Regime Bent On Repression

The regime is out doing all it can to muffle protests. This is not a regime making attempts at reconciliation.

This makes for confrontation.

They brutally attack the student protesters. They prevent the former parliamentarians from gathering. They are shifting gears and moving towards repression a few notches.

I keep coming back to this: the seven party alliance will have to ditch the demand for a reinstatement of the 1999 parliament. That is a major bottleneck preventing a full fledged movement.

The goal has to be an all party interim government that takes the country to a Constituent Assembly.

And acts of repression have to be dealt with differently this time than they were after the 1990 movement. Some kind of a Truth And Reconciliation Commission will have to be formed in the aftermath to punish the worst offenders. Acts of repression now can not go unaccounted for post-democracy.

In The News

• Public Knows All United We Blog .... For the first time after the (abrupt for many and planned for a few fistful) Feb 1 royal takeover, I saw people, general people, talking something sharply against the royal regime..... Dekhiyo, dekhiyo,” he said, “rajako sasan pani dekhiyo. Kehi napenan. [I saw the king’s rule as well. He delivered no result.]” ..... “Look that announcement of pillion riding ban,” he commented sharply. “In the evening they banned and in the next morning they backtracked from the decision. They have become unsuccessful.”
• No Special Session This Time Around United We Blog Parliamentarians gathered in front of Royal Nepal Academy in Kamaladi where they had planned to hold the 3rd session of the parliament. But they were denied the entrance..... orders from higher authorities forced the academy..... Girija Prasad Koirala.. said, “This signals that king has chosen the path of confrontation.” ...... Government has been barring political activities in and around Ratna Park.
• Nepal: Drifting In A Sea Of Doubts Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand a section of the Indian establishment that has scarcely veiled its desire to see the abolition of the monarchy in Nepal. Professor S.D. Muni of Jawahar Lal Nehru University in New Delhi and retired Gen. Ashok K. Mehta, currently a security analyst, are the public face of this group...... Indian Foreign Minister K. Natwar Singh has been described as an advocate of promoting the Maoists and mainstream parties to eventually replace the monarchy..... The Times of India stood by its story last month that Indian intelligence agencies were "chaperoning" Dr. Bhattarai despite official denials...... Prachanda had accused Dr. Bhattarai of bolstering groupism and working against the insurgency by questioning recent military decisions of the party’s highest decision making body...... Dr. Bhattarai, a prolific and powerful essayist ..... Ahead of the party’s quadrennial national convention, the Nepali Congress leadership is under pressure from younger activists to join the Maoist campaign to overthrow the monarchy.... sections within the Nepali Congress that now appear to favor a republican agenda – such as former House of Representative speaker Ram Chandra Poudel and former finance minister Ram Sharan Mahat ......... Dr. Narayan Khadka, a leading member of Deuba’s Nepali Congress (Democratic), noted that the mainstream alliance is founded on “very shallow theoretical and pragmatic foundations”. Some of the parties in the alliance, he wrote, have only very reluctantly accepted the demand for the reinstatement of parliament and many active members (in all parties) do not subscribe to this demand at all.
• Dr Bhattrai hails Prachanda’s decision to revoke action NepalNews .... saying it should not be taken as a victory or defeat of any side .... mentioned that the party action against him and two other politburo members, Dina Nath Sharma alias Ashok and Hisila Yami alias Rahul, who is Bhattrai’s wife, was taken on grounds of policy disputes......
  
• Students-cops clash in Nepal The Statesman, India
  
• Thousands queue up as Telecom opens registration of new cellular lines NepalNews
• Opposition parties barred from organising mock session NepalNews
• Only specified unions to be allowed: Govt., Unions warn of stir NepalNews Amending the existing Civil Service Act, the government has said it will not allow government employees unions in the country except those that are approved by it...... Minister of General Administration Krishna Lal Thakali said the present government would not allow the civil servants to work as ‘trade unions or sister organisations’ of the political parties...... enforced through an ordinance last week-- has been designed to exercise total control over the bureaucracy and make civil servants submit to the new regime.... "The ordinance seems to be aiming at taking the country’s bureaucracy to stone age." ....... president of Nepal Nijamati Karmachari Sangathan (NNKS)—the largest union of civil servants in the country, Murari Bhattarai said the government employees were able to exercise their right to form union through 15-year-long struggle and that it can’t be brought down ‘like a house of cards’ overnight....... ‘We have got around 50,000 civil servants as our members and many more are well-wishers. The government’s decision (to ban employees’ unions) is against the country’s constitution, Supreme Court’s verdict as well as against the UN and ILO conventions to which Nepal is a party,” said Bhattarai. Now, we have got no option left than to agitate, he warned....... The Minister, who held the same portfolio in the sacked Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government ..... He, however, said if that had been the case, Pyakurel could have committed suicide within days of the government’s decision and not wait for several months.
• Govt bars mock session Parliament Kathmandu Post, Nepal As an indicator of harsher times to come ..... the political parties had already paid the fee for the hall ..... "The king will have to bear the consequence of this move," Koirala told journalists. ... "The royal government's action is deplorable. It obstructed the program of the people's representatives," Deputy Speaker Chitra Lekha Yadav said...... The leaders, cadres and well wishers of the seven political parties then took out a protest rally from Kamaladi, a prohibited area. The rally was dispersed by policemen when it reached Putali Sadak.
• RNA using Dullu kids as informants Kantipur ..... questioned by young boys, aged 8 to 14, carrying wooden toy guns. These boys, numbering around 18, are from the "child military unit", whose job is to secure the bazaar by informing the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) of every new arrival in the area.... boys, trained by RNA for the purpose.... Mahendra Kumar Thapa, a ninth-grader at Bijaya Higher Secondary School, is a "major". The rest of the boys salute him. Ram Bahadur Thapa, a seventh-grader, is a "captain". Similarly, fifth-grader Sundar Dani, eighth-grader Navin Kumar Thapa, and seventh-grader Jhak Bahadur Bhandari, are "lieutenant", "second lieutenant" and "jamadar" respectively...... At times, the boys have to stay with the army sentry till as late as 1 am..... Sudip Raj Kandel, captain and in-charge at the local RNA base camp, said, "I do not know anything about that kind of training. I came here just 7-8 days ago."..... they admit that their parents regularly urge them to stop working as informants...... They are paid Rs 15 for each meter of pipe they lay in the drinking water project that is under construction in Dullu...... using children as sentries, informants and labor is a violation of the Geneva Convention
• Nepal's political parties vow to intensify struggle Outlook (subscription), India Nepali Congress central member Krishna Sitaula said the political parties were working out to form a dialogue committee to hold talks with the Maoists to bring them into the political mainstream.
• US, India for restoration of civil liberties in Nepal Kantipur Online, Nepal
• UML Discusses Prachanda's Call for Talks Himalayan Times ... CPN-UML standing committee meeting .... The alliance may not form any talks team ..... the alliance would think over other options to hold talks with the rebel leaders.
  
• Parties initiate discussion on Prachanda's call Kathmandu Post ... In a meeting of the chiefs of the seven parties - Nepali Congress (NC), NC (Democratic), CPN-UML, Peoples' Front Nepal, Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi Devi), Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party and United Left Front - on Monday, the leaders cautiously welcomed Prachanda's proposal...... the parties will take a formal decision after their next meeting on July 24 and will appeal to the Maoists to create an environment of confidence for negotiations.... immediately halt killing of innocents, political cadres, abduction, looting, forced donation and destruction of physical infrastructure as the minimum condition for negotiation.
  
• United We Blog! ...for a Peaceful & Democratic Nepal United We Blog, Nepal.... The fact that both warring parties, i.e., the King and the Maoists lack people from the mainstream middle ground means that there can be no negotiated settlement to the crisis at this present stage...... Constituent Assembly, according to Thapa, is not going to work as a panacea to Nepal’s political crisis either. He questioned if a Constituent Assembly was to be formed, and if the armed groups failed to elect “their” people in the assembly, would they easily give up arms and be content with the results? ....... one solution can be to have an agreement among the middle ground people of the Maoists and the political parties in order to corner the King ...... The King does not support the idea of multi-party democracy...... This war is not between terrorists and the government – this war is between AUTOCRACY and DEMOCRACY...... fundamental rights of the people are embedded in their existence from their birth...... Only 21 lawyers out of over ten thousand registered are listed by the government to have supported the tyrannical regime...... Send reports of pro-democracy activities here in the US to Nepal. This will provide encouragement and strength to people struggling for democracy at home....... Raise funds to support pro-democracy institutions and activities in Nepal. Financial help is direly needed....... the fact that democratic governments failed to address the legitimate concerns of certain section of the public contributed to rise of the movement to an armed struggle...... He has made no secret of the fact that he loathes the multi-party political process, and blames the country’s crisis on the ineptitude of the political parties, rather than on unfavorable socio-political conditions....... King Gyanendra also doesn’t (still) believe that the current bureaucracy will support him....... They have realized the importance of pushing for things like negotiations and peace even by being outside the power helm...... Nepalis in the US can do much by contributing to opinion building by organizing events such as discussion forums and other informative sessions....... those efforts have been bolstered by support form international community and the Nepali Diaspora...... Instead of cracking down on the Maoists, the government has largely exhausted its resources to crack down on political parties, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and other members of the democratic civil society........ The Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) when there already existed Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA); High Level Human Rights Committee when there already was National Human Rights Commission....... district-level investigative body with broad and unquestionable authority to search homes, and offices and detain people without the due process of the law....... facts that contradict progress on the Maoists front: 60% increase on the rate of daily killings since February 1st .. Nearly 1200 lives lost due to the conflict since February first .. About 40 major fatal attacks by the Maoists since February 1st, which is three folds more than before. .. 4-5 lakhs people internally displaced .. 8-9 lakhs have had to flee to foreign countries .. 40% rise in child soldiers in the Maoist ranks ...... The new regime seems to be deeply frustrated with the steps taken by the international community..... the conflict MUST be resolved through democratic means, either through a referendum, or constitutional assembly, or all-party government, or a round table. One can clean shave the hair due to dandruff problems, but cannot slash the throat for it..... About 45 Nepalis attended the talk program at the Himalayan Yak Restaurant
• Norway reduces development aid to Nepal. Kantipur Online “The Government of Norway considers the development after 1 February as a serious setback in regards to multiparty democracy, to constitutional monarchy, to human rights, and to finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing violent conflict” ..... “On the same basis, the decision has been made to terminate, with immediate effect, the bilateral agreement on financial support to the Melamchi Water Supply Project”
  
• Writing on the wall Kathmandu Post The King said, "No, I don't understand, you're an intellectual." .... "Open society, transparency, mass participation, mass communicative ideas, I understand all this but it has to suit with the people of Nepal, lofty ideas are impracticable." ..... a clear message of guided democracy and indirect autocracy..... the overused and overexploited article 127 ..... remodeling education, crippling journalism, redefining human rights, and wiping out the impression of freedom and democracy from general people's mind..... the announcement of the apologists' federation of journalists......On the afternoon of July 15th, Lakhdar Brahimi, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, visited the King and in the evening the King opened yet another card of defiance. He expanded his cabinet ornate with a convict, pro-dictatorial kingship advocate, the person who did his best to crush the 1990 democratic move as the home minister, and he also added yet another bank defaulter...... If the political parties are still waiting for the monsoon to die down before bringing their movement to life, if the civil society still prefers to act indifferent, and if the general public still don't feel insulted by the regime, there is no hope for the restoration of democracy in this country.
• No irregularities in Melamchi contract: ADB Kantipur "Based on the assessment of the documents in its position and the interviews carried out Integrity Division of the Office of the Auditor General [the OAIG] has not found or received any evidence of collusion or other corrupt or fraudulent practice among those involved in the bidding process for the MDS/AAR/02 contract [contract of adit access road]," reads the investigation report in its conclusion..... The report has come at a time when the controversial royal anti-graft body is preparing to finalize the MDWP case.
• Parties criticize police intervention Kantipur
  
• Civil servants challenge ban on unions Kantipur
• Govt. bars formation of civil servant unions Kantipur

Major Student Protests

This can be seen as the first stepping stone into the movement. These acts of repression will fuel the movement.

The regime seems to be studying its administrative options should the movement escalate, instead of seeking political reconciliation. The democrats have to be realistic and see this regime for what it is. These are people who stand to be thrown into irrelevance once democracy takes over. And so they will postpone the inevitable the best they can.

A classic tussle between autocracy and democracy is on its way.

In The News

• At least 40 injured after Nepal protest Boston Globe, United States
• Students protest in Nepal, dozens injured Hindustan Times Police used batons .... About four police were also injured
  
• Students hurt in Nepal street protest Reuters AlertNet, UK police broke up a protest staged to demand the release of student union leaders arrested for opposing a government order to print photographs of the king in text books...... "It was like a battlefield. Some of the students were profusely bleeding after police beat them," Kathmandu taxi driver Bhagawan Chhetri said. "The students then threw stones at cars before being chased away by police." .... Pro-democracy activists and students regularly protest in Nepal
• At least 40 injured after Nepal protest San Jose Mercury News, United States
• At Least 40 Injured After Nepal Protest Guardian Unlimited, UK Police broke up a demonstration Tuesday in Nepal's capital by hundreds of students.... In a separate rally later in the day, about 2,000 political leaders and supporters demonstrated ..... About 500 students blocked a key street Tuesday when police charged at them with batons. The students retaliated by throwing stones....Student groups, political parties and journalists have held a series of protests
• At Least 40 Injured After Nepal Protest Los Angeles Times, CA
• At Least 40 Injured After Nepal Protest Gadsden Times (subscription), AL
• Nepal government gags budget criticism IANS
• Nepal government gags budget criticism:- Webindia123, India
• Nepal: Eighteen detainees released under ICRC auspices ICRC (press release), Switzerland
• Sanjay Upadhya: Nepal - The Realignment Race Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand... Niranjan Thapa, a former interior minister who the parties accuse of trying to suppress pro-democracy protests in 1990. (The top bureaucrat under Thapa then, Dan Bahadur Shahi, was appointed interior minister the day after King Gyanendra took over...... Jagat Gauchan, a former martial arts luminary who went on to spend seven years in prison for his role in the attempted murder of a prominent journalist. Two other appointees have been linked to financial scandals........ Tulsi Giri.... has made clear his personal opposition to multiparty politics........ many of the new ministers were until recently prominent members of the kingdom’s leading parties, the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist Leninists (UML)........ Prakash Koirala, the son of Nepal’s first elected prime minister B.P. Koirala ....... Salim Miya Ansari, one of the few Muslim politicians in the world’s only Hindu kingdom, used to be a leading member of the UML...... the prospect of a palace-led realignment of political forces ..... The palace, for its part, must have recognized that bending over backward could not have won over the Nepali Congress and the UML...... October 2002 ..... Unable to recommend a common candidate for the premiership...... What exactly transpired behind the scenes during those few days remains unclear.......... the last legislature – dissolved by Deuba in 2002 exercising his prerogative as an elected premier -- ....... Royal advisers seem to be convinced that the mainstream alliance has shallow roots. For instance, some of the alliance partners have only very reluctantly accepted the demand for the reinstatement of parliament....... Nepali Congress.. has gradually become receptive to the Maoists’ republican agenda ahead of next month’s general convention...... Comprising many western-educated younger Nepalese, the NC(D) ...... whether a true alliance with the Maoists could be envisaged before the rebels lay down their guns........ After 1990, the 400,000 village and district leaders the partyless system cultivated formed the rural and district core of the Nepali Congress and the UML. The pendulum could easily swing the other way........ Considering the flurry of positive statements coming from both sides, a broad working alliance between the mainstream parties and the Maoist rebels could be contemplated. Whether their unity could transcend their deep distrust and suspicions is another matter......... At least 55 of the 74 Nepali Congress members of Nepal’s first elected legislature King Mahendra – father of the present monarch -- dissolved in December 1960 ended up supporting palace-led non-party rule.
• Nepal Maoist rebels hand 18 prisoners to Red Cross Reuters AlertNet, UK The release, which took place in Sindhuli ...... The six soldiers and 12 police, captured in Khotang and Bhojpur districts during clashes on June 19 and 22, were brought to Janakpur

Political And Military Stalemate: Democrats Stand To Tip The Balance

The Monarchists rule the towns and the cities, the Maoists rule the countryside: that is the image being propagated. But that is not how I look at Nepal's political landscape. The truth is there is this major political paralysis in the country: the two extreme ends of the political spectrum have managed to create this eery political and military stalemate.

The democrats are not in power, but are still center stage. The key to the equation lies with the democrats.

The best way to play the game might be for the democrats to tiptoe towards the Maoists to shake the Monarchists, and then tiptoe back a little with the carrot of a cermonial monarchy to make sure the Maoists do not go beyond the idea of a multi party democracy. At least those options have to be kept open. A Maoist party hellbent on going beyond a multi party democracy will guarantee that the monarchy stays on, albeit in a ceremonial form. A king hellbent on not seeing the light will ensure a republic. That flexibility of stance will give the democrats the edge over the two extremes.

And the democrats really enhance the democratic position and leverage by seriously getting down to the work of the movement for democracy. A movement is unlike an election campaign. It is a much larger organism than any political party, and beyond a point it takes a life of its own. A movement boils until an autocratic regime is totally washed out. A movement can be guided at best, it does not get lead.

Should the Monarchists continue with their intransigence, as they might (what exactly will people like Bishta, Giri, Shah and others do after democracy arrives!), the movement will have to boil over. At that point, it will be important for the democrats to keep the intiative within the democratic camp. Only a disarmed Maoist party may be invited into any all party government. Only a demilitarized country can go into a Constituent Assembly.

In The News

• CBI, DEA probe Nepal prince’s drug links News Insight The US FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have sought assistance of the CBI, the Narcotics Control Board and covert agencies to investigate the notorious crown prince of Nepal, Paras, after an American ally in South East Asia tipped off about his rapidly expanding drug network. Paras has been allegedly in the drug business for seven years, but his stakes and that of the Nepalese royal family have grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, alarming the DEA, and panicking the US, and the crown prince is now reported to be operating his network beyond South Asia. In December 2004, the US-friendly South East Asian state began investigating new drug markets in the region, and the trail lead to Nepal, and investigators in the guise of tourists established the link to Paras, who was subsequently invited for a tourism promotion event. During the promotion event, the South East Asian state was confronted with meetings between Paras and local drug lords, who were under surveillance, and the recorded conversations produced iron-clad evidence against Nepal’s crown prince, which was when US agencies were contacted, for independent corroboration US agencies in turn approached Indian investigators about three weeks ago, which had an inkling of Paras’s drug dealings, but a more substantial probe has commenced since.
• UN & Nepal News Insight As we reported yesterday (Intelligence, “UN to take over Nepal, hold polls,” 13 July 2005), the US secretary of state, Condoleezaa Rice, has cleared a plan with the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, for restoring democracy in Nepal without damaging its constitutional monarchy but bringing the Maoist insurgents to peace talks at the same time. The plan for a restoration of democracy in stages, culminating with elections within a year of the UN takeover of administration of the kingdom, was prepared by India, and co-sponsored by the US, the UK, and Belgium....... The UN gets to administer Nepal for one year in which it will implement twenty mega development projects in remote locations of the kingdom, revive police institutions to restore public confidence in them, and hold free and fair internationally monitored elections..... With US agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, implicating his son, Paras, in a multinational drug network, Gyanendra stood a good chance to lose all, as we explained in a previous commentary (“Nepal crisis II,” 7 July 2005)..... The United States had to threaten him on two counts, one to send a multinational force to take over the country..... The second threat was to educate him on various heads of state around the world standing trail for violation of human rights .... The RNA many have never overcome the insurgents entirely, and if that were the case, the Indian Army would have long terminated the militancies in the North East......the peculiarity about insurgency is that it has its own immune system. ..... After 7/ 7, the world has no patience for armed struggles.
• Brazil out, US wants G-4 broken News Insight With Brazil being opposed by its neighbours, Canada and the US, its run for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council looks hopeless, and both Germany and Japan want it out of the G-4, and G-4’s ultimate disbandment, but only India is holding out.
• About Us News Insight .... issues that repress India. ..... corruption, venal politicians, anti-entrepreneur bureaucrats, and a mindset against meritocracy ..... feel guiltless about street children, rat-eaters, riot-victims, men and women who cannot spell their name, or vote-robbing ..... battle the repressors - using truth and moral values as weapons, allied with unbeatable information power, argumentation and analysis....... We count among our readers such eminences as prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, other members of the cabinet, leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi, the Communist stalwart, A.B.Bardhan, industrialists Rattan Tata and Ramesh Chauhan, apart from the Indian and NRI intelligentsia, the Indian middle and business classes, foreign governments, think-tanks, and educational institutions........ non-resident Indians - perhaps the last section of Indians left with the energy, drive, motivation and idealism to retrieve India ......
  
• Denying the UN Plan News Insight Officials at the United Nations in New York and the US state department deny that such a plan exists (Intelligence, "UN to take over Nepal, hold polls," 13 July 2005) We stand by the story. Editor.
• Maoists introduce Janabadi education to counter monarchy News Insight 28 December 2002 .... the Maoists have introduced their own system of education in scores of villages across northern and central parts of Nepal ..... they have even printed their own textbooks and have begun its distribution in large numbers ..... the Nepalese government, in a bid to strengthen its campaign against the Maoists, has ended all its international peacekeeping commitments. The last of the Nepalese forces, the Bir Dal Company, part of United Nations peacekeeping efforts in East Timor returned to the country recently.

Adding Video Clips To This Blog

Nepal Movement For Democracy: Message To The Democrats: Video Clips

• Part 1
• Part 2: Monsoon is time for homework ... The 1990 constitution is dead.
  
• Part 3: A king who might ruthlessly suppress the movement will have to seen an exit.
  
• Part 4: Logistical support to the movement in Nepal from the west. There should be a democratic government in power by 2006.
  
• Part 5: The Maoists have to disarm before the country goes to a Constituent Assembly.
  
• Part 6: Democracy, for the very first time.
  
• Part 7: This movement is also to establish democracy inside political parties, also a movement against corruption, also a movement for federalism.
  
• Part 8: Make it fun. From NYC to Nepal.
  
• Part 9: It took the seven parties months after 2/1 to come up with a common minimum program. That is a travesty.
  
• Part 10: I have no plans to go to Delhi or Kathmandu. I can be very fully involved from this end. This is the globalization and the internet era, that's why.
  
• Part 11: The democrats need to snatch away the initiative from the Maoists and the Monarchists. Got to become proactive, not stay reactive.
  
• Part 12: I have proposed a new constitution that can be found at my blog. I have not yet seen a better meeting ground for the three warring factions in the country. My document can be a great starting point for dialogue among the three.
  
• Part 13: The real sexy stuff: the race for rapid economic growth after democracy.
  
• Part 14: I have never been more politically involved before.
  
• Part 15: The king is an obstacle to the democrat Bahuns, those Bahuns are an obstacle to the DaMaJaMa.
  
• Part 16: (Hindi and Maithili) What can the Madhesis do for Madhesi rights?
  
• Part 17: (Maithili) Madhesi hum lenge sau mein pachas.
  
• Part 18: (Maithili) The Sadbhavana is a litmust test for the Madhesis who have made it.
  
• Part 19: (Maithili) At the global level, even the king is a "Madhesi," politically speaking.
  
• Part 20: (Maithili) India shold work to abolish the veto at the UN.
  
• Part 21: My personal story.
  
• Part 22: I do not see myself a political person. My primary interests are elsewhere.
  

I started with text, and links and quotes, with options for comments by readers.

Then I added a few audio files.

Between yesterday and today, I added a bunch of photos. Pretty much every blog entry here now has a photo to it, sometimes more than one.

And now I am adding video clips.

Earlier today I also added a RSS feed option. I am trying to get INSN, Samudaya and United We Blog to put those feeds onto their sites. Perhaps other bloggers too.

Yesterday I got an offer from Kantipur to write a weekly or bi-monthly column for them. I gave a go ahead for the bi-monthly idea. As the movement gets along, I have been looking for ways to reach the audience inside of Nepal, the offline audience, the audience that does not speak or read or access stuff in English.

And of course, there is Loktantra, the Delhi magazine. It is an honor to be able to write for it, because that magazine is totally to do with the movement.

This blog is fast emerging a mini multi media house in its own right. I am so glad for it.

In The News

• Guerrillas abduct 40 people in far-eastern Nepal Xinhua
• Guerrillas bomb biggest spinning mill in Nepal Xinhua, China
• Nepal lifts curbs on Indian joint venture IANS, India
• False publicity about Nepal hampers tourism industry: Bajracharya Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• Nepal fail to achieve goals set in previous year's budget People's Daily Online, China
• A fresh democracy or Maoist disaster? The Japan Times, Japan
• HK visa ban for Nepalis may be temporary Himalayan Times, Nepal
• EIGHT IFEX MEMBERS JOIN INTERNATIONAL MISSION TO NEPAL Samudaya.org, AZ
• Hippie trail takes Dev to honour in Nepal The Statesman, India
• NRN Japan delegation meet Crown Prince and Princess PeaceJournalism.com, Nepal
• Nepal Maoists patch up, Bhattarai is back Newindpress, India ..... Prachanda dramatically reinstated party's key ideologue, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, and two others in the party's apex decision-making body, signalling that the six-month long rift and the threat of a split among the guerrillas is over ..... two of his supporters - Ashok and Rahul - have also been reinducted in the politburo ..... as Bhattarai is the only public face of the party .... Prachanda said the party was going to consolidate its position on the basis of renewed unity, struggle and self-criticism for mistakes and at the same time undertake to unite all political forces against the absolute monarchy...... He, however, made it clear that no one in the party would have the freedom to air internal issues in public, indicating that Bhattarai would not have the liberty to write in the media without being assigned by the party.
• Nepal Maoists rehabilitate leader NewKerala.com, India
• Nepal's Maoist leaders heal rift Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
• Nepal Maoists rehabilitate leader IANS, India
• Bhattarai Back in Maoist Politbureau Himalayan Times, Nepal
• Nepal's Maoist leaders heal rift Matamat.com, Bangladesh
• Maoist leaders patch up differences Kantipur Online, Nepal
• Nepal's Maoist leaders heal rift BBC Bengali, UK
• Nepal's Maoist leaders heal rift BBC News, UK
• Nepal rebel leaders patch up differences Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
• Nepal's Maoist leaders heal rift Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
• Nepal rebel leaders patch up differences Reuters AlertNet, UK
• Remembering Rosa by Li Onesto Revolutionary Worker Online, IL
• I am emotionally involved with Nepal: Dev Anand Glamsham.com, India .... "'Hare Ram...' needed the emotional and physical involvement of the Nepalese. There were Nepalese actors in every frame. I knew the whole country inside out. I am not alien to Nepal, I am an international citizen, my media crosses all barriers of nationality."..... said he would have to study the political situation on his own before he could pass judgment on whether Nepal needed the almost two-month-long period of emergency.... "Some countries do need the institution of kingship," he said, "like Britain, Scandinavian countries. The king is the one cementing factor to bind different political parties together. I support democracy but freedom must come with lots of discipline and no violence."..... had opposed the state of emergency declared in India by then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975-77, said he was not making a political statement in Nepal..... "I opposed emergency in India because I am an Indian," he said. "I am an outsider here, you can't make assessments in a hurry. I have to live here to comment on the political situation."..... The star, who will celebrate 60 years in showbiz in October with the release of his new film "Mr Prime Minister" - a satire on the Indian political system of which he is the director and also plays the lead - said he would think about making another film in Nepal since the visit had "opened windows" in his mind...... the palace massacre in Nepal in 2001.... "It is a very sensitive subject," he said. "I can't make a film on it unless I have the permission of the people involved in it - the royal family as well as the people of Nepal."
• We are in the process for a new office for Tibetans : UNHCR Phayul, Tibet
• KG erasing King Birendra? Samudaya.org, AZ
• The media’s ethnic gap Nepali Times, Nepal .... an anguished email from a well-known author and editor, a pahadi janajati, citing a small news item which reported that no journalist turned up for a press conference called by madhesi students. He was agitated by this gross discrimination..... The media influences public knowledge and opinion both by what it reports and what it leaves out...... the grievances of a handful of madhesi university students being beaten up .... one more example of the perhaps unconscious collective effort of the pahadia dominated press to erase madhesis from the media and thus from public knowledge and national discourse .... the press on the whole did not report on the first ever national conference on the tarai, focusing especially on the madhesis...... conference was held in a well-known hotel, press releases were faxed and it was attended by several journalists..... no serious reporting on the discussions of the conference nor even a mention of the dukkha of being a madhesi .... Journalists do write or speak about the madhesh or tarai but mainly as a location down south where negative events occur. The madhesis themselves hardly figure in the stories. Or as one madhesi journalist bitterly complained during a conference, the national press usually ignores madhesis except to portray them in bad light. A reputed organisation which has published a series of landmark books on the media’s coverage of dalits and janajatis has not yet brought out a publication on the media and madhesis....... pahadi media gatekeepers are doing injustice to madhesis ....
  
• A fight against autocracy Kathmandu Post, Nepal
• Nepal Maoist leader back in politburo Hindu
• Maoist top guns bury hatchet in Nepal Calcutta Telegraph
• Political feuds dampen Nepal’s quest for democracy Daily Times, Pakistan .... internal feuds within the country’s two biggest political parties .... both parties have been struggling to organise pro-democracy rallies .... power struggles among leaders in the two largest parties - Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal - have emerged in recent weeks. Party workers say this is hampering demonstrations ...... Only about 1,000 protesters showed up for a much-hyped rally in Katmandu last weekend. ..... “The lack of credibility of these party leaders and their failure to come up with a clear agenda are the main reasons for people losing interest in the movement”
• 'No differences among seven parties fighting for democracy' Hindu, India "United we remain united we fight."
• Congress failure! Kathmandu Post, Nepal GP Koirala, who is, to a large extent, responsible for the undemocratic culture prevailing inside the party.
• Koirala to contest third term Kathmandu Post, Nepal
• Mainstream parties discuss Maoist proposal, fail to form negotiations team NepalNews .... renewed its appeal to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to create an environment of trust before they could sit for negotiations...... There exists ‘pacific ocean of distrust’ between us...... opposition parties have maintained that Maoist guerillas continue to harass, intimidate and even kill their workers and supporters in the rural areas.
• Dr. Bhattarai rehabilitated in the CPN (Maoist) party NepalNews ..... Prachanda said the ‘organisational status’ of comrades including Dr. Bhattarai has been resolved “on the basis of forging new unity on new basis ..... Dr. Bhattarai has now returned to the party’s top leadership as its standing committee member ..... Bhattarai’s wife, Hisila Yemi, and Maoist leader Dinanath Sharma were also subjected to disciplinary action..... Prachanda said his party would organize special internal programmes to resolve intra-party disputes..... decision seems to have been motivated to control further damage due to the intra-party feud, analysts say
• The True Face Of The King's Ministers Deshantar
  
• The Nepali Congress Convention And People's Expectations Deshantar
  
• Narahari Acharya On The Monarchy Deshantar
  
• Villagers Seek Peace In The Red Fort Drishti
• The King's Dilemma Drishti
• Mysterious UML Drishti
• Benefits For Bishta Budhabar
  
• Narahari Acharya On A Constituent Assembly Budhabar
  
• How To Democratize The Parties Budhabar
  
• Why Does The King Trust Giri? Budhabar
• Maoist Press Statement INSN
• Janadesh 31
  
• Janadesh 30

CEO Gyanendra Shaha

$5 million for the king in the budget. That is lavish. Expenses on a president might be more to the tune of $15,000, and that is stretching it.

The king keeps giving himself pay raises, year in year out. I guess the guy is trying to keep up with inflation, what say you!

The vast majority of CEOs in America might envy him. If only they knew.

I just chanced upon the Nepali Times article on him from 2001. The guy might not have been born the eldest brother, but he sure comes across as the Michael Corleone.

The guy is almost having fun. From where he stands, the democrats look like small fry. So you want democracy? Here is Jagat Gauchan in your face!

I think he feels like he has a lot of room to play. The 1990 constitution with all his salary increases, and an Article 127 that he has transformed into a constitution within a constitution is his fallback plan. At the other end, he will occupy center stage.

And there is a second bottom line, not one of his choice, but that of the Maoists and the parties. Recent polls show 60% of the country still wants a constitutional monarchy. So if the parties and the Maoists were to get together for a Constituent Assembly, the monarchy would still stay on, or so the king believes, for good reason, if the polls are to be read.

So his spectrum of choices looks good to him. At one end of it, he is the CEO of Nepal. There is the middle ground of the 1990 document and Article 127. At the other end he is a constitutional monarch like in Japan or Britain. What does he have to lose? The democrat-Maoist alliance is gelling around a Constituent Assembly, not around the idea of a democratic republic.

But he stands to miscalculate in that the public mood might not change. It might and drastically, triggered by a few key events. Perhaps of acts of repression by his minions.

True, there is a military stalemate between the RNA and the Maoists, and a political stalemate between him and the parties, but it is a stalemate that keeps him at center stage. He is hellbent on waiting it out. He is enjoying himself.

I actually admire the guy's personal abilities. The efficiency with which he executed his coup. Just look at that. I just am opposed to his ideology. I don't agree with coups in general. I am a democrat with a healthy distaste for Monarchism and Maoism.

I just think his activism and creativity should be applied to his businesses. If he really wants to apply himself into politics, it should be as a private citizen. If you really want to become a politician, then become one!

My reading of the situation is the democrats will have to match King G's sophistication. Appealing to his "good side" will not work. The first such act of sophistication will be to forge a strong Democrat-Maoist alliance. To launch a vibrant, ceaseless dialogue mechanism.

Entering into dialogue, forming a formal dialogue team does not mean you are caving in to the Maoists, it does not mean you are agreeing with anything they say or do. All it means is you are talking. Which is something you are doing anyways. You are putting out statements, they are putting out statements. That is talking. Do it in a more efficient way. Form a team. Make it real. Meet in person. Develop a mechanism.

PS. On the king's cars. I think he should buy himself a 18-wheeler, if he is really so fond of driving around! Nothing like it. The power.

In The News

• Nepal Allocates More Money to Fight Rebels MSN Money ...the army and police will receive about 18.8 billion rupees (US$269 million;euro223 million), 27 percent more than the previous year..... (US$1.8 billion;euro1.5 billion) annual budget...... (US$267 million;euro222 million) in grants ..... (US$207 million;euro172 million) in loans..... main donors are Japan, Germany, Britain and the United States, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank....... also increased money allocated for the king, the royal family and to cover expenses of the royal palace to 355 million rupees (US$5 million;euro4.2 million), an increase of about 8 percent......
  
• Nepal allocates more money to fight rebels BusinessWeek
• Nepal Allocates More Money to Fight Rebels Forbes
• Nepal king’s new Cabinet draws flak Samudaya.org a scheduled visit by Manisha, who is expected to attend the finale of the first National Film Festival.
• Plunder! Plunder!! Plunder!!! United We Blog, Nepal A few days ago, Royal Nepalese Army established its own museum to mark the birthday of king Gyanendra who is also the chairman of the council ministers facing bank defaulting and corruption charges.... a car used by late King Mahendra, among other military and royal artifacts. ..Rolls Royce..... the budget of the palace to Rs 355 million rupees ..... Many programs were organized to mark the birthday, pouring millions of rupees. The king along with his wife was seen on televisions drinking wines...... feudal celebrations .... 2003-2004 the budget was Rs. 329 million, Rs.333 million in 2004-2005 and 335 million this year .... It is unbearable..... Last year, the palace bought three luxurious cars: Jaguar, Mercedes and Royce Rolls. The same year the crown Prince was seen riding a new brand of motorcycle in the capital: Harley Davidson. Its cost as said in the market is Rs 2.8 million rupees...... a country where the poor are dying of hunger while the ruler is drinking wine and riding luxurious cars.
• Nepal raises security spending to fight rebels Reuters India, India
• Nepal unveils 1.81 billion US dollars budget Xinhua, China
  
• Books criticising India launched in Nepal NewKerala.com, India "Machination of RAW in South Asia", the author accuses India's intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of fomenting trouble in the kingdom, encouraging the Maoists and plotting a takeover of Nepal....Aghori Baba, an Indian religious leader, was a spy in Nepal during the rule of the late king Mahendra.... the launch of the English translation was apparently timed as a reaction to a previous book launch in New Delhi recently..... "Kingship Vs Democracy", a collection of essays by a top Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, who is said to have been meeting Indian and Nepalese leaders secretly in the Indian capital, was released there earlier this month.....A third eminent invitee, former prime minister Marich Man Singh, a royalist now trying to make a comeback
• Arrested students charged under Public Offence Act Kantipur Online, Nepal Pradip Poudel, Narayan Bharati, BP Regmi, Pushpa Shahi and Saroj Thapa of Nepal Students’ Union and Thakur Gaire of All Nepal National Free Students’ Union.....District Administration Office yesterday ordered the police to keep the arrested students in custody for 10-days... arrested the students for burning the textbooks with images of royal family members....the eight student unions yesterday gave an ultimatum asking the government to release the arrested students by Monday. They have warned of nationwide protest if the government does not fulfill their demands.
• The Once And Future King Nepali Times by Dubby Bhagat June, 2001 ... Urbane, erudite and a good manager, King Gyanendra is not expected to suffer fools..... Controversy has dogged King Gyanendra’s footsteps as palace eminence gris, as a legal but royal entrepreneur and even as a family man. His son Paras Shah inflamed the Nepali public with DUI incidents that caused fatalities.... Paras was seen as disorderly when he was high..... As a prince, Gyanendra inherited a hotel which he parlayed into an empire that included tea, tobacco, and other enterprises. Executives and workers alike claim that Gyanendra’s touch is so light as to be almost non-existent, but his vision was revolutionary by standards of the day. Workshops, seminars, management excercises, international exposure, but most of all, his selection of the right person for the right job marked the of his corporation. His message was made even clearer: an enterprise seen as a failure was closed down with no-nonsense efficiency...... Clear, succinct, urbane.... As palace adviser, he has been known to cut short courtliness and traditional formality to get to the heart of matters. His vast library is said to display eclectic taste and the books in it are well thumbed through. He is known to converse knowledgably on a variety of subjects...... Several ambassadors went a few months ago to visit Gyanendra and stay overnight in a lodge in the forests. Among them were the Chinese, German, Indian and American envoys in Kathmandu. One of them recalled a fascinating evening filled with conversation that ranged over a variety of subjects on which the prince’s grasp was sure, and his opinions culled from personal experience and extensive reading were sound. ..... When Prince Charles came to Nepal in the late seventies to go into the Himalaya to decide whether he should marry Princess Diana..... Charles later recalled .... Gyanendra’s knowledge of international affairs and both Britain’s and Nepal’s role in them was profound...... When the first SAARC summit was planned and Nepal was named host, it was Gyanendra who oversaw all the details with painstaking meticulousness. His planning started from the décor of the VIP lounge at the airport, went onto a renovation of the venue, the Summit Hotel, and he even undertook the supervision of building the SAARC suites where the late Rajiv Gandhi, Sri Lankan president JR Jayawardene and other heads of state stayed. A contractor on the suites recalled that Gyanendra was with them well into the night to see them completed in time...... As a known conservationist, King Gyanendra gave assent and helped plan the highly successful Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) that had visitors and Nepali citizens alike applauding the initiative, but not necessarily its behind-the-scenes mover who preferred to remain away from the limelight...... Gyanendra while always being a part of the palace, also chose to stay away from it as much as possible. And it is this role as eminence gris that always had him in a nebulous grey area, the target of whispered vilification that he never acknowledged as long as jobs entrusted to him got done. Preferring privacy over public acclaim, Gyanendra chose never to justify his actions and even the open praise of those he worked with never quite attached to him. He was always the unknown quantity, the Dark Prince. His intellectual worth set him even further apart...... his considerable skills .... so that his country (and he himself) can emerge from shadowy sidelines to a place in the new global order where transparency is everything, where the media, to its detriment, robs efficient but private people of their right to privacy.....
  
• National Assembly members to boycott budget speech Kantipur ..... members belonging to Nepali Congress and CPN-UML ...“In the absence of Parliament, the budget should have been presented at the National Assembly,” member Ram Jeevan Singh said. “The National Assembly is still active.” .....
• Their Majesties grace 46th TU Day function Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• Rogues in King’s Cabinet The Statesman
• Dangerous stalemate Daily Pioneer, India Ashok Mehta .... much discussion taking place on India-US defence relations .... bring back to our national consciousness and security radar, the situation in Nepal..... Nepal seems to have receded to the background, as if India and the international community have accepted King Gyanendra's fait accompli of direct rule...... no King before him survived beyond 58 years of age .... Those who have met the King recently say he has never looked healthier and more confident ever since he became the absolute ruler on February 1 this year...... together map out, later this month when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in the US, a more coherent strategy for preventing the King from eliminating democracy..... The Royal Commission on Corruption Control - judge, jury and executioner - an extra-constitutional body is a Damocle's sword over the political class...... Police detain dissident leaders at will by saying, "Maathi bato hukum aaye ko chha (orders have come from the top)"..... Be under no illusion: King Gyanendra is not batting for democracy...... Red lines have been drawn around Kathmandu, within which to confine peaceful protests. Leaders know that if they break the rules or cross the red lines they will be back in jail..... wears his uniform as the Supreme Commander more frequently than his late brother Birendra, is pampering the men in uniform..... In the last six months or so, the last thing the RNA has done is go for the Maoists. Indeed, it has been the other way round.... more than a dozen well-coordinated attacks on the security forces in the last month alone and killed more than 50 soldiers....resorted to such intense panic firing that ammunition stocks ran critically low..... the military budget risen by more than 40 per cent since direct rule but so has the strength of the Army from 83,000 earlier in the year to nearly 90,000 now. Pay and ration scales have been enhanced. Most notably, the UNPKO allowance has been increased by $100 a month. Nepalese youth join RNA for the lucre of dollars from UNPKO. Stopping or curtailing UNPKO will be the biggest setback for RNA...... Royal incentives for RNA include allotment of land, accelerated promotions and foreign assignments. Five out of six ambassadors appointed recently are retired generals. The King has sought to raise visibly the image and perks for the RNA..... The younger leaders, however, are in an uncompromising mood as they do not want any reconciliation with an autocratic regime and monarchy but a multiparty democratic republic. For the first time, a serious debate over monarchy or democracy has started. It is no longer return to democracy but to total, absolute and inclusive democracy....... Prachanda has accepted the offer for talks and has asked the seven-party alliance to designate a team for the purpose. This is a major development..... The Maoists are on the political and military offensive. They are no longer looking for reforms but structural changes...... RNA has been saying development aid should be funnelled through them...... The Maoists are yielding space to political parties in areas under their control for resumption of political activity. This is a major concession..... Baburam Bhattarai too has been meeting political leaders in Delhi and the intelligence agencies, signifying India's opening unofficial channels to the Maoists...... The US views Nepal solely through the prism of terrorism - and also the hangover of Communism....... US Counter-terrorism Centre Report has put Nepal next to Iraq as the country worst afflicted by terrorism...... Calibrated military aid, whether lethal or otherwise, is unlikely to influence the King's behaviour in restoring democracy. Regime change in Kathmandu is paramount. Two of the three key players would have to come together to get rid of the third...... still time for the King to read the writing on the wall and accept ceremonial monarchy in order to save the Shah dynasty from oblivion. Otherwise a new people's revolution could storm Nepal.
• Nepal: Searching For The Silent Majority Scoop.co.nz (press release) In the midst of the triangular conflict raging in Nepal, each player believes it enjoys the support of a silent majority. ..... If the royal regime is growing nervous, it isn’t showing signs. The Maoists and the mainstream parties equate the palace’s exuberance as the last flicker on a dying candle..... Deep internal rifts and out-of-control fighters have shaken the movement. The Maoists are nowhere near a full-blown implosion. But rebel leaders seem to be worried that a sizeable section of the mainstream alliance might jump into the royal camp at the first opportunity...... Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has described the king as the shrewdest of Nepal’s political operators..... you get the feeling that a republican Nepal is but a matter of time..... recent polls indicating that around 60 per cent of Nepalis still consider democracy under a constitutional monarchy the best form of government....... To that, a former palace-appointed minister, Gore Bahadur Khapangi, a much-needed colorful personality in tense times, had an equally colorful response a few years ago: Let Nepalis first become like Britons or Japanese first.... B.P. Koirala... While in power between 1959 and 1960, he hardly concealed his intention one day to place the crown in the national museum...... During the last year of King Birendra’s reign, virtually all of the parties in the Nepalese parliament voted for a controversial citizenship bill...... sent the legislation to the palace for approval as a finance bill, which under the constitution would automatically become law even if the king vetoed it...... The monarch sought the opinion of the Supreme Court, which agreed with the prevailing national mood. A wholesale redrawing of Nepalese demographics plotted in the guise of democracy was averted. In the weeks before his death in a palace shootout, King Birendra was becoming more and more assertive in matters of national importance........ 85.7 percent believe it is now time for the Maoists to give up violence and join the political mainstream......
  
• HM’s birthday celebrated abroad Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• Nepalese Maoists: Caught In Their Own Craftiness Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand Nepalese Maoists’ mastery of creative ambiguity ......Prachanda has been working overtime to prove his party’s commitment to a multiparty democratic republic...... the “embryonic republic”...... Koirala had been unsuccessfully pressing King Birendra, the supreme commander-in-chief of the army, to order the better trained and equipped soldiers to go after the insurgents...... A month after the palace carnage.. Maoist leaders ..ruled out peace talks with any “Girija-type” leader..... The failure of the peace process and the deployment of the army against the rebels came in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Deuba sought to project the military’s anti-insurgency campaign as part of the global war on terror...... After the second ceasefire was declared in January 2003, Maoist leaders suggested there was a real chance for peace this time. The two intermediaries claimed that a breakthrough was possible this time precisely because the parties were not around to thwart things....... Dr. Bhattarai, who emerged out of hiding for the first time in seven years to head the Maoist negotiating team, virtually staked his claim to lead a new interim government...... For several weeks after the royal takeover, Dr. Bhattarai, who even his worst critics admire as a prolific analyst, maintained a mysterious silence....... Prachanda was heard implying that Dr. Bhattarai was an “Indian agent”. Dr. Bhattarai responded, in effect, by calling Prachanda a “palace lackey”......
  
• Monarchy devoted to people: Crown Prince Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• Indian President, PM wish Nepal king on his birthday:- Webindia123, India
• Monarchy & People Gorkhapatra, Nepal Nepal’s Institution of Monarchy has always recognized the people as the ultimate source of strength.
• The King Committed For Multiparty Democracy Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• HM’s Doha address ends misconception about Nepal Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• Mala Sinha, Dev Anand get honours in Nepal's first film fest Hindu, India