The Nepali Rasputins Want A Revolution

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:

1. The king is expelled from the country.
2. All his property gets nationalized.
3. Tulsi Giri goes to jail. For life.
   
4. 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.
   

This is not going to be a repeat of 1990. The crooks will not go scot-free.

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? ........
  

Sumit Pokhrel On Democracy For Nepal

Designing Democracy: What works for Nepal?

-Sumit Pokhrel

Power struggle and regime changes have been the frequent phenomenon of the Nepalese politics. It has been more than 50 years after the long waited fall of autocratic Rana Regime in 1951, Nepal is yet to practice stable democratic rule. The vicious cycle of struggle to gain and re-gain power between monarchy and political parties, and recent entry of Maoist in this conflict has lead country towards total catastrophe. It is irony that all these factions claim to represent voice of general mass. In-between the ongoing conflict, the monarch has tried to portray himself as a savior of democracy in international community. He tried to justify his action of dissolving government on February 1 as an action against failure of then government to hold election and tackle the Maoist issue. However the inclusion of people with known reputation to being anti-democratic and loyal royalist as his associates, imposition of nation wide emergency suspending fundamental rights of people, detention of opposition leaders, and curbing the press freedom; king’s intentions are seriously doubted. While there is a need to question the king’s intent regarding democracy, those who believe in democratic rights should also question the parliamentary democratic system drafted after 1990. Is the constitution drafted hurriedly “to transfer sovereignty of nation in people” able to protect democratic rights?

There are many evidences today that the system copied from the Westminster-style parliamentary government in Great Britain has not been able to fulfill the expectations of people from completely different social and political culture. Democracy can only be established with the equitable share of power between different class, caste, and ethnic group and by providing equal social and economical opportunities. A stable democracy requires proportionate representation of opposition and minority. In, Nepal the class struggle exists due to its semi-feudal and semi-communal social structure. The unitary system of parliamentary democracy, which tends to centralize power in ruling elite neither represents the voice of general mass nor does it device any mechanism to address their problem. Centralization of power in unitary system can encourage corruption, misuse of power, and exertion of autocratic rule. In a country like Nepal, with its inadequate sociopolitical infrastructures in bureaucracy, judiciary, and military that is created by long history of non-democratic rule, the risk is escalated.

In the practice of parliamentary democracy, since the very survival of the government depends upon maintaining a majority, Members of Parliament (MPs) are far more involved in building an equation to maintain majority of their party. Leaders in Nepal have been accused of being pro-party rather than pro-people. Parties are busy building coalitions to serve their political interest and playing party politics to remain in power rather than addressing people’s problem. Prime-minister has used his power to dissolve parliament several times, at the same time parliaments have passed vote of no-confidence several times to oust ruling cabinet. Government has been dissolved at least three times when ruling party had majority in the parliament. The governments were dissolved only because of political ambitions and egoism of the major leading politicians within the party. Instability of system has been demonstrated by the fact that 9 governments failed in 10 years of democratic practice in Nepal.

To minimize risks of weak governance and instability, and ensure the equitable share of power, a different system of governance is needed, one that can address the grass root level issues of the large poverty ridden populace. Like Maoists have been saying perhaps we need a demolition of present establishments and new set of ideologies to reach out to the common man. During the initial phase of their campaign, Maoists were able to attach themselves with general people because their ideology coincided with the need of the common man. But propagating the idea that ideological revolution can only be brought by armed struggle, like Maoists do, is ignoring the will and well being of the very mass, which is looking for peaceful solutions. The ideological war needs to be fought by empowering people with knowledge and not by unabated and uncontrolled violence. Maoists have failed to understand that the ideological war cannot be fought by exerting fear in the people. Only way to win this war is by empowering people with true information, right education and awareness, and increasing their negotiation capacity.

The need of an hour today is to work towards establishing stable, decentralized, and representative democratic system. Such system can only be achieved by inducing appropriate check and balance mechanism. Whenever there is talk of constitution reform, either unitary British parliamentary system or American presidential system with separation of power or the French fifth republic with its presidential system is generally considered. The Swiss system with autonomous regional/ communal government and with many features of direct democracy is often overlooked. Nepal has much more in common to Switzerland where population, geographical, cultural diversity and a sense of collective identity are concerned, than Britain, US, or France. Not to forget, Switzerland is the country with one of the world’s highest per capita income and best lifestyle. Switzerland has always enjoyed very stable democracy, with very different foreign policy of non-alignment and neutrality.

Simply copying a constitution of one country does not work in another. It is not possible to conclude that one particular type of system will work in Nepal just because it has worked somewhere else because of its unique geographical, social, and economical structure. However, understanding different democratic institutions will help to design a political model that will suit the Nepalese need. With discussions, debate, and appropriate negotiation, Nepal should be able to formulate the constitution that will work best in Nepalese context. Some of the feature that needs to be discussed for successful democratic system is as follows.

Federalism for Decentralization: Equitable Power Sharing

Nepal is a land of great geographical and cultural diversity with different religion and ethnic groups. The constitution of Nepal should guarantee preservation of ethnic/communal liberty, which should manifest itself through distribution of power among local, regional and national government; among different class, caste, ethnic groups and religion. As the United states leaders saw in the 1780’s, as the Indian leaders saw in 1947, and as Belgium’s leaders realized in the 1970s, federalism is a very important means of enabling a heterogeneous population to live together in harmony. As is noted from recent political changes in Mexico and other Latin American countries, federal separation of powers can also help to make a party system more competitive when it allows opposition political parties to prove their quality by winning control of provincial governments (vertical check and balance). However, Swiss model might suite more to Nepal considering its smaller unit and powerful communal rule established to preserve small community, unlike large federations adapted to serve large territories and population. There are some direct benefits of considering federation in Nepal, for example to better represent regional and communal (class, cast, ethnic group, and religion) interest and by strengthening regional and local government which will strengthen other wise remote areas, Nepal can be approximately divided in to anywhere from 25-30 regional government along the line of 10-15 major ethnicity.

Decentralization can be achieved through proper allocation of power to individual (regional government) unit decided by proper negotiation. They are likely to include the power which requires extensive inter-local cooperation such as land use planning and control, regional education, health, water supply, waste disposal, regional road granting the local authorities constitutional power which would give them appropriate taxing power and revenue sharing. Caution should be taken that we are not talking about regionally based ethnic or cultural divides; what we are talking about is more self-governance for people who share a common culture. In essence it is not a question of assigning separate function to regional government but introducing regional components in a shared unit.

If we look into some cases of community forestry, hydro-power generation, income generation project implemented at grass root level in Nepal, it has been demonstrated that the administration is more efficient and effective in a homogeneous society compared to a heterogeneous community. The concept of federalism simply accepts that people understand and work better with people of similar socio cultural background.

In an age of globalization when it is very difficult for any society to resist its expansion and consumerism, it will be wiser to set priorities to achieve right balance rather than trying to isolate the nation. Through the mechanism of federalism where each small unit (regional and local government) is autonomous, regional government should be able to protect basic needs of people from negatives of free market economy, and monopoly of foreign direct investment. At the same time, the national government can harbor its advantages that are vital to raise nation’s tax base. Only requirement is the strategic planning and effective implementation at local, regional and national level.

Bicameralism for Ideological and Regional Representation

In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. In Nepal, bicameralism existed in form of upper and lower house, however upperhouse had almost non-existing power. Provided the proper allocation of power inbetween these two chambers, bicameral model has merit of the check and balance mechanism.

Bicameralism in Federal system is a means of accommodating both the territorial and ideological dimensions of the nation’s polity. In this system, equal or at least more balanced representation of regions in a second chamber would give so-called peripheral “remote areas” a greater share in the government of the state than is possible under strict proportional representation or even under a territorial system, in which seats are apportioned strictly according to population.

Separation of Power: Appropriate Check and Balance

One of the most frequently suggested constitutional requirement for successful democracy is to sharpen the separation of powers. Mostly practiced in presidential democracy like that of USA and also practiced, though little differently in Switzerland, it is characterized by a clear division between parliament and government. This clear division between the government and parliament means that the head of executive body (president/ prime minister) cannot rely on a constant majority. Majorities are formed in parliament from different sides of the House through negotiation and influence and they come together to pass legislation. A readiness for compromise and the ability to reach agreement between all bodies are essential for this system to work.

The American presidential system president is head of the executive and is voted into power during elections held separately to those for parliament; where as in Switzerland Federal Council has seven members, elected by the Federal Assembly every four years. Its members are elected as individuals. The Council is not responsible to the Assembly, but serves a fixed term. The President of the Confederation is selected annually by the Federal Assembly from among the members of the Federal Council. The president/ prime minister in both cases is not a member of parliament. In the same way as parliament cannot vote the president out of office, the president cannot dissolve parliament. Only if the president/prime minister were to commit certain crimes would it be possible for him/her to be removed from office during an impeachment process.

Separation of power ensures, check and balance (horizontal) and stability of the government. Separation of power can further be enhanced by providing balanced role to monarchy, executive, legislative, and judiciary bodies.

Direct Democracy: Empowering People

A feature of the Swiss polity little noted by outsiders is the system of institutionalized consultation designed to keep the peace in a highly heterogeneous country. Under this system it is expected and usually written into law that when significant legislative or administrative changes are proposed, there will be widespread consultation with every group having an opportunity to express its views so that the end result that emerges has achieved support by consensus before it is brought to a vote.

Direct democracy has a significant and positive influence in promoting integration among citizens throughout the country and ensures that everyone in the very diverse population is permanently engaged with the political issues that affect them all. By using the instruments of direct democracy, any group can make their views heard in the political arena. They can oppose a law or a statute passed by Parliament by calling for a referendum. Raising concerns in this way leads to debate among the citizens that further encourages mutual understanding and sensitizes people to the needs and concerns of others. In short, direct democracy provides more power to general people than through people representatives.

Proportional Voting System: Fair Representation of Opposition and Minority

Proportional voting systems are designed to ensure that parties are represented proportionally in the legislature. The basic approach of proportional representation is simple: legislators are elected in multimember districts instead of single-member districts, and the number of seats that a party wins in an election is proportional to the amount of its support among voters. These systems were devised to solve the many problems caused by plurality-majority voting systems. As a rule, proportional voting systems provide more accurate representation of parties, better representation for political and racial minorities, fewer wasted votes, higher levels of voter turnout, better representation of women, greater likelihood of majority rule, and little opportunity for gerrymandering.

However, proportional voting usually results in coalition governments, not a single-party government, as there is more likeliness that the parties representing small group will have representative in legislation. Thus, government might be less stable. Stability of government can be achieved by direct election of prime minister and separation of the power.

Direct Election of Prime Minister: Enhancing Direct Democracy and Stability

Direct election of prime minister will help in power separation between executive and legislative body through mandate from general mass rather than people’s representative, giving more power to the people. As already been discussed separation of power will ensure appropriate check and balance, and at the same time will also provide greater stability giving full term to the prime minister unless he commits serious crime for which he can be impeached. There are evidences that the long continuous regime of an individual have tendency towards autocratic rule and it also inhibits possibilities to nourish rise of new generation of capable leaders. Thus fixing a two terms as eligibility to be prime minister might be a reasonable consideration.

Reformation of Judiciary, Bureaucracy, and Military

Good governance depends on existing infra-structure of the Judiciary, Bureaucracy, and Military. It is important to recognize that all of these three bodies have big influence on stability and sustenance of democracy in Nepal. Unfortunately, during last 10 years of practice of Democracy in Nepal, it has been realized that these mechanism are still under enormous influence of previous long non-democratic rules. Therefore a swapping reform in these institutions is very important to establish democracy in Nepal.

Road Map to Reach Consensus

The proposed system of decentralization, stability, proportionate representation and power sharing, and check and balance addresses general ideological stands of all the major political factions in Nepal. Thus, this system can be integrated in a road map to reach consensus and break the cycle of ongoing conflict. Maoist’s idea of revolution of breaking class struggle can only be achieved by empowering each community and individuals in that community. Revolution by power sharing is the major focus of the proposed system. The focus of the proposed system is also to protect democratic rights of people. Proposed system ensures freedom to express and choose, equal social and economical opportunities, representation of opposition and minorities (representation of every class, cast, ethnic group, and religion) to greater level than existing unitary system. All the political entities/ powers that believe in democracy can see the advantage of this system in Nepalese system. Monarchy has expressed its concern as inability of current system to provide stability, and control increased party politics. The proposed system ensures proper check and balance mechanism (horizontal: sharing power between executive, legislative and judiciary bodies, and vertical: local, regional and national government), thus will put more pressure on political leaders to perform for the people rather than the party. Monarchy should also realize that its popularity remains in being constructive critique of the ruling parties but not by assuming the responsibility of ruling itself.

The first step of process to reach any sort of consensus should start by initiating dialogue between different political forces. After creating a conducive environment (halt arm struggle/ cease fire, respect human rights, and disarming the rebels) all the parties should decide upon constitutional assembly. Draft a constitution in atmosphere of vigorous debate, discussion, negotiations and public participation. Referendum should be held to get mandate from people to decide upon any constitution.

All the interested parties who want to see peace and prosperous Nepal should wage a campaign to push all the parties into negotiation. Strategies should be adopted to encourage liberal faction in each party to pursue peace process to reach consensus by applying pressure on their leaders. Particularly, all the political parties in Nepal instead of demonstrating and protesting for all the wrong reasons to come back into power, should understand the need of an hour and mobilize their resources to achieve stable democracy in Nepal. Stable democracy is only possible through appropriate power sharing mechanism and fair representation.

Proposed Constitution

Proposed Constitution

Preamble

1. Nepal is a federal kingdom, a total, transparent democracy, with the sovereignty resting with the Nepali people.

Article 1: The Legislative Branch

1. There is to be a lower house, the Pratinidhi Sabha, with 180 members, 60 per state, and a upper house, the Rajya Sabha, with 60 members, 20 per state, all of whom are to be directly elected through constituencies demarcated such that the largest has a population not more than 5% of the smallest, geographically in close approximation to a circle or a square, and protected from partisan gerrymandering by an autonomous Election Commission. The constituencies need not respect district boundaries. Three constituencies for the Pratinidhi Sabha will make one for the Rajya Sabha. The entire Sabha is dissolved en masse when its term nears expiration.
2. All matters of national importance are to be decided by the national parliament through a majority vote unless otherwise stated. Parliamentary procedures are to be laid out or revised with a 60% vote margin.
3. The legislatures are to elect their Speakers and Deputy Speakers. The legislatures shall assemble at least once every four months, and as often as necessary.
   
4. No parliamentarian may be arrested while the parliament might be in session except for felony charges. Their speech in parliament is protected from any and all oversight, legal and otherwise.
5. A simple majority of the parliament will pass the budget. All budget proposals must originate in the Pratinidhi Sabha.
   
6. All bills must be posted online in three languages - Nepali, Hindi and English - for at least one week before they may be voted upon.
7. All regional and international treaties that Nepal might enter into will have to pass a 60% majority in the parliament.
8. Political parties may not engage in fund-raising activities. Instead each national party, described as those that garnered at least 3% of the votes in the previous nationwide elections, will get an annual sum that will be directly proportional to the number of votes it earned. That money is to be used for party-building and electioneering activities. Details of expenses are to be posted online in the three languages to the last paisa on at least an annual basis.
   
9. The Election Commission holds secret ballot elections for party leadership for each national party. Tickets for all elections are distributed by parties through democratic methods involving members at or below the said level in the organization.
   
10. The Election Commission puts in place ceilings as to election expenditures. Independent candidates may not raise money, but may spend their own money that may not exceed the amount of the party candidate spending the most money. Once elected independent candidates may not join a national party for at least one year.
11. A party may not charge its members more than Rs 36 a year.
    
12. Every person on the state's payroll - elected officials, bureaucrats, justices, police, army personnel - is to submit a Family Property Statement, to be posted online and archived and updated annually. Upon exiting the public sector, they may discontinue the practice, but the archives will remain, and the updates will resume should the individuals re-enter public service.
13. Details of all expenses incurred by the state, to the last paisa, are to be posted online in the three languages. All contracts offered by the state to the private sector are to be bid for in a similar transparent manner from beginning to the end. All job applications and promotions in the public sector are to be similarly handled in a transparent manner.
14. All formal political deliberations at all levels of government are to be posted online in as real time as possible in the language that was used at the venue. Efforts are to be made to make the same available in Nepali, Hindi and English. All votes are to be similarly made public.
15. Every elected official at all levels of government is to get a decent monthly salary.
16. Anyone above the age of 16 is a legible voter. Members of the Pratinidhi Sabha will have to be at least 23 years of age, and that of the Rajya Sabha at least 25 years of age. The terms of members of the two bodies shall last four and six years respectively. All elected officials are to have been citizens.
17. Acts of impeachment require a vote of 65%. This constitution can be amended by the same vote margin.
18. The parliamentarians may not increase their salaries in a way that might affect the members of the existing class. The same applies to the salaries of members of the cabinet.
    

Article 2: The Executive Branch

1. The legislative party leader of the majority party in the Pratinidhi Sabha becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may elect members to the Cabinet that might or might not be members of the parliament.
2. When a majority might be lacking, the largest pre-poll alliance, or the largest single party, whichever might be larger, gets invited to form the government, and is given 30 days to prove majority.
3. The Prime Minister makes nominations to the Supreme Court and other constitutional bodies like the Election Commission (EC) and the Commission to Control Corruption (CCC) to be confirmed by a 60% vote in the parliament. The commissioners serve 6-year terms.
4. The army, to be called the Nepal Army, is not to be larger than 0.1% of the national population and is to be downsized accordingly within 5 years of this constitution getting promulgated. The Prime Minister is the Commander-In-Chief of the army.
5. The central bank is to be autonomous, and the governor, to serve a six-year term, is to be appointed by the Prime Minister, subject to a 60% vote in the parliament.
6. All appointments made by the Prime Minster, except for his or her personal staff, will need a majority vote in the parliament for confirmation, unless otherwise stated.
   

Article 3: The Judiciary Branch

1. The judiciary will reflect the composition of the government, from village/town to district, to state to the national level. Towns and cities with more than 25,000 people will be served with more than one court, the number to be decided through a formula by the state government. There will be a layer between the district and the state levels, the Appeals Court, 10 per state. The system is to be peopled like the civil service, on merit.
2. The Prime Minister makes nominations to the national Supreme Court. The Chief Minister makes nominations to the State Supreme Court. Both are subject to their respective parliaments for 60% of the vote. Justices to the Supreme Court are to serve to the age of 75 or upto their voluntary retirement.
3. The state and national Supreme Courts interpret the constitutionality of laws passed by the parliaments when thus challenged, but such interpretations may be overturned by the parliaments through a 65% vote.
4. The parliament, federal or state, may not diminish the salary of a sitting judge.
   

Article 4: The States

1. The current "zones" and "development regions" are to be abolished, but the "districts" are to be retained. The country is to be divided into three states, roughly of equal population, Eastern, Central, and Western, to be called Purbanchal, Madhyamanchal, and Paschimanchal, that are to include all three geographical regions, Terai, Pahad and Himal. Each state is to have a Pratinidhi Sabha, 120 members, and a Rajya Sabha, 40 members.
2. The districts will have their own governments, forming a third layer, named Zillapalika. It is for each state to design the formation and functioning of its component district and town/city governments. The village units are to be called Grampalika, the town units are to be called Nagarpalika, and the city units Mahanagarpalika, and will form the fourth layer of government. District, town/city and village elected officials are to be at least 21 years of age.
3. The federal government will directly transfer 10% of its annual budget to the 25 poorest districts measured by per capita income. This does not prevent further federal expenditures on those districts.
4. The income tax structure is to be as follows: 50% federal, 30% state, 10% district, and 10% village/town/city. The income tax is to be collected by the federal government, and funds transferred by the same to the other levels of government as per this formula.
5. The federal revenue from all sources other than income tax is also to be similarly allocated. 50% stays at the federal level, the rest goes to the three states equally. Each state is also to send out 40% of its non income tax budget directly to the districts in direct proportion to the population of each district.
   
6. The education system shall follow a tri-lingual policy up to Class 10, beyond which it is for each individual institution to decide on their own as to the language of instruction. The first language is to be the student's first language, the second language is to be Nepali. For those for whom Nepali might be their first language, the student may choose any language spoken in Nepal. The third language is to be English, the contemporary language of science and commerce. This policy applies to schools in both the private and the public sectors. The language of instruction for all other subjects to Class 10 will be a decision to be made by the individual school boards for the public schools and by the owners of the private schools.
   

Article 5: The Monarchy

1. The monarch is the guardian of the constitution and the one who formally invites formations of governments from the parliaments and formally inducts governments.
2. The first born, son or daughter, is heir to the throne.
3. The monarch's immediate family - defined as parent(s), wife, children, and grandchildren, and others in direct lineage, the monarch's siblings and their children, and above the law - is to get annual allowances from the state at the 1991 levels. The amount may not be reduced by the parliament. The monarch may request the parliament increases to the allowance through the Prime Minister at any time. Such allowances are not to be taxed, although businesses owned by members of the said family will be subject to taxation and the law.
4. The monarch may decide to retire at an age of his or her choosing, or not.
5. It is a state goal to open up enough holdings of the royal family with consent from the monarch to tourists so as to offset the state expenditure on the monarchy through revenue from tourism. Rituals may also be designed and included.
   
6. The monarch may opt to appoint a Prince/Princess for each state, to be called Prince/Princess of Purbanchal/Madhyamanchal/Paschimanchal from among the members of the royal family, or not. The monarch may also choose to appoint members that might have married into the family. Such appointments may be rescinded by the monarch at any time. The title comes with extra allowances from the state and a state-funded residence in the state capital. The spouse of the appointed royal family member gets the accompanying title.
7. Members of the royal family may marry individuals of their choice, not necessarily from certain families, or from within the country.
8. The monarch will give the annual State Of The Kingdom address, the speech to be crafted by the Prime Minister summarizing the achievements in the public and the private sectors over the past year and outlining a vision for the future years.
9. It is for the monarch to decide as to who in the political arena or the media to meet for private or public audiences. The monarch may also send political directives of advisory nature to the parliament throught the Prime Minister at any time, none of which is to be binding.
   
10. The monarchy may be abolished with a 80% vote in the national parliament.

Article 6: The Individual

1. The individual is the most important component of the state and is to be protected and celebrated.
   
2. Every person has a birth right to freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, a right to a speedy, public trial, and a right to privacy, a protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. No person may be tried and punished for the same crime twice. No person will be compelled to testify against themselves. No person will be deprived of life, liberty or propety without due process of law. Private property may not be taken for public use without due compensation. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended. No ex post facto law shall be passed. No warrants are to be issued, except upon probable cause, and should specifically describe the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. A person charged with a crime is to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his or her favor, and is to have the Assistance of Counsel for his or her defence.
3. Every person born in Nepal is a citizen of Nepal. But this does not prevent people not born in Nepal from seeking Nepali citizenship.
4. Every person is equal under the law. Any law that might conflict with that fundamental premise will become null and void as soon as this constitution takes effect.
5. No person shall be taxed more than 40% of their income by all levels of government put together. Those in the bottom 40% income brackets are not to pay any direct taxes.
6. No business may be taxed more than 30% of its income, and businesses in the bottom 30% income brackets will not pay any taxes. All business expenses are tax write-offs.
7. The sales tax may not exceed 10% and is to be collected by the state.
8. Elections at all levels are to be organized on Saturdays.
9. No citizen of age may be barred from voting for whatever reason.
10. It is a stated goal of the state to make possible lifelong education for every person in the country through creative partnerships between the private and public sectors, and through creative uses of the internet. The state shall also attempt to provide universal access to secondary education and primary health care, free of cost. The secondary education provision applies to people in all age groups.
    
11. The state shall attempt to provide universal access to micro-credit to all in the bottom 40% income brackets.
12. All persons that might enter into agreements, either in the private or the public sector, to access credit will have the option to declare bankruptcy as a last resort. Money owed by an individual, as opposed to by a business or a corporation, may not be passed on to the next generation. Indentured servitude is an illegal form of collecting money owed by an individual or family. Money owed may not be paid for through manual labor. Any person, group or organization, lending money on interest, the total of which is larger than Rs 20,000, to be indexed to inflation as calculated every five years and rounded to the nearest thousand, is to register as a small business owner, and will be subject to taxation and regulation.
13. All educational institutions, public and private, must have at least 10% of its students on need-based full scholarships. Institutions may also opt to have 5% on such full scholarships, and 10% on need-based half scholarships, or 5% on full, 6% on half, and 6% on one-third scholarships. But at no time should the proportion of full scholarships dip below 5%.
14. Employees of the state in the education and health sectors will be paid salaries that are at least 10% larger than to those with similar qualifications serving in other fields.
15. An accurate, scientific census is to be conducted every 10 years, and scientific projections are to be made for the intervening years.
    

Article 7: Capitals

1. The national capital is to be shifted from Kathmandu to the Chitwan valley within 10 years of this constitution getting promulgated.
   
2. Udaypur Valley, Chitwan Valley, and Surkhet Valley will respectively serve as the capitals for Purbanchal, Madhyamanchal and Paschimanchal.

Proposed Democratic Republican Constitution (August 12)
Janata Dal Constitution (August 8)
Proposed Constitution (June 18)
Reorganized UN, Proposed Constitution, Methods (May 30)
Proposed Constitution (May 3)
Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace (April 8)
This Inadequate, Improper, Insufficient 1990 Constitution (April 4)

RNA, Declare Your Own Ceasefire, You Have No Choice

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

1. 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.
   
2. Dashain and Tihar and Chhath are on the way. The Nepali people need a break. The Maoists have complied. You are going to also.
   
3. 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 US�s 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 US�s 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 �insulting the king,� 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 family�s 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 �felicitations,� 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 Nepal�s 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.

In The News

• Nepal Maoists declare cease-fire Chennai Online, India
• Maoists declare three months ceasefire in Nepal Deccan Herald, India
• Nepal's Maoists announce 3-month truce Expressindia.com, India
• Nepal Rebels Call Truce, Seek United Opposition to King Voice of America
• Nepal Maoists announce three-month ceasefire Outlook (subscription), India
• Nepal Maoists declare ceasefire Aljazeera.net, Qatar
• Nepal Maoists announce three-month cessation of violence Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
• Nepal's Maoist chief announces 3-month truce Reuters.uk, UK
• Rebels announce cease-fire in Nepal Japan Today, Japan
• Nepal rebels announce ceasefire Scotsman, United Kingdom
• Maoists announce three month ceasefire Outlook (subscription), India
• Nepal rebels declare 3-month cease-fire CNN International
• Communist Rebels Declare Ceasefire in Nepal Newsday, NY
• Nepal's Maoists declare ceasefire BBC News, UK
• Nepal: Maoists Declare Unilateral Ceasefire SouthAsia Network, Asia
• Nepal Rebels Call Truce, Seek United Opposition to King PolitInfo.com, Germany
• Nepal's Maoists declare ceasefire:- Webindia123, India
• Nepal Maoists declare unilateral ceasefire:- Webindia123, India
• Maoists Ceasefire Should Be Welcomed PeaceJournalism.com, Nepal
• Nepal's Maoist rebels declare unilateral three-month ceasefire ABC Asia Pacific, Asia
• Communist Rebels Declare Ceasefire in Nepal Tuscaloosa News (subscription), AL
• Prachanda Announces Ceasefire for 3 Months Himalayan Times, Nepal
• Maoists announce ceasefire in Nepal Sify, India
• Nepal Maoists declare unilateral ceasefire: NewKerala.com, India
  
• Nepal Maoists announce three-month ceasefire Press Trust of India, India
• Nepal Maoists announce three month ceasefire Press Trust of India, India
• Anti-govt guerrill declares 3-month ceasefire in Nepal Xinhua, China
• 3-month Ceasefire Declared by Anti-gov't Guerrillas in Nepal CRI
• Communist rebels in Nepal declare three months cease fire Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran

• Agitating parties hail ceasefire announcement Nepalnews.com, Nepal
• Nepal Maoists declare ceasefire, opposition parties welcome it ... NewKerala.com, India
• Nepal Maoists declare ceasefire, opposition parties welcome it:- Webindia123, India

• Nepal govt reacts cautiously to declaration of ceasefire Outlook (subscription), India
• Nepal govt reacts cautiously to declaration of ceasefire by ... Press Trust of India
  

After Ganapathy, A Ceasefire

This guy Prachanda is a freaking roller coaster ride.

First I receved the shock of the Baburam article: Baburam Bhattarai, Pramod Aryal, Ram Chandra Poudel. It shocked me for the enormous ideological leap it signalled. At first I could not believe it. It was so good. I was so pleased. It was manna from heaven.

Then, Prachanda dropped the Ganapathy bomb, out of the blue. And I am like, how foolish can you get? I seriously questioned my judgment. I was made to think Moriarty was right all along. These guys are Pol Pot's children. I have been taken for a ride. All my efforts to counter what I considered their demonizations I was beginning to regret.

And now, there is this ceasefire declaration, which is an even bigger news than the Baburam article, because this is something concrete, on the ground. And suddenly I am extremely happy again.

My mind is ringing hollow. I need to take some time off to digest these sudden turns by these Maoist freaks. Let me go grab a glass of water, with ice. I will be right back.

(I am back.)

Oh well. This is cause for celebration.

Maoists declare three-month long ceasefire The CPN (Maoist) has declared unilateral three-month long cease fire effective from today (Sep. 03).

And the news is a single sentence. This has got to be hot news. Just happened. I was about to go to bed but decided to quickly peruse the NepalNews page before hitting the sack, and I am so glad I did that. This is breaking news.

Suddenly I see peace all over the horizon again.

This gives the Nepli people time for Dashain, Tihar and Chhath, and this makes room for the democrats to wage the movement. With a Maoist ceasefire in place, the seven parties can wage a full fledged movement.

A ceasefire is the least the Maoists could do after both the UML and the Congress have come around to the Maoists' republican agenda.

Off to sleep. It is almost morning. Prachanda cost me a lot of sleep.

But that's okay. The latest news is tremendously good. And I have a weekend ahead of me.

The ceasefire also means no military aid to the army from the US. That is a good tactical move. And a great political move.

Congratulations Prachanda-Baburam.

What Is Prachanda Doing?

Scenario 1: His proposed alliance with the Indian Maoists is his warning to the United States not to provide military aid to the king. My position is the United States and the other world powers should work on the king to head towards a Constituent Assembly. That is the only outlet. Military aid is not the solution. So if this is what Prachanda has in mind, I still don't see a contradiction between what he is saying, and what Baburam said only a few days back.

Scenario 2: Baburam might know what Prachanda's left hand is doing, but he has no idea what his right hand might be doing. Prachanda keeps Baburam in the dark, and only uses him to show a milder face of his outfit to the world.

Scenario 3: Prachanda is one wild goose. This guy has gone berserk. For him it is an armed revolution as far as the eyes can see. That is the goal in itself. There is no other goal. It is to be a non-stop revolution. This freight train comes with no brakes. There is a fundamental ideological rift between Prachanda and Baburam. It is only a matter of time before the Maoist party formally splits. If it is this scenario, Prachanda just made the king's job so much easier. Nepal is in for a prolonged phase of violence. All the atrocities committed so far by the two sides are but a prologue. They will pale in comparison to what might be in store down the line. The two guns are rearing for another round of clashes. This is not good. Suddenly things have gone topsy turvy. The bad has become worse.

Scenario 4: Baburam is Prachanda's willing accomplice. Though I doubt this to be the case. But then Baburam was instrumental in unifying the what used to be two Maoist factions in India. So you never know. But then maybe it is not true Baburam played that role. Ganapathy was on the unification path even before the Nepali Maoists launched their revolution in 1996.

Mistake Made: The country should have gone for a Constituent Assembly a few years ago! The bull-headedness of the right wing did not allow that. The democrats were equally bull-headed. What triggered this sudden outburst by Prachanda? Was it the king's "visit" to the districts that were supposed to have been Prachanda's strongholds? The visit was designed to sugggest the king will not negotiate with the Maoists, he will only crush them. And the Maoists seem to have hit back now.

Prachanda' Hubris: India might end up taking the Indira option. Then where does Prachanda end up? "I have revisionism." That statement of his perhaps defines him. To this guy Maoism is religion. He has a few fixed ideas, and that is it. It is dogma. It is not science that changes with time.

Where Is Prachanda: I think he is in India. The statement has been jointly signed. Which means they got together for the purpose: Ganapathy and Prachanda. It is safer in India, because India is a much bigger country. Prachanda always seems to have access to sophisticated electronic gadgetry. How would that be possible in some forst hideout in Nepal? Wherever he is, he has internet access. That's for sure. On the other hand, he really is hiding somewhere in some forest somewhere in Nepal as he likes the world to believe.

Intelligence: This is an intelligence war, not a military war.

The Two: Both are failed school teachers. Hmm. Prachanda and Ganapathy.

Option For The Nepali Democrarts: Eat the Maoists' lunch. Steal their political and social thunder. The UML and the Congress have already co-opted the Maoists on the republican issue. The UML should also get behind on the land-to-the-tiller platform.

Rediff On The NeT: The Rediff Interview/PWG leader Ganapathy October 1998 The dirty golden rays of the candle, stuck crookedly on top of an inverted flash-light, glinted off the Naxalite's glasses as he prepared to answer yet another query from the visiting journalist. In the shadows, his gaunt face looked more strained. He responded characteristically, softly, in Telugu, a hand on the hip, the other cradling his stengun......... Muppalla Lakshmana Rao. Infamous as Ganapathy...... In person, Ganapathy -- wiry, medium height, thinly moustached with specks of grey in his hair -- comes across as unassuming, unimpressive and utterly harmless....... no hint that this is a man whom the Bharatiya Janata Party considers one of the most dangerous in the country. No hint that this is one for whose head the Andhra Pradesh government would gladly pay over a million rupees....... A bit shy, a bit unsure, he looks and behaves like the school teacher he once was...... 48-year-old..... For the last 20 years, the forests have been his refuge...... took over as PW secretary in 1992 after the ouster of the legendary Kondapalli Seetharamaiah....... rendezvoused with the Naxal leader deep in the forests of Andhra Pradesh after a gruelling five-hour night march....... ..................................

There are many oppressed nationalities in India fighting the imperialist government. For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. We expect the merger to have a positive impact on their fights. ..... two aspects -- the agrarian revolution and fight for nationality ........ our unity will help the unifying process world-wide...... our party is very small. The enemy is much stronger. ...... unification will also see a combined military leadership and more military camps....... We expect the talks to transform the physical clashes into political debate....... We welcome the comrades in the other rightist and leftist groups to fight against their leadership and join the revolution. ...... Small sections of many splinter groups have been joining our party since 1992-93, mainly in North India, Srikakulam and North Telangana....... What we want is to rebuild 1972 on a higher plane........ a protracted people's war. Our aim is to dislodge the imperialists with the gun. ..... Proletariat dictatorship. ....... the rule of the masses cannot be achieved through normal political methods. The Indian people have only one way to usher in modern democracy: armed struggle. You cannot get anything for the poor from the existing democratic system. Despite millions taking up armed struggle in various forms, despite the so-called democratic methods, the so-called parliamentary procedures, the people are not able to enjoy even basic rights, leave alone political power. Such is the state of the State, the Establishment, the System......... It is natural that the ruling classes have to be overthrown for the downtrodden to come to power...... The Establishment has been labelling us revolutionaries variously as anti-social elements, extremists, terrorists etc in its bid to isolate/distance/sever us from the people. We shall counter such propaganda politically........ The land should belong to the one who tills it, not the landlord. They (the landlords) have kept vast tracts of land in their vice-like grip. They have been living off, pestering and frustrating the peasantry for ages. Will they give up land if normal methods are used? No. This problem has never been solved by any commissions constituted by Parliament. Nowhere in the world has this problem been appropriately resolved. So why should we lay our faith in such a system? ........... imperialist investments....... the resources are ours, the labour is ours, but the capital is not ours. And the production is not for our people....... Prior to 1947, it was only the British that were in power in India. After August 15, 1947, every imperialist country in the world has barged into India and looted it, just like that, to their heart's content. Why will they leave now like gentlemen if asked to? ....... The Tatas, the Birlas, the Dalmias, the Singhanias and several other capitalists with other names, companies -- these people are looting the country by suppressing the small and the middle-classes and the downtrodden. They are keeping their cut and passing on the major cut to their imperialist bosses...... Terming our activities as violence is not correct. Ours is counter-violence...... It's the people's war. And who else will be killed in a people's war but people?........ When the crops failed recently, we collected and distributed Rs 3.6 million among the farmers. In North Telangana, we had captured a lot of land from landlords. Due to repression, these lands were uncultivated. This year, we organised the peasants to cultivate on 2,000 acres of captured land. In Dandakaranya, due to our struggle, the tendu leaf pickers and bamboo workers are earning a decent living......... several struggles demanding schools, teachers, buildings etc. ...... When we started, we were a few individuals in Telangana. Now we have a full-fledged organisation...... the party is not in a position to consolidate the entire movement and transform it into a unified struggle. This is because of the severe repression we are facing now........ we lost around 100 student comrades in the last 10 years. The students faced as severe a repression as that faced by the peasants. For the peasants, the terrain and the movement are conducive to survival. In the case of students, this is not true. Their area of operation is limited, as they are all concentrated in urban areas......... We expect a rapid growth....... Our party's backbone is always the proletariat, the agricultural labourers and the poor peasants. ........ some sections of the middle-class and upper middle-class came in a wave into the revolution with a lot of romantic thoughts. And then they went back....... We have several all-India level mass organisations........ The upper middle-class and the upper middle-class intelligentsia -- and here I include the NRIs, who form the majority of your readers -- do not at present have a good opinion of our party. But we believe their opinion can be changed....... Already in Germany, movements against the Turks have started. And in America and other capitalist countries, fascist and racist forces are growing. Soon the people, the NRIs, will become the targets of fascist and racist movements. This will make them recognise the real nature of imperialism. They are bound to become pro-people and pro-democratic......... We welcome capital from NRIs who are not imperialist agents........ The banks are supposed to repay the money to the people. They can't say the PW looted the bank, so we will not pay you back. If we find that they are not repaying their depositors, then we may reconsider this decision........ . the party will tax only those traders who are above middle-class. We will not touch the poor and the middle-class. -- namely the higher middle-class and rich traders........ We will impose tax only on those who can afford itWe deny the ISI part. We do not have any relation with them. That's State propaganda to discredit us.......We have had no relations with the LTTE till now. But we are not against having relations with them. We will certainly have links with them if an opportunity arises. We feel that such a relation would be conducive to the revolutionary movement........ In Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese are oppressing Tamilians ...... that does not imply that we support all the tactics and politics of the LTTE. Our support is basically to the Tamilian nationalist cause....... They were not LTTE. They were ex-LTTE.......... Such a relation would bring solidarity between the masses of the two countries. It will also prove a major morale booster for all nationalist fighters......... There are many organisations in South East Asia that the PW would like to have links with........ It is part of our policy to have relations with all communists and nationality struggles....... we have good relations with some strong parties that are following the correct line......... There are struggles in Jammu and Kashmir, the struggles of the Nagas in the NE. We assure all of them the right of self-determination....... When nations are forced into a political system, there will always arise fresh national movements. You cannot hold on to nations that do not want to be part of your set-up....... a voluntary federation of nationalities with the right to secede will lead to unity..... When the revolution is at its ebb, defections do take place...... It is not possible to have all the people ideologically enlightened at the same time...... proper education, proper selection, recruitment, proper testing etc....... The punishment for such betrayals is death in every revolution. ...... We do not resort to mindless violence......... Blowing up railway stations and tracks are for specific reasons. Categorising such actions as mindless violence is grossly incorrect. Such actions are the counter to State violence....... The political actions are taken by the regional or state committees...... We consider actions taken with political motives as political actions. Only the implementation is military...... We have all types of checks to prevent such excesses. From demotions to expulsions......... the '85 and '91 offensive of the enemy....... Now they are using highly developed communication systems, modern weapons. With World Bank loans, they are building a large network of roads. They are using helicopters and modern weapons. And the central government is involved in the repression much more than before. We comprehend the threat.......... we are facing an enemy hundred times stronger than us. ......In the second wave of repression in 1991, they used the ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police) and the BSF (Border Security Force). Initially, we were confused and suffered severe losses........ Our base is the masses. With their help we will tide over this repression....... we do not hold the BJP government responsible for the present wave of repression. They are only tools in the hands of the imperialists....... the BJP is based on communalism and reactionary ideology...... Even if the BJP loses power tomorrow, the repression will continue.......We have a vast country and vast masses. ..... It is the enemy who has to decide whether they want to face us in the NT and DK of today or in NTs and DKs throughout the country....... from the primary level to the higher level..... Our decision is that the party should be projected, not individuals. If a person tries to project himself, that should be checked. That's the party policy....... I cannot be separated from the party.

In The News

• Official now: Nepal, Indian Maoists get together Indian Express, India .... top leaders of Nepal and India’s Maoist parties today announced their decision to ‘‘fight together and establish socialism and communism’’ in the two countries....... joint statement signed by Ganapathy, general secretary of India’s CPI (Maoists), and Prachanda...... would fight ‘‘unitedly’’ till such time ‘‘conspiracies hatched by imperialists and reactionaries are crushed and the people’s cause of socialism and communism are established in Nepal, India and all over the world.’’ ...... Condemning the ‘‘fascist attack of feudal tyrant Gyanendra upon the revolutionary people of Nepal and fascist attack of Indian ruling classes on the revolutionary leaders and masses of India,’’ the Maoist leaders called upon people to raise their voice against ‘‘imperialism and expansionism to repress the revolutionary cause’’. The statement did not spell out the mode of struggle the two groups would adopt but charted out a joint course of action for Maoists along the Compact Revolutionary Zone stretching from Andhra Pradesh to Nepal....... Today’s statement targets King Gyanendra, saying he is ‘‘not only usurping absolute power through a coup on February 1, but is massacring revolutionary masses across the country.’’ The statement makes clear that chances of Maoists and pro-democracy parties getting together against the royal takeover are receding. The Maoists have also signalled that they will not accept a negotiated settlement to end their 10-year old insurgency......
  
• Indian and Nepali Maoists vow to fight together Reuters AlertNet, UK ..... reinforcing fears that the bloody insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom could spill over into its huge southern neighbour....... Prachanda and his Indian counterpart Ganapathy accused the governments of the two countries of trying to crush their movements...... receive support from Indian Maoist groups fighting for the rights of landless peasants...... several raids on Indian police stations on the India-Nepal frontier..... The nine-year insurgency has killed more than 12,500 people in Nepal, while more than 6,000 people have died in the decades-old Maoist campaign in India....... Last month, India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh outlawed the Communist Party of India (Maoist), led by Ganapathy, after the leftist extremists killed 10 people, including a provincial lawmaker and a bureaucrat.
• Indian and Nepali Maoists vow to fight together Financial Express, India
• Indian-Nepali Maoist Alliance Sparks New Fears Epoch Times, NY