To: Benazir Bhutto

Ms. Bhutto. I read your autobiography, Daughter Of The East, when I was at high school, because that is when it came out. You have always been an aspiring presence to me and to numerous others. I also sent you an email in 1999 when I was part of a Philadelphia-based dot com company that was trying to become the leading South Asian online community at the time, and received a form response!

But today I write to you as a Nepali democrat. Democracy has been hijacked in Nepal and the Musharraf regime has been reaching out to the junta in Kathmandu, and we feel an urgent need to strike back. We would like to express solidarity to you so as to cement an ongoing relationship of moral as well as logistical support to each other to the point of reestablishing democracies in our respective countries, and also beyond. If democracy is a superior concept to autocracy, as I believe it is, we democrats should be able to beat the autocrats in terms of our message, reachout, organization and communication efforts. Where autocrats offer monotones, since only the person at the top has to call the shots, we democrats tend to offer a cacophony of voices among ourselves. That is our wealth of ideas and opinions and not disunity. And we have to forge unity for all our divergent viewpoints. The idea of a common minimum program has to be brought forth.

We democrats are right. We also need to become strong to displace the wrong and strong. We need to become more effective in our efforts to take back our respective countries. We need to outdo them with a superior sense of organization. We need to prepare for power, we need to think up ways to place a firm, irreversible civilian control over our respective militaries. In the case of Nepal, I have broached the possibility of totally doing away with it.

And, I believe, we need to collaborate to implement concepts of Total Democracy, Transparent Democracy, and Human Capital, talked about elsewhere at this blog. We have to counter propaganda with propaganda. We have to hit back.

I give Gyanendra 1-2 years max, Musharraf maybe 2-3. The challenge is to tighten their nooses and shorten that span. Let's get to work. Let's rally our efforts. Let's send them into exile and permanent oblivion.

With much respect and admiration.

Paramendra Bhagat

(sent to webmaster@ppp.org.pk, ppp@comstats.net.pk, smhq@hotmail.com)

• Ms Bhutto's Message on 26th Anniversary of Shaheed Z.A Bhutto Today unfortunately tyranny and despotic rule once again reigns in our land. Democracy has been vandalized and state institutions systematically destroyed....... as people slip into abject poverty the speaker national Assembly has ordered for himself a new Mercedes costing over 11 million rupees ...... National assets have been doled out to the favorites at cheaper prices robbing the employees and people. Corruption is widespread. The people of Pakistan can judge that dictatorship has given the kalishnikov culture and politics of ethnicity and baradarism whereas democracy has brought respect, honour, progress and prosperity in social and economic terms..... On this day I urge all the democratic forces in the country to renew their determination to fight for the restoration of the Constitution of 1973 and democracy in the country. I also urge the people to forge unity in their ranks to fight for rule of law, for justice, for equity and for a return of the military to their professional duties ....... The survival of the country and the federation lies in Constitutional rule, in Federalism, Democracy, provincial autonomy for the provinces and economic opportunity for our people
• Zardari Returns A Hardened Politician. Benazir Bhutto's is like the Shakespearean tragedy. The people of Pakistan want her, the world appreciates her, her qualifications are beyond comparison in Pakistan, yet some feel they can do without her. She has managed to keep herself intact, her charisma intact, me intact in prison, the party intact, and the public support intact..... There is nothing that the establishment didn't do against us.
• The Story Of Benazir Benazir Bhutto June 21, 2003 I wonder: when will I be free/To return to Larkana ...... When will I walk home from Arab lands/To my own sweet Motherland ..... Although the tyrants do not care/Strands of white my hair now shows/My face is gaunt with sadness/I to my people want to go/I came in the winter of repression ...... Let Mother’s sickness not worsen in exile/Trapped in a mind wanting to forget/A heart weeping for young sons killed ...... O where is my husband gone?/His life's prime and his grace?/Prison Walls confine him ...... Pakistan, my health is worn/My joy is gone/And yet my heart is strong ....... Each day I smile for the world/For my children and my self/They ask: when can we return? ...... I speak of justice fled/From hearts of men/Into the breasts of beasts ....... I think of the poor people/A better fate they deserve/Than the military conqueror's boots ....... Plazas and Plots for the elite lot ... All on starving backs of people robbed ...... Mug shots and finger prints are demanded/Worshippers live in fear and dread/Tenants are ejected/Soldiers in snows abandoned ........ Democracy is for those in Mufti/Dictatorship the dream of Generals in Khaki ...... Away I live in a mansion grand/But I long to campaign/On long and rocky roads/In bumpy jeep rides ....... My spirit is in one place/My body in another/My mind torn asunder ...... The Elections were so Unfair ..... Billions spent in marketing/A dictatorship as a democracy .... Boxes were filled/Ballots torn ...... The presidential palace is ugly/In a land with widespread poverty/Parliament has yet to dress itself/With Constitutional power/The phoenix rises from the ashes/Peoples Power will be born again ..... The rulers offer comfort/In return they demand conscience .... The Kurds fought for decades/The Kashmiris do too/The Palestinians refused to surrender ..... One has might/The other right/One has the sword/The other the pen/Guns rust and fall apart/Ideas live forever ...... The cranes fly to their native hills/My heart longs to fly with them/Invisible chains/Hold me prisoner .... They thought it generous/To offer freedom for abandonment/The abandonment of a people, of a land/Of a struggle, of a dream/Of principles and of conscience ....... I know I will return ...... My enemies wish I never was born/For them it was a torture and a shame/That I became/The first woman leader of a Muslim State/Crumbling centuries of control/Triumphantly proclaiming/The equality of men and women/The pristine message of Islam ..... Better a life of test/Than a worthless life of rest ....... I hear of miseries/Of families without income/Of fear of hunger/I hear/And my own suffering retreats ....... Unhappy are the days/Far from Malir and Multan/Far from Mardan and Makran ....... I think of those exiled/from their homelands/In Los Angeles, London, Dubai ..... For the homeland/I was born in/Buried my Father/Buried my brother/Married/Had my children/Served a Nation/Helped a people/Without telephone or electricity/Computers or emails/Polio drops or iodine/Enter the modern age ....... Billions spent on false cases /On propaganda /Psy war and special operations ..... Have faith/We will win.

News Clips April 2, 4

April 4

• Village mobs rise in war-wracked Nepal Christian Science Monitor Carrying bamboo sticks in their fists, a crowd of men formed in the village of Ganeshpur. "Kill the Maoists and their supporters," a young man shouted as the mob moved down the street. Soldiers at a barracks 90 feet away stood by and did nothing...... pro-government local militias could get beyond the military's control - adding a third, less disciplined, faction to the fighting .... Peace negotiations.. seem far off..... Protests in the capital organized by five mainstream political parties continue almost daily against the king ... People from 21 nearby villages started to rise up as well, leaving 31 people dead so far - many of them lynched, while some were burned alive. Vigilantes have also burned down about 600 houses. At its height, the mob numbered around 25,000..... In response, Maoists have killed at least 17 villagers - beheading six or more of them - and have said they will kill about 100 others who are on their list...... the violence was not spontaneous.... Army and police personnel had been shown escorting anti-Maoist mobs on state-run Nepal Television .... "Members of the group are free to kill those they don't like, not necessarily the Maoists." ..... violence in Nepal has only escalated since the king's widely condemned power grab ..... 35,000 villagers have fled to India ....."I won't return even if someone gives me 500,000 rupees [about $7,000]," says Kala Hussein Siddiqi, a Nepali from Nandanagar who now lives in India. Siddiqi was one of those in the vigilante groups, but he says he didn't kill anyone........ "Both the Maoists and the locals are up in arms against one another and are waiting to take revenge." ..... Himanchal Pasi witnessed the killing of her adult son, Rambili Pasi.
• Nepal king makes rare address to military Deepika .... urged the security forces to crush a long-running revolt by Maoist rebels .... told army officers in a rare address to a military academy on the outskirts of Kathmandu
• Maoist blockade chokes key checkpoint Gulf Times At least 500 vehicles are queuing up at Nagdhunga .... the government has been forced to invoke anti-hoarding laws in the capital after food prices rocketed
  
• 400-year idol stolen in Nepal Xinhua, China A 17th-century idol of Shankar Narayan was stolen from the heavily guarded Pashupatinath temple in Nepal Sunday night........ Pashupatinath temples is one of the seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in the Kathmandu Valley....... Even though a police beat is situated nearby, nobody came to know about the theft of the two-and-a-half feet tall idol ..... The 17th-century granite idol of Shankar Narayan had been laying exactly on the right side of the main gate of the Pashupatinath temple .......
• Maoist strike cripples life in rural Nepal Daily Times, Pakistan .... vegetable and fruit prices soared in Kathmandu’s markets ..... “The prices of tomatoes doubled in comparison to Friday,” to 45 rupees (60 US cents) per kilogram ......
  
• Maoist strike cripples normal life in rural Nepal New Kerala .... the number of long route passenger buses has come down significantly due to the maoist threat .... Vehicles going out of Kathmandu outnumbered those coming in ...... in rest of the country the SLC exams were conducted without any disturbances despite the Maoist blockade ...... Mechi truck entrepreneurs’ association .. has been revealed after investigation that the association had given more than Rs 9 lakh to the Maoists over the past two months .....
  
• Asia ; Nepal bomb blast kills one, strike begins to bite: Keralanext .... the town overlooking the scenic Himalayan mountains shut down after the attack ..... "It is completely closed after the blasts. It is quiet but tense" ..... The rebels have in the past triggered bomb blasts around the country, particularly in towns, to scare people and enforce strike calls. .... Prices of consumer goods have increased steeply ..... prices of tomatoes had increased six-fold to 60 Nepali rupees (80 U.S. cents) per kg in capital Kathmandu ..... People generally heed the rebels for fear of reprisals.
  
• Nepal Explosion Kills Student, Injures Two Scotland on Sunday
• One killed in blast as Nepal blockade continues Financial Express, India The effect of blockade was not felt inside the valley, though life was difficult in outside districts......
  
• Nepal blast Calcutta Telegraph
• Maoist blockade forces government to ban travel without armed ... ReliefWeb (press release) trucks and buses were stranded by lengthy security checks before entering or leaving the capital ..... More than 700 buses, trucks and cars were waiting for security escorts ..... government announced an overnight curfew on some of Nepal's main highways, banning traffic between 9:00 pm and 3:00 am ......
  
• Gorkhapatra is not responsible for the content of external ... Gorkhapatra
• 10 killed in Nepal, 11-day shutdown enters second day Express Newsline the army battled to foil it...... Traffic heading out of Kathmandu valley was ordered back by the army as soldiers toiled to clear the obstructed Mugling-Narayanghat road leading out of the valley towards India....... Kathmandu valley, where security forces remain concentrated ..... In Sarlahi district in central Nepal, the rebels bombed a telephone exchange office, injuring two civilians and disrupting about 150 telephone lines. In Bardiya in midwest Nepal, the outlaws destroyed two small bridges connecting the southbound highway that connects Gulariya, headquarters of the district, with Nepalgunj
  
• Exam center bombed in western Nepal Xinhua, China guerrillas detonated a powerful bomb in the premises of theexam center at Dipendra Police Boarding School at Tribhuvan Municipality in Dang district ..... bombing damaged five classrooms of the school, where most of the students are sons and daughters of policemen
• Patil hopes for an upward turn in Nepal with release of Koirala Deepika, India
• Earning by learning Nepali Times, Nepal .. 80-90 percent of all children of school-going age in Nepal are either dropouts or have the ‘failed’ label pinned on them for life...... Nepal’s school system is dominated by ‘general education’: an academic stream that prepares students for an antiquated exam system ....
  
• Maoist strike cripples normal life in rural Nepal New Kerala a string of bomb blasts rocking different regions of the embattled kingdom ..... the otherwise busy market area bearing a deserted appearance with most shops downing their shutters ..... “On one hand the army talks of opening the shops. Some of the shops were even broken into. Traders are on the run. The whole market is empty due to the 11-day strike declared by the Maoists. Some people in the border areas tried to get out of the place“ ..... Cross border movement of traffic was also minimal with trucks ferrying goods between India and Nepal remaining grounded ....... a truck driver, said: “As long as the road doesn’t open we would stay here. We can’t go back or unload the goods here. So we have to stay here until the road opens, where else can we go?
• Bomb Blast in Nepal Kills One, Maoist Strike Cripples Capital Voice of America
• Rebel strike shuts most of Nepal BBC News The shutdown has closed businesses and transport in most districts, but life in the capital remains unaffected..... The rebels, who oppose the February royal coup, are enforcing the stoppage through fear of reprisals...... disrupting school-leaving examinations is a new departure for the rebels, who have disregarded an appeal from the UN children's fund, Unicef, not to take their battle to schools...... Traffic on Nepal's roads is thin despite some army escorts for vehicles.
• 400-year-old idol stolen from Nepal temple New Kerala, India
  
• Four-century-old idol stolen from Pashupatinath temple Hindu
• Deuba barred from meeting detainees New Kerala, India barred by security forces from visiting a senior opposition leader and some of his own party cadre .... Deuba Monday attempted to visit Madhav Kumar Nepal .... the three-time prime minister had also planned to meet his deputy, former finance minister and deputy prime minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari, he dropped the idea after being turned away twice ..... The agitation, lacking a decisive strategy till now, is expected to grow more coordinated with the release of the detained leaders. ....Deuba met Koirala Sunday to discuss a joint strategy, though the two had been on opposite sides of the fence when Deuba was in power.
• Hard times for businesses as tourists avoid Nepal Gulf Times, Qatar The ancient city of Patan, boasting a World Heritage Site at Durbar Square, today has more pagoda temples and palaces than foreign visitors..... The immediate future looks bleak. Most local businesses trace the slide in tourism back to the June 2001 palace massacre, a bizarre tragedy in which the king, queen, crown prince and a half dozen other royals died in a hail of bullets..... Tourism provides 80,000 direct jobs and some 300,000 indirectly for a population of 24mn..... Nepal staggers from crisis to drama...... impending humanitarian disaster ...... officials, diplomats and businessmen agree that the king’s power grab has drastically improved security, notably in the capital region. ...... Violence in the Kathmandu Valley, where bombings had become an almost daily occurrence last year, is now rare..... Major clashes between security forces and Maoists have also been halted, the army reports ...... few disagree that the bloodshed has further subsided since the king seized control, deploying his forces effectively against rebels as well as pro-democracy campaigners ..... “We need a strong man in authority,” he says, bemoaning the corruption which has undermined democracy and the traditional political class....... Unconfirmed but widely believed reports of a split in Maoist ranks add to speculation that the insurgents have been forced onto the backfoot....... With the king set to unveil a reorganisation of regional administration and the emergency easing ahead of its expected lifting within four months, diplomats are wondering if he may be on the way to winning his gamble.
• A Progressive Constitution: Ending the Deadlock in Nepal .... Nobody knows who killed whom and where..... In spite of the highest per capita funding by international agencies in past fifty years, life in rural areas is pitiful in absence of any socioeconomic development structures...... The country is deadlocked due to King’s absolute political command, which is against the 1990 Constitution of Nepal. ..... King gained by playing a zero sum game with political parties. The same tactics used by his brother and father in past five decades. In fact, in past fifty years of political history of Nepal, not a single prime minister has completed its tenure of five years....... present constitution does not solve Nepal’s current socio-political and economic problems ...... an innovative constitution that guarantees rights, resources, and responsibility, and accountability at different levels rather than a simple politico-administrative makeover at the central level .... Issue of constitutional assembly is a much waited politico-economical tool in Nepal, which was raised in 1950s by the Nepali Congress ... Maoists also seems waiting for a safe landing based on this issue. ... international mediation may require to holding such an election so that guns will not prevail in the process....... so that poverty won’t be a begging bowl for ruling elites
• IJF Fears Self Censorship ...a culture of self-censorship takes hold in Nepal..... The following nine journalists arrested since 2 February remain in detention; Madhu Acharya, Kabhre Times and Samanata; D. R. Panta, Kantipur, Dadeldhura; Arjun Prasad Shah, Aajako Janapukaar Daily, Saptari; Monohar Pokhrel, Aajako Batabaran Daily; Sharad Adhikari, Channel Nepal, Dang; Arjun Dhanuk, Abhimat; Suryaa Thapa, Haank; Gopal Baraili, Gorkhapatra and most recently, on 25 March, Ganesh Mahar was detained in Dadeldhura...... The following journalists arrested prior to 1 February remain in detention; Chandra Giri, Shram, Maheshwor Pahari, Rastriya Swabhiman, Bhai Kaji Ghimire, Samadristi, Tej Narayan Sapkota, Yojana and Rupak Sapkota, Mahima.......... were detained for four hours in Lamjung for taking pictures of police arresting protesters at a rally .... The FNJ has decided to provide cash support to the families of the journalists in custody...... the Government is thought to be considering a more pervasive mechanism for keeping the media inline....... considering the formation of a “media commission” whose role would be to systematise controls ..... already the Government is making decisions about continuing Government advertising in newspapers based on daily reports from a small group of journalists working at the Department of Information (DoI) who are scanning newspapers for anti-King sentiment ...... Censorship and media crackdown continues to be worse in the regions.......
  
• Geneva: WGEID presentation .... the government of Nepal ought to allow and strengthen the presence of an independent national human rights commission in Nepal ....the human rights commission gets access to all detentions centres in the country, and finally that all army that has been involved in acts of violation of HR can be prosecuted in civilian court ..... Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharrya, Ambassador PR of Nepal ..... questioned the mandate of the working group..... documented cases of disappearances are amounting about 1600 cases ..... the WG had received replies on 89 cases out of 1600, but that these replies still did not lead to any clarification of the whereabouts of them.... most do not expect to find their dear ones alive, but at least they have the right to know the truth of what has happened to them. The Document.
  
• Eyes of human rights .... a blackout of information. Even if investigations were possible, judicial redress is not. The government and its army act with impunity on the one hand, and assure the international community about respecting human rights on the other..... the urgent need for international intervention in Nepal .... Closure of space is the closure of many human rights outfits, which leads to loss of jobs, money and clout, which were in abundant supply in freer times...... structural conditions that lead to grave human rights violations ..... end the unaccountability of the Royal Nepalese Army and bring it under civilian control...... Nepal can be another victim of US’s aggressive and insensitive foreign policy, and to India’s undemocratic enlargement of its sphere of influence in South Asia.

April 2

• Asia ; Maoist strike cripples life in rural Nepal: Keralanext .... brought business in most parts of Nepal to a standstill for a second day ...impact of the strike was more visible in rural areas ..... Businesses shutterde their premises and cars stayed off the roads in Biratnagar .... the strike had disrupted life in the western town of Nepalgunj where a string of bomb blasts late on Friday .... life in Kathmandu.. was normal...... Hundreds of cars, buses, and trucks left Bandbhangyang, the main checkpost, 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Kathmandu accompanied by army vehicles after being stranded for day.
  
• Maoists bomb two bridges in Nepal Peninsula On-line .... rebels bombed two bridges and blocked traffic on a major highway in western Nepal .... security forces recovered socket bombs, detonators, explosives, materials used for making electric ambushes and others from the bodies of the dead rebels .... torched five goods vehicles ... an attempt to cut off the capital from supplies of food and fuel ..... troops and police would escort truck and bus convoys to and from the capital. Trucks were seen leaving the capital yesterday under military escort ..... a group of rebels abducted a policeman travelling aboard a passenger van ..... Gyanendra.. will start a diplomacy campaign to woo the international community with a visit to Indonesia and China this month .....
  
• Nepali army foil guerrillas' attempt to block highways Xinhua "The joint security forces thwarted the so-called blockade along the Mungling-Narayanghadh section of Mahendra Highway" ..... The guerrillas torched seven trucks and created obstructions toblock the vehicles, but the security forces have cleared the roads ..... Hundreds of vehicles were stranded for hours waiting for entering and leaving the Kathmandu Valley on Saturday .....
  
• Protests are muted, but Nepal is uneasy International Herald Tribune, France
• Amid war, Nepal rebels build road to win hearts Houston Chronicle A steady stream of women and girls plod up from the riverbed, each balancing a heavy stone on her head. Above them, teams of workmen chip away at a rock face with pickaxes...... could take three years to reach the road's final destination
• Nepal to allow private banks to run govt transaction Xinhua, China Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, is planning to amend the Government Transaction Directory and change the banking policies and regulations in order to expand the sphere of government transaction to all registered banks ...... the NRB conducts 60 percent of government transaction, while the remaining 40 percent is carried out by the 43 branches of the NRB and 67 branches of the Rastriya Banijya Bank.
• 22,000 Nepalis returning from Qatar after being duped Gorkhapatra the companies that employed them is learnt to have nullified the contracts before the stipulated time ..... Nepali manpower companies had contracted them for three years for gardening and construction in Qatar...... Minster for Labour and Transport Management Ram Narayan Singh .... the Qatar government had broad plans to beautify Doha in the next five years and that there would be great demand for Nepalese workers. If the government does proper home work, there might be a demand for as many as 50,000 Nepalese