diwali At The Nepali Mandir
Dr. Ram Krishna Shah
मधेशीसँग संख्या छ, शिक्त छैन
No Short Cuts: Madhesis Will Have To March
Chitralekha Yadav: Speaker
Declare Constituent Assembly On First Day Of Parliament
Madhesi Rights: Total Equality

The leaders have messed up on the modalities to the constituent assembly, but there is time. They are going to have to revisit this issue soon enough. The current 205 constituencies are a conspiracy against the Madhesi community and will not be allowed to stand.

As I watch these Pahadi netas, I become more and more convinced that there is no alternative to a full-fledged Madhesi movement. They keep shortchanging the basic issue of Madhesi equality. On that they are all one. Girija, Madhav and Prachanda all speak with one voice on that one. These Bahuns can not be trusted with Madhesi rights.

All Members To The Constituent Assembly Must Be Directly Elected
Dalit Diaspora Calls For 20 Percent Reservation
Interim Parliament: 101 Members Total
Direct Elections, One Seat For Every 100,000 People, Reservations, Primaries
Constituent Assembly: 300 Seats Of Roughly Equal Population

• All members to the constituent assembly have to be directly elected.
• There have to be at least 300 seats.
  
• Those seats have to have near equal population. No compromise on this one.
  
• There have to be reserved seats for the DaMaJaMa. 33% to the women, of those 2/3rds for the Dalit, Janajati, Madhesi women. 17% for the Dalit, Janajati, Madhesi.
  

This is ammunition for a movement in the making.

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