I am of the opinion the Constituent Assembly is the only way out. Not only that, I feel no person or organization against the idea can claim to be a democrat in the current situation after 2/1. But the Congress has been dillydallying. That might cause serious fissures in the democratic coalition.
There was Shaha Rule, then Rana Rule, then Shaha Rule, then Koirala Rule, now Shaha Rule again. That chain has to be broken.
It is for the people themselves to decide on the constitution. Why be afraid to go to the people?
The issue here is one of a common minimum program. To have something simple and basic around which all democrats can gather.
And I propose a 4S Campaign.
Sarbadaliya Sarkar
Sambidhan Sabha
(All-party government
Constituent Assembly)
Prime Minister: Girija Koirala
Deputy Prime Minister: Madhav Nepal
Deputy Prime Minister: Hridayesh Tripathy
Ministers: Sher Deuba, Pashupati Rana, Prakash Lohani, Badri Mandal, Baburam Bhattarai, Amik Sherchan, and about five others to reflect the gender, ethnic, region and caste diversity in the country.
It is important to include all parties, including the break-up factions. There is a Koirala Congress, and a Deuba Congress, two factions of the Sadbhavana, two of the RPP now. All those factions need to be represented. Those democrats who might engage in thread-splitting on the issue will be harming the common minimum program.
The mandate would be to hold unconditional peace talks with the Maoists that is preceded by an announcement to hold elections to a Constituent Assembly within six months of taking over power. If the Maoists do not lay arms, conduct surgical operations against its leadership, and conduct elections anyways. But I think they will come around with the Assembly call.
In The News
- Seven political activists arrested in Nepal Hindustan Times, India ......for conducting an interaction programme opposing the February 1 royal takeover
- Nepali parties to work for a new Consitution
Press Trust of India Sujata Koirala ..... "We can either adopt a new constitution or reform the existing one. However, it is for the people of Nepal to decide through a referendum" ..... Hrithesh Tripathi, leader of the Sadbhavana Party, was of the opinion that Nepal could be compared to a "mother in her labour pain" and a new constitution to "an able nurse" that can help in the birth of a "new Nepal with total democracy." "The earlier Constitution was granted by the King. We want a Constitution that would be framed by the people," Tripathi said, adding that this was the most oppurtune time for a "united, do or die struggle for restoration of democracy." - Rise in extra judicial killings in Nepal: rights group: New Kerala, India .... security forces on an average have been killing eight people a day ...... The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), based in New Delhi, has urged for the freezing of assets of the royal family as well as senior officials and army top brass.... The 50-page report, "The case for intervention in Nepal" ..... "A total of 227 persons, that is 8.41 persons per day were killed in February 2005. The RNA has been given a carte blanche to perpetrate atrocities ...... the armed vigilante-ism being encouraged by the new regime..... "The lynching of 22 alleged Maoists and burning down of about 700 houses of the alleged Maoists symphatisers in Kapilabastu district from 17 to 23 February 2005 by the RNA and vigilante groups must be investigated by an international commission of inquiry" ...... "The only law enforcement personnel to have been punished since the conflict began in 1996 is Major Ram Mani Pokhrel who has recently been dismissed from service and sentenced to two years imprisonment for cold-blooded massacre of 17 Maoist cadres and two civilians at Doramba on 17 August 2003" ....... "The sentence for cold blooded murder of 19 persons which has been described by the National Human Rights Commission as violations of 'the International Humanitarian Law and, and especially, the Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions..., the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, the Army Act, the Police Act and the Armed Police Act' is inappropriately lenient by any yardstick." ...... also asked for visa restrictions on Nepal's ministers and army top brass ..... asked UN Secretary general Kofi Annan to stop the deployment of Nepalese army men in UN peacekeeping forces, a matter of national pride for Nepal, and appoint a special envoy or finding a peaceful solution to the Maoist insurgency..... establishing an international commission of inquiry into the violations of the provisions of the Rome Statute on International Criminal Court both by the security forces and the Maoists
- Letter from Nepal: King's makeover
BBC News King Gyanendra appears to have lost weight since seizing absolute power ...... the normally corpulent monarch was almost unrecognisable ...... the Royal Nepalese Army, which since a state of emergency was declared on 1 February has fast become the main instrument of his absolute power......a special "guest event", where the military attaches from America, Britain and India, dressed in full ceremonial regalia, raced against each over a course the length of a cricket pitch carrying words which spelt out the slogan: "May Peace Prevail in Nepal"..... Asked to explain if the soldiers taking part in a firing display, or feu de joie, were using real bullets, he deadpanned: "Not since Britain and America suspended our military aid. We can't afford to waste bullets" ..... At the sight of teams of special forces soldiers, dressed in full combat fatigue, he laughingly asked: "What are they doing here? Why aren't they fighting the Maoists?" ......so complete was the military band's repertoire, that the only composition missing seemed a medley of Beatles favourites ........... a country whose 14-year experiment with democracy has been fraught with problems and where the Maoist insurgency seems as ferocious as ever...... Gyanendra levered his body into his stretch V8 Daimler limousine, with its personalised regal number-plate showing his plumed emerald crown, and set off for the Royal Palace in the middle of a 10-vehicle convoy headed by outriders wearing smart, claret tunics and spotless white crash helmets. The king left looking in rude health. The problem is, his nation is in a state of perpetual malady. - Between the King and the Maoists
International Herald Tribune In Nepal, there appears to have been generations of ignorance, still reflected in comments from the Kathmandu powerful such as "our soldiers behave badly sometimes, but that is because they have no airconditioning in the barracks!" The Maoist insurgency has forced the ruling elite to finally take notice of its "invisible" poor. .... Now, instead of focusing on socio-economic improvement, many of Nepal's rich take notice of the poor only by regarding their servants with suspicion, or wondering if the gardener is an informer or the waiter at their table is a Maoist leader. Instead of sympathising with their plight, many of Nepal's wealthy have actually begun to despise and fear the poor...... Predictably, he even found some support from Kathmandu's comfortable rich. Without any attempt at understanding why the Maoists may have flourished in the first place, the feudal elite is trying once again to force Nepal's people — most of them extremely poor — back into invisibility..... Given its record, the prospect of an unleashed Army is frightening...... the King has given the Army a free hand to counter the Maoists — and commit unspeakable crimes in the process..... Just recently, there were reports that nearly a hundred Maoists had been killed in clashes with the Army. .... The Maoists have also become increasingly brutal...... As a political entity, the Maoists cannot hope to achieve international legitimacy, as long as they commit acts of terror, threaten and kill civilians, forcibly recruit fighters, many of them children, and torture and murder their opponents...... Political activists and human rights defenders have already started leaving Nepal, fearing for their safety.......The King gambled that the international community would acquiesce, preferring an authoritarian but friendly regime to a Maoist victory. .....Nepal's political party leaders may be as inept and corrupt as the King says they are. But they were accountable to the people.........In 1990, Nepal won its democracy by protesting on the streets, courting arrest, and bearing police abuse. However flawed, that process has to continue. - Chinese minister's trip could redefine India-Nepal ties: New Kerala, India .....the first official visit by a foreign government representative after the royal coup..... Diplomatically and socially, the visit is a pat on the back of Nepal that has been in the doghouse of the international community......China ... is expected to defend Nepal at the annual session of the UN Human Rights Commission going on in Geneva. ......India had been providing the Royal Nepalese Army with its indigenously manufactured INSAS firearms at 70 percent subsidy...... "if push comes to shove" and the Indian embargo continues, eventually Nepal might turn to Chinese weapons......Nepal's army also regards the Chinese pistols and self-loading rifles as being lighter, cheaper and of better quality than INSAS products. Three more members in the SAARC grouping - Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - are already using Chinese manufactured arms...... Beijing can also provide landmine-protected vehicles like India. When late Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi imposed a blockade on Nepal in the late 1980s, Nepal started procuring the vehicles from China......"Economically, it makes better sense to get arms and equipment from China" ..... the Indian decision was prompted by "revulsion to shake the dirty hands of a dictator" ......
- Int'l screw tightens on Kathmandu
Times of India Britain has said it will no longer pay for Nepal's police, prison services and the office of its royalist prime minister .... is expected to hit Nepalese budget-keeping hard. ... it might help concentrate the mind of King Gyanendra, who remains defiant ..... quickening pace of international censure of Kathmandu ....... the mountainous kingdom as "a void in human rights monitoring and protection." ..... "inappropriate" to pay for a political and security system which caused "deep concern about human rights". ...... human rights defenders face a suffocating atmosphere of intimidation and control ...... "Newspapers are censored or closed down; peaceful protestors immediately arrested. The independence of the judiciary is under intense pressure." ... the King .. had "abandoned the rule of law" - Nepal's govt, Maoist fire verbal salvos at each other: New Kerala, India have been fighting each other with bullets and landmines, have now unleashed a war of words .... Days after Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara refuted news reports of expulsion of their politburo member Baburam Bhattarai and his wife Hisila Yami quoting the Army, the government today reiterated the claim saying that the Communist Party of Nepal was "covering up the facts"...... The government also claimed that both Bhattarai and Yami have been prohibited to issue any statement regarding peace, by keeping them under tight security of the militants.
Terror by any other colour Indian Express ... called a ‘‘Maoists resistance movement’’. ... In truth, lynch mobs are taking over sections of Nepal. Some 26 people accused of being Maoists have been killed.... A police officer admits that ‘‘unruly elements’’ have taken over the movement, but it still suits the government to lionise those fighting the Maoists...... at its peak the movement saw some 25,000 people actively hunting down the Maoists. The movement has spread to 21 other villages in a 50-km radius of Ganeshpur...... Its leaders now issue Maoist-type diktats. Some people have been told to join the movement or face a fine of 5,000 Nepalese rupees. Three resistance movement members tried to rape an 11-year-old girl..... To complete the misery for the villagers, the Maoists, who remain strong as ever, beheaded some members of this movement. ..... The villagers have nowhere to run, except India. Kala Hussein Siddiqui, a 30-year-old from Labani, has fled from Labani to the Indian town of Kakrahawa. ‘‘Even if you pay me Rs 50,000, I won’t return,’’ he swears.Major parties reject Nepal govt's offer of talks Press Trust of India, India "Much of the issues raised by Giri on Thursday, including controlling corruption and curbing Maoist terror have already been taken up by us long before Giri landed here." - Nepal reconnects 23,000 phones severed after king's power grab? ... China Post, Taiwan About 23,000 wireless phone lines were reconnected Saturday, about seven weeks after.... give personnel details, photographs and fingerprints to reapply for connections
- Nepal among nations with refugee problem: UN Himalayan Times, Nepal About 25 million “internally displaced” people forced from their homes by conflict or abuse make up one of the world’s most neglected, vulnerable groups.. Refugees who flee across an international border can claim protection under a global treaty signed in 1951 — but no such system exists for the people who are displaced within their own country..... Colombia, Ivory Coast, Congo, Indonesia, Iraq, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda...... “The overwhelming majority, some 22 million people, have been displaced for more than a year,” the study said. “The average length of the conflicts that caused displacement and prevented return was 14 years.” Colombia comes next, with 290,000 newly displaced last year, followed by Iraq, 200,000; Somalia, 100,000; and Nepal, 50,000
- World’s forgotten millions — the internally displaced
Daily Times There are twice as many internally displaced as refugees who flee their countries. But unlike refugees, the internally displaced cannot count on a functioning international system of protection and assistance ..... In 14 countries they were ignored even by the United Nations. Nor can they count on often indifferent governments to protect them. In fact, in 13 countries, including Myanmar, Nepal, Sudan and Colombia, authorities were responsible for the displacement either directly or through militias..... The overwhelming majority of the internally displaced people, some 22 million, have been homless for more than a year, and many of them for a decade or even longer ..... “The act of displacement itself often is accompanied by violence and the most serious human rights violations such as arbitrary killings, torture, kidnappings and rape” .... Traumatised and fearing for their lives ..... In Asia, the outbreak or intensification of conflicts led to new displacements, in particular in Nepal, Indonesia, Pakistan and Myanmar.
