Tibetans And Madhesis

I must have felt this for a long time now, but I only articulated it to myself a few days back, that Madhesis are like Tibetans in some ways, although I must admit the plight of the Tibetans is much more acute.

Nepal was not my country. America has not been mine. This will change in the future, but that has been the past.

To me the best part of the current turmoil in the country is if the Madhesis were to play their cards right, political equality could be achieved in one push this time around. That is the reason for my passionate involvement. That is my self-interest. If the Janajatis, and the disenfranchised, demoralized Bahuns also benefit in the process, then so be it.

Old social thought patterns need to be broken to make room for new ones. Curiously the Madhesi-Pahadi dynamic percolates all the way to Nepali social settings in the US. Many Madhesis put up with Pahadi chauvinism when there are no practical reasons to do so. Is it for social reasons? Is it just inertia? Is it mental slavery?

The worst part of prejudice and racism might not be the hate but the mirror image self-hate that complicates social relationships among the powerless, the oppressed. That adds to the urgency. It is almost as if you have to fight the prejudice and the racism if only to reclaim your family for you.

And so I am mighty proud of the work I have been doing with the proposed constitution. It means a lot to me. Revisions are in the works.

• Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace
• There Might Still Be Room For Monarchy If The King Gets On Best Behavior

Talking of Tibetans, I was born a Hindu, but I have chosen to become a Buddhist. And that puts me in flock with the Tibetans.

I think Tibet as a separate country makes no sense at a time when both India and China are trying to become a single economic unit, a free trade area, the world's largest. But I do think democracy in China that guarantees religious freedom and human rights, and a federal structure that recognizes Tibet as a state with its own legislature is the way to go.

Let the Chinese be forewarned.

In The News

• Nepal frees communist leader Daily Times, Pakistan ..... hundreds of other activists were still under detention and new arrests were being made, despite the lifting of the emergency...... latest moves by the government came as fissures emerged within the powerful Maoist group..... Schools and colleges across Nepal closed Monday at the call of seven student unions after security forces opened fire and wounded three student leaders
• Opposition to King grows in Nepal Hindu..... extended the detention of 175 lower-level politicians and activists....include Ram Chandra Poudel, Narhari Acharya, Laxman Ghimire and Madhu Acharya of the Nepali Congress party, and Krishna Pahadi..... . he still tightly controls the government...... Unless the king gives up direct rule, restores powers back to the people and frees all political prisoners, there can be no dialogue between the political parties and the king...... state-owned monopoly Nepal Telecom Mobile restored only 34,000 of the 248,000 mobile phone numbers......
  
• Annan welcomes lifting of state of emergency in Nepal Xinhua.... Annan remained ready to assist in any manner that would lead tothe peaceful resolution of the conflict between the Nepalese government and leftist rebels
  
• Nepal frees communist leader, starts mobile service Stuff.co.nz....Maoist rebel chief Prachanda, who uses only one name, accused his deputy Baburam Bhattarai of defying party decisions....."The party hopes that he will overcome his weakness and follow the process of changing himself"
  
• Nepal politicians prepare common agenda NDTV.com, India......a revival of political activity as leaders of seven mainstream political parties met at the Nepali Congress office in Kathmandu to bring out a common minimum agenda..... the first draft ready ......Experts say he is playing for time. If the political system does not cobble together a credible fight for democracy, his coup will stand vindicated.
• Nepal parties say King 'hoodwinking' Hindustan Times, India....... demanded that the monarch surrender "every vestige of power and authority he has usurped unconstitutionally."....... the King's latest decisions, including lifting of emergency and release of a few political leaders, had "confused friends of democracy" in India and elsewhere...... ask our friends everywhere to see through the new ploy" of the Monarch."
• Nepal Turmoil Shows No Signs of Abating Guardian Unlimited, UK......Communist rebels appear to be escalating attacks. And the king's political opponents say they are mulling how to turn up the heat....... there is still no freedom and the king is still going after his opponents ..... His order Saturday to lift the state of emergency decree ended sweeping powers for security forces and reinstated some civil liberties but kept Gyanendra's direct rule intact...... move was a surprise to most Nepalese ..... Analysts say forcing the king to give up his powers would require huge public rallies, like those that forced the previous monarch to give up absolute power in 1990.....escalating violence by the rebels
• Shot in the arm Nepali Times
• Political parties, civil society demand end to press censorship Press Trust of India....... Policemen and army personnel have been deployed in a massive number througout the capital despite lifting of the emergency yesterday by the King, a step termed by politial leaders and civil society members as a "cosmetic measure" to "fool" international community....... political prisoners have not been released, the Royal Corruption Commission formed to, what he alleged, "eliminate" political opponents has not been abolished.
• Leaders demand full restoration of civil rights, press freedom Zee News....... "The announcement to lift state of emergency is a positive step but this is not enough," said acting general secretary of the Nepal Communist Party (UML) Jhalanath Khanal.

Streets Filling Up For The First Time

This is good news. The lethargy is vanishing.

I was real impressed with the discipline of the mob. They did not try to cross police lines. And they stayed away from restricted areas. That exhibits organization. Demonstrations need to be non-violent. Vandalism can not be allowed to be part of it. Organizers should take care.

The king's mention of his meeting with Manmohan Singh as a reason behind his lifting the emergency is a sign the guy is looking to save face. That should be facilitated. The idea should not be to run his nose into the ground.

But for now he has the upper hand. The ball is in his court. He needs to lift the thing for real.

Another alarming thing is the lack of dialogue among the political parties. The one word mantra of democracy might not be enough.

I also read Prachanda's response to Baburam's "letter bomb." It is in Nepali. The difference between the two is real. But they talk of a central office, and meeting in the "hall," and talking over "tea." I get the impression they are not in the forest somewhere. They are in some safehouse in some urban/semiurban setting. Prachanda seems to be splitting threads. Prachanda seems to feel the Maoists are about to get into power and so he should consolidate leadership under him. How farcical. The Maoists are nowhere close to getting into power.

The RNA publicized the "split" between the two immediately after it happened. How did they come to find out? Do they know the physical location of Prachanda? Is capturing him not a RNA goal?

In The News

• 10,000 take to streets in protest over Nepal's king Scotsman, UK ... the biggest demonstrations since King Gyanendra seized power .... marchers avoided the city centre where demonstrations are still banned...... "Our security forces have been successful in controlling the insurgency in just three months and people are feeling secure," said the information minister, Tanka Dhakal, on state radio....... several student activists - between three and five, according to differing reports - were shot and wounded by soldiers during a meeting in Mahendranagar ..... The king has double standards. He does one thing inside the country and there is another face he shows to foreigners...... many in Kathmandu approve of the greater order that the king’s rule has brought to the city
• Nepal parties deride lifting of emergency Hindu .... Some 15,000 trade union activists and labourers marched ..... Organised by five federations, including Nepal Trade Union Congress affiliated to the Nepali Congress and General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions, the march also drew activists from India, Japan, Belgium and Sweden...... Girija Prasad Koirala said the impact of emergency was not reduced even after its withdrawal. "So in fact, there is no change in the situation."
• Leaders demand full restoration of civil rights, press freedom Zee News .....
  
• Nepal-China bus flagged off Times of India, India .... scheduled to cover the 1,044 km distance in three days ..... mostly Nepalese businessmen and sightseers and some Chinese journalists. ....... With the completion of the China-Lhasa railway, the bus service will receive a further boost as Nepal's prospect as a transit route for trade between India and China will increase. ..... the agreement for direct bus services between key metros in India and Nepal has failed to move forward. Nepalese transport operators, fearing uneven competition from India, are said to have pressured the government into keeping the pact on ice.
• Nepal rebels admit leaders rift BBC News, UK ....Prachanda has said that he had serious differences with Baburam Bhattarai ..... in an e-mail statement ...... Bhattarai had been stripped of key positions he held in the party ...... a rift between him and Prachanda - apparently over Mr Bhattarai's wish to resume peace talks ...... Prachanda said in a statement that Mr Bhattarai was carrying out his responsibilities assigned by the party....... the personality clash between the two leaders had never been a secret, but this is the first time that their differences have been made public ......
  
• Four student leaders injured in Nepal shootout Hindu ..... suspected Maoists killed the district chief of a political monitoring committee established by King Gyanendra ..... Srivastab was heading one of the 69 district "monitoring committees" appointed by Gyanendra to observe political activities including those of the Maoists and report back to the King and the home ministry ...... Nara Bahadur Dhami, Central member of the All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) affiliated to Nepal Communist Party-UML; Bachan Bahadur Singh, ANNFSU Kanchanpur district president and two other student leaders ......
  
• Nepal political party leaders to meet PM Zee News, India ...... Dubbing as a "mere eyewash" King Gyanendra's decision to lift emergency, Nepali political parties yesterday said the move was aimed at "misleading" the world and to receive military aid from India..... Shekhar Koirala of Nepali Congress, Rajendra Mahto of Sadbhavna Party, Pradeep Giri of Democratic Nepali Congress and Raja Bhattarai of United Nepal. ...... The parties plan to test the king by taking out rallies to assess whether emergency has been lifted in the real term. ...... "The king has the autocratic tendency and was getting dangerous by the day"
• India welcomes Nepal King's move, wants other measures also Press Trust of India
  
• VIEW: New Delhi must continue to engage the monarch Times of India, India ..... care must be taken not to overreact ..... constructive engagement .... His assurances to both external affairs minister Natwar Singh and prime minister Manmohan Singh at Bandung suggest that he knows he cannot go it alone. His conciliatory statements to the Indians must be seen as a sign that he is ready to make concessions ...... keeping channels open with the king. The monarch probably realises that he has a weak hand. The king's crackdown on political leaders is probably little more than an attempt to demonstrate who is in charge. But he isn't, not really.
• Protesters March Against Katmandu King Guardian Unlimited ..... protests were watched by people from homes and rooftops..... Although the constitution limits emergency rule to three months - a period expiring Sunday - the king had been widely expected to extend it.
• Update On Gagan Thapa's Situation United We Blog ..... at least 22 plainclothes policemen surrounded the building and arrested all three leaders. Who would have leaked their whereabouts to the police? “Perhaps someone from within Nepal Student Union?” a relative of one of the three told me....... They are in Shorakhutte Ward Police Station, not far from where they are arrested. That station is particularly famous for detaining thieves, pickpockets and other perpetrators. That’s not the place for political detainees...... Gagan has been kept in different room from other two, in the female ward of the station. ..... All three have been barred from seeing even their relatives. Gagan’s cousin went to the station with food. He wasn’t allowed to see uncle...... Photographers spotted him addressing a few corner meetings in New Baneshwor area recently. A man always seen in neat and tidy outfit, he has sported beard after Feb 1.
• Army Offensive In Rolpa United We Blog ..... “Army personnel in large numbers are present in almost all villages of Rolpa” ...... “All Maoists have fled Rolpa. The whole district is now under Army’s control.” ..... Journalists accompanied an army team in Thawang on Sunday and saw a deserted village..... Maoists fled the village “4 or 5 days before army arrived here.”
  
• Review Of Mahendra Lawoti's Book INSN ..... palace justified the coup by reading out articles from the 1990 constitution. It was the last nail in the coffin for a document that had failed the test of genuine democratic transformation despite 15 years in existence. Scrapping the 1990 constitution is one of the main recommendations of this laboriously researched book by Professor Mahendra Lawoti..... Lawoti refutes claims that the Maoists subsumed potential ethnic insurgencies. They accommodated them for the time being..... Madhesi dalits face double discrimination - first as Madhesi and second as untouchables. Exclusion of 85% of the population is occurring even in such supposedly progressive realms as education, media and human-rights circles....... The constitution invests excessive power in the hands of the executive (cabinet) and keeps parliament weak. Opposition parties have no say whatsoever in the polity. The judiciary, the election commission and the anti-corruption agency are dependent on the cabinet for budget and personnel. Local governments are toothless to address citizens’ needs, creating fertile ground for Maoist capture of rural areas....... Lawoti prefers “ethnic federalism” to regional federalism ...... In the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Ethiopia and Spain, federalism mellowed militant tides...... Special entitlements are needed for sub-group advancement, especially dalits and women who would get left behind even after ethnic federalism were instituted..... affirmative-action and quota-reservation policies ..... extending more rights to more Nepalese will elevate the “strength, capability and legitimacy of the state” ..... an assertive and ambitious ruler exercising extra-constitutional power, hardly an uncommon occurrence in fledgling third world democracies ....... the remarkable degree of exclusion of the vast majority of Nepal’s population ..... the reluctance of various monarchs - from Tribuvan to Gyanendra - to open out spaces for participation. ..... the singular inability of the various political parties - of all ideological shades - to make both themselves and the polity more inclusive....... When a few upper caste hill groups exercise hegemony over all institutions - legislative, executive, judicial - as also control most civil society organisations, a drift towards violent, extra-parliamentarism is to be expected. ...... an assertive monarchy as the source of Nepal’s troubles ...... Lawoti does not even rule out the possibility of secession...... a unitary state, exclusionary institutions, and fragile parliamentary norms and practices ...... . like any large movement, divided in factions and tendencies, each advancing somewhat different political projects .....
  
• Nepal Lifts House Arrest for 2 Communists Guardian Unlimited, UK .... Police were removed from their houses early Monday morning. While under house arrest for three months, they were not allowed to meet with any one, and allowed to read only government-run newspapers and watch government television station.
• Communist leader freed in Nepal BBC News ...... Madhav Kumar Nepal
  
• COUNTERVIEW: India must take a tough stand now Times of India, India .... There's talk that former prime minister G P Koirala may be the next to return to prison. Whatever the king's motivation or compulsions, he has shown that he cannot be trusted....... If the king shows no sign of relenting, India should stop pleading and play a more proactive role in saving Nepal from the king's grip.