For a government to decide to hold talks with an armed group is never an easy decision. That is especially true for a democratic government. The feeling is that if any group or section of the population has grievances, they should peacefully organizae and mobilize and they should seek electoral remedies. If you don't like party A, go vote for party B. There is this fear that if you talk to one armed group, other groups might also pick up arms so as to similarly shortcircuit the democratic process. Those fears are legitimate. But we have to stop pretending that these are normal times.
These breakaway Maoist factions are seeking political space, and we have to give it to them. Dialogue should be considered a very happy price to pay for peace. It would have been a major problem if these groups were opposed to the very idea of dialogue, but that happens not to be the case, lucky for us.
The fear is not that if you manage to disarm these groups, others will pick up arms. The fear is the opposite. There are other groups besides the Madhesi that have grievances. They might also get frustrated, impatient.
Why did we talk to the Maoists in the first place? Because we wanted a political and not a military solution. And that has been working beautifully. I just read the list of Maoist names that will go into the interim parliament. The Maoists put the seven parties to shame. Look at how much more representative they are. Looks to me like we are getting more than peace by talking to the Maoists, we are also getting social progress. That is so wonderful.
The trick is to focus on the just political demands and fulfill them. For the Maoists it was the constituent assembly. If the country had not agreed to that basic demand, no amount of talks would have brought them into the mainstream.
Similarly, these JTMM factions have two just demands that nobody can argue against. Heck, those are my demands also.
- Issue citizenship certificates to all Madhesis. That figure is closer to 60 lakh than the 33 lakh the Home Minister is suggesting.
- The 205 constituencies should be based on equal population.
Well, Goit also has other demands. He wants all of Terai to be one state. You tell him, that he will have to get himself by contesting in the constituent assembly elections. You fulfill the two basic demands, and then ask him to earn the rest at the ballot box.
Mainstream Jay Krishna Goit Also (August 7, 2006)In The NewsMaoists choose their MPs for interim parliament NepalNews The list of its 73 MPs includes 22 from Janajati (indigenous community), 21 Madhesi (Terai community), 28 women, 17 representing martyrs' families and 11 from Dalit community. ... Matrika Yadav .... Mahendra Paswan ...... Prabhu Shah .... Ram Kumari Yadav ...... Bharat Shah ..... Surya Nath Yadav ..... Shiva Kumar Mandal ..... Chinak Kurmi ..... Ram Lotan Tiwari ..... Satya Narayan Bhagat .... Puran Rana Tharu ..... Purna Singh Rajbanshi ..... Sheela Yadav ..... Tilak Pariyar ..... Ramesh Danuwar ..... Ram Chandra Chaudhar ...... Saraswoti Chaudhari ...... Ram Ashraya Ram ...... Indra Jeet Chaudhari Eights parties 'agree' to share 48 parliamentary seats 10 seats each to the NC, UML and the Maoists, 6 seats to NC-D and 3 each to People’s Front Nepal, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi) and United Left Front..... the smaller parties demanded equal share in the 48 seats while NC-D’s Deuba went on to claim seats at par with the NC, UML and Maoists. Action will be taken against King for suppressing April movement: NemwangThapa bitter about non-amendment of interim constitution; suspects CA polls will not be fair "When I heard criticism about the concentration of power in Prime Minister from a responsible person, I had thought they would make some changes. But unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be happening," Thapa said referring to the criticism by PM Girija Prasad Koirala over the constitution. ....... the attack against some monarchist parties by students of the eight parties. "If the CA election is not held in a fair manner, the nation will meet with a dangerous accident," he warned.'Govt hasn’t asked Maoists to persuade JTMM for talks’ the government had not given such a responsibility to the Maoists and that talks with the JTMM would be initiated after serious discussion amongst the political parties..... Sherchan also declared that there would not be any talks with the faction headed by Jwala Singh, which is also named JTMM. Jwala Singh's group has intensified individual killings, extortion and abductions in Siraha, Saptari and surrounding districts in recent days. Left Front selects three members for interim legislature, govt general secretary of CPN (ML) CP Mainali, Nanda Kumar Prasai of CPN (MLM), and Ganesh Shah of CPN (United) ... Jagat Bahadur Bogati Maoists to bring JTMM to talks table: DPM Sherchan Internet tariff to be reduced by 83 pc in Nepal The Hindu The price of 64 kbps-lease-line internet service will come down to 5,000 Nepali rupees (71.4 U.S. dollars) per month from the previous 18,000 rupees (257.1 dollars). While tariff rate of 128kbps-ISDN internet service will come down to 3,000 rupees (42.8 dollars) per month from 13,600 rupees (194.2 dollars) of earlier ......... five days after the state-owned telecom started procuring bandwidth from BSNL-- an Indian telecom company -- using the information superhighway. ... This is the first time that the country has used the optical fiber network, laid along east-west highway, for cross-country data transfer.
Terror in Terai: Missing Seriousness the expanding activities of JTMM in Terai who have steadily intensified their violent actions ........ When it started, the Maoist insurgency was thought to be a low-key, confined/localised and unpopular terror-insurgency and most of the subsequent governments tried to deal with it as a law and order problem. ....... His major plank includes separate state for the Madhesis (Terai). ........ Goit has switched his political loyalties a couple of times – first a leader of the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), and then a leader of the splinter Marxist Leninist (ML) and then the coordinator of the Madhesi National Liberation Front (MNLF) of the Maoists, he finally floated a separate outfit charging the Maoist leadership of betraying the Madhesi people. People who have known him say Goit is an ambitious and conniving politician. ......... In recent months, the JTMM (Goit) and JTMM (Singh) have taken turns to unleash violence, particularly in Siraha, Saptari, Dhanusha, and Rautahat districts. Significantly, the activities of JTMM have intensified coinciding with the guns of Maoists falling silent. Even as Maoist cadres have started to gather in cantonments with the intention of joining the peaceful politics, the JTMM has increased the tempo of violence. ......... The Goit faction has stated that it would not allow the CA polls in Terai region. ........ declaration of independent state of Terai; return of Nepali rulers from Terai; letting the indigenous people of Terai operate army, police and administration in Terai region. Likewise, both demand that revenue collected from Terai be utilised for Terai development and cessation of infiltration of Nepalis into the region. ........ Goit has said that Terai region does not belong to any King of Shah dynasty, and that Nepal has no right to rule the region. ....... Both the JTMM want the delimitation of electoral constituencies conducted on the basis of population; citizenship be distributed to Terai people by Terai administrators and so on. ........ They frequently make cross-border movements ....... both Singh and Goit were spotted at the same hotel at Madhubani, Bihar a few weeks back. ...... in recent months, their activities have visibly intensified. ....... Tripathy said, "We are trying to hold talks with the Prime Minister over this issue. This is a very serious problem." ........ He added that the JTMM were getting fodder since the interim constitution had "once again alienated the Madhesi population." He warned, "If we do not take this problem seriously, this movement could spiral out of control and become a full-blown separatist movement." ......... "We have started seeing armed Maoists deserting their party and joining JTMM with weapons. ....... dialogue seems to be the best option before the government to deal with the JTMM despite their narrow political base and small organisational strength. Rajendra Dahal, a senior journalist, who has watched the JTMM movement keenly believes that they are in search of political space. ........ both factions of JTMM have shown willingness to sit in dialogue with the government. They have even called for UN mediation in the negotiation. ........ An example of late December riots in Nepalgunj is enough to frighten any sane Nepali.
UN to begin registration and storage of arms early next week Government asks parties to submit names for interim legislature by Sunday morning the cabinet has approved 1,993 additional personnel for the Nepal Police besides sanctioning 57.7 million for the reconstruction of destroyed police posts.Rights situation improved markedly after April change: HRWRPP to recommend for amendment in interim constitution the balance of power between three organs of the state was missing in the interim statute, Khapung also expressed his party's resentment over not including the Madhesis, janajatis, and dalits in the statute. ..... there should be the provision of reservation for Madhesis, Dalits and Indigenous people in the interim statute. Terai bandh affects normal life The JTMM-called the bandh demanding appropriate representation of Madhesi people in all mechanisms of the state and delimitation of election constituencies according to population ratio. It has also demanded that the Terai region be declared “autonomous province”. ....... Vehicular traffic in Southern districts like Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Saptari, Sarlahi, Dhanusha and Mahottari remains disrupted since early Friday morning while marketplaces and industries have also been closed due to the bandh.
BJP to mend fences with Nepal Maoists Times of India, India
Maoist splinter group shuts down eastern Nepal Indian Muslims, CA
FULL TEXT : Human Rights Watch World Report 2007 – Nepal Himalayan Times, Nepal
INTERVIEW WITH SARITA GIRI After her involvement in the popular movement of 1990, her association with the Nepali Congress increased. As a result she sincerely got engaged in the activities of the party. But, in 1996 her political career took a turn. ...... She was highly influenced by the Samajwadi Janata Dal, a political party established by the late Gajendra Narayan Singh. She says, “I joined the party after Gajjubabu gave the membership of the party to me.” Later both the Sadbhawana and Samajwadi parties amalgamated into Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi) of which Giri is the Central Member at present. She was born in Champaran which is situated on the Nepal-India border and is also known as old Nepal. Later she got married to a Nepali. She was the speaker of her party earlier and also member of the Janaandolan Working Committee. At present she is the chairman of Nepal Bharat Maitree Sangh and the Centre for Women and Politics. ........ The contribution that women have made in making the Janaandolan 2 a success cannot be ignored. ...... it is also my duty to define independence and democracy from a woman’s point of view ....... we must follow the state's policy, which seeks one-third women involvement in every sector. But our ultimate goal is to create a proportionate society. ........ Educated and capable women will definitely get opportunities. But, the very same parties who once hesitated to give women 5% reservation will be compelled to give them a 1/3 reservation. ........ there is no clear roadmap for the restructuring of the state. ....... a prime minister who is not answerable to the Constituent Assembly is no less dangerous than the king in the past days ....... If the Constituent Assembly elections are not held in future, do we lack the right to approach a court? ...... The Terai Congress was formed in 2008 BS. I have just returned from a tour of Terai villages. I also talked with some local JTMM leaders. ........ The Maoist party which approved the five development regions of the "old state" has not given Matrikaji (Maoist leader Matrika Yadav) a respectable place. ........ As long as the people of Terai origin do not have access to the security bodies, this kind of discrimination will continue. ......... The government has also ignored the fact that the electoral constituencies should be based on population. ....... Isn't the betterment of the Terai people good for Nepal as a whole? The government collects 77% of its revenues from the Terai, but only 18% of the development budget is allocated to the region. ......... Sadbhawana has never indulged in racial politics. It is our political religion to take care of the betterment of the entire Terai region.......... Can a woman be asked to give up her citizenship just because she gets married to a person from another country? How can you compare getting married or liking someone to getting a citizenship? What kind of a nationalism is this?
