Sunday, May 29, 2005

Common Minimum Program: Constituent Assembly


The king disappointed in his speech a few days back. This is a rhinoceros, not about to change course, and headed into a ditch. Leaders of dictatorial outfits tend not to change their minds, they instead go down in defeat. Look at Saddam. He never compromised, and instead ended up in a hole, unshaved, a tiny pistol in his hand. Dictators are not capable of flexibility and creative political solutions. That is the alley of democrats.

Used to be the Monarchists, the Maoists, and the democrats were going their own separate ways. But now there is an informal understanding between the Maoists and the democrats. There is an emerging common minimum program. It is called Constituent Assembly. This shows the Monarchists are on their way out, and in a major way.

The Maoists are advised to follow the recent communique of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai. He has sought a CMP of a Democratic Republic and a Constituent Assembly. The political parties are already behind the idea of a Constituent Assembly. This is the first time such a common ground has emerged between the Maoists and the political parties.

The longer it takes to get there, the more the country is going to tilt towards the idea of a Democratic Republic. Already the cadres in all parties are for it. The leaders so far have not had the guts to come out for it. But they will not be able to stand in the way of the tide. Once the momentum builds, they either come along with the idea, or they stand getting sidelined.

This is not a constitutional monarch, this is a feudal monarch, going by his public actions.

The country is going republic.

The people do not need his consent to declare a republic. He stands to get thrown out. The movement is gelling. As it gathers momentum, it will likely turn into a revolution.

At this point the worst thing the Maoists could do is engage the RNA militarily. It would be unrealistic to ask them to disarm unilaterally. And also unrealistic to ask them to declare a ceasefire. But they should refrain from picking fights. Just stay back. If they attack, and pick fights, and if the RNA stocks go down, the foreign powers will be forced to replenish the RNA stocks, and that the Monarchists will paint as political victory. If the Maoists have some sense, they should not allow such a development as a resumption of foreign military aid.

So, yes, do not necessarily declare a ceasefire, but act like there is one in place. Instead let the peaceful democratic movement gell. Let it gather momentum. Don't give the Monarchists an opportunity to quash it claiming there has been armed Maoist infiltration.

It was foolish of Prachanda to have put Baburam under arrest two months back. It would be foolish of him to not get back behind the Democratic Republic and Constituent Assembly CMP in the most effective way possible. And the most effective way right now is not military. The military way plays into the hands of the Monarchists and strengthens them politically.

Now it is for the democrats to work on the movement in the most effective way possible. It is an organizational challenge.

May 29
  • Journalists protest closure of Nepal radio centre Peninsula On-line, Qatar The Ministry of Information and Communications on Friday ordered the centre, which provides programming to 14 of the 50 private FM radio stations across the country, to shut down...... Guragain, who insisted Saturday he would defy the closure order....... several newspapers had been shut down by the authorities or had closed due to financial problems....... more than 1,500 supporters of seven student unions demonstrated in Kathmandu demanding reinstatement of multi-psssarty democracy...... more than 40 refugees driven from the countryside by Maoist violence were arrested yesterday for demonstrating for food and shelter
  • Nepal's Maoist rebels kill policewoman, child Reuters AlertNet, UK Maoist rebels sprayed the house of a policewoman with bullets killing her and her four-year-old son
  • Nepal opposition defies king near Deuba's trial venue:- Webindia123, India Nearly 5,000 people braved the scorching mid-day heat and a possible police crackdown to take part in the first mass meet called in the capital Friday by a coalition of seven major opposition parties.... security personnel, who watched over the two-hour meeting, made no attempts to prevent the proceedings...... if the king continued to rule with absolute power, there could be a mass uprising ......
  • Save my husband, pleads detained Nepalese leader's wife:- Webindia123 Lila Mani Pokhrel ..... has stones in his kidney, paralysis symptoms and diabetes. Pokhrel also has symptoms of hernia and needs immediate surgery ...... Pokhrel is deprived of "basic human rights", like not being allowed books, newspapers or even writing material ...... He is also not allowed to meet anyone except family members......
  • India steps up patrolling on Nepal border to curb Maoists:- Webindia123
  • Nepal king says aims to hold polls in stages Reuters AlertNet, UK said he planned to hold polls in phases to all elected bodies in the revolt-torn nation, but set no dates .... "Necessary preparations have already been initiated to hold these (municipal) elections and activate, in stages, all elected bodies" ......
  • Nepal releases 75 political leaders and activists Sify
  • King of Nepal now eager to bring democracy back in Nepal India Daily There is persistent rumor that Maoists are in direct secret talks with Indian Government.
  • Crackdown continues in Nepal Hindu The crackdown on political activists and media appears to continue in Nepal with royal government detaining 20 political activists who were staging protests against King Gyanendra, even as it re-arrested a former minister immediately after his release from prison...... Others who were released on Friday include Nepali Congress spokesman Arjun Narsingh K.C., former Ministers Bimalendra Nidhi, Bhim Kumari Budhamagar, Suresh Malla, Mina Pandey and Dip Kumar Upadhyay as also ex-Parliament members Khem Raj Bhatta Mayalu and Tek Bahadur Chokhyal...... "We will not shut down our operation, we will continue the operation despite the government's instruction and go to the Supreme Court for a stay order when the office opens on Monday," said Suresh Acharya, News Editor of the Communication Corner and former President of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists...... Calling the government directive as the end of the rule of law in the country, Acharya said the ministry has alleged us of operating illegally without mentioning any law.
  • UK resumes non-lethal military aid to Nepal Hindustan Times, India Britain has decided to resume non-lethal military assistance to Nepal on humanitarian grounds, following in the footsteps of India....... the meeting in Luxembourg discussed EU-India ties as well as regional and international developments, where Nepal reportedly featured on the agenda ...... the meeting, the resumption of non-lethal military assistance and the parliamentary notice have been kept low-key with even the British media not getting a whiff of it.
May 27
  • Thousands attend Nepal pro-democracy rally Reuters AlertNet, UK .....5,000 supporters of seven mainstream parties, many punching their fists in the air, attended the second biggest rally in a week against the monarch ..... on Friday when a dozen rebels, armed with automatic weapons, fired at a security patrol in the western town of Bhairahawa .....the seven parties wanted the restoration of the parliament to solve the political crisis and were ready to hold elections to a constituent assembly to end the Maoist revolt ..... The demand for the constituent assembly was the sticking point in talks with Maoists in 2001 and 2003...... the royalist government ordered troops on alert fearing infiltration of Maoist rebels into anti-monarchy rallies
  • Nepal on alert ahead of anti-king rally Reuters AlertNet ..... Witnesses said riot police armed with bamboo sticks and helmets had been posted around the site of the protests
  • Nepal govt frees over 50 political detainees Sify, India .....Narsingh K C and two former ministers Bimalendra Nidhi and Dip Kumar Upadhyay
  • NEPAL: National report fails to stress the impact of conflict on ... Reuters AlertNet, UK .... second periodic report to the United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child (CRC)..... "In many ways, Nepal was not a country fit for children" ..... The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) was particularly critical of the report, which had omitted the most important adverse effects of the conflict on children ..... Over 300 children are estimated to have been killed from 13 February 1996 to 28 February 2005. Of these, 168 children were reportedly killed at the hands of the state and 138 at the hands of the Maoists ...... The girls have been raped and molested by the security forces ..... Nepal ratified the Convention on the Rights of Children in 1990 ..... Since then, the country has introduced several laws and ratified key international conventions to promote and protect children's rights that were non-existent during the pre-1990s era.
  • Bodies of 25 Maoists recovered in Nepal Hindu ..... Around 15 Maoists torched the ancestral house of Chief Justice Hari Prasad Sharma at Tarigaun village in Dang district on Monday night, an army official said adding the two-storeyed building was completely gutted..... Maoists allegedly raped two women in Singhdevi area of Ramechhap district ...... Eight Maoist rebels surrendered before security forces in Bharatpur Municipality in Chitawan district
  • Progress in Nepal Washington Post, DC ..... 2002 ... All the king did .. was act in accordance with the Nepali constitution and consent to the dissolution of the parliament as recommended by the prime minister...... Since lifting the state of emergency on April 29, the country has begun to restore civil liberties..... Nepal is restoring peace and stability to accelerate the restoration of a fully functional democracy as soon as possible
  • Bhattarai meeting raises questions on Nepal policy Times of India The revelation that Nepal's Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, has been meeting Indian Communist leaders in the capital .... Bhattarai carries an Interpol red corner notice on his head. .... One of the best proposals coming out of the seven-party alliance in Nepal, therefore, was to invite the Maoists. But the Maoists refused...... Bhattarai's hobnobbing with India, sources say, could leave the space open for a king-Maoist understanding, at India's cost.
  • Nepal frees 18 political detenus Hindu, India Former Deputy Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Poudyal and hundreds of other political detenus are still languishing in different jails across the country. The Government last month extended their detention order by another three months despite their deteriorating health conditions.
  • Ex-Nepalese PM Koirala to visit India:- Webindia123 will undergo his annual medical check-up at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. He had undergone a check-up at the same institution last year too..... will also be using his stay in New Delhi to meet Indian leaders and authorities to muster support for the anti-monarchy movement...... Koirala's daughter Sujata and nephew Dr. Shekhar Koirala are also currently based in New Delhi...... While Sujata was in the US and Britain to take part in anti-king rallies this week, Dr. Koirala met Indian leader and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha Wednesday...... with the Nepal government stopping several opposition leaders at the airport to prevent them from leaving the country, it remains to be seen if Koirala will be allowed to proceed to the Indian capital.
  • Nepal opposition seeks Yashwant Sinha's support:- Webindia123 Rajan Bhattarai, member of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Shekhar Koirala and Mathura Prasad Ghimire of the Nepali Congress, Pradip Giri of ousted Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's Nepali Congress (Democratic) party, Hridayesh Tripathi and Rajendra Mahto of Nepal Sadbhavana Party (A) and Chandra Dev Joshi of United Left Front, met BJP leader and ex-minister for external affairs Yashwant Sinha at his residence.
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Friday, May 27, 2005

Rumor Has It The King Is About To Make A Major Move


"Yo hallai halla ko desh ho." Bhupi Sherchan.

Rumor has it the king is about to make a major move on par with 2/1. It can not be in the direction of more autocracy, since he has consistently gone in the direction of democracy since the end of April. So my guess would be it would be good news. But I can't tell exactly what.
He could go ahead and declare the parliament revived and basically agree to the idea that a Constituent Assembly is the only political meeting point for the three political forces in the country.

I still wonder, how exactly will the parliament be revived? Will he use Article 127? And if he will use Article 127, will the parliament stand to be dissolved by him at any moment thereafter? Or what? And if a parliament revived using Article 127 is okay, why is an all-party government formed by the same article not okay?

Could the king go for an interim government like his elder brother did in 1990 in response to the movement then? One can only wonder. I can think of a few options the king has, but there is no telling what exactly he will do. But my guess is whatever it is, it will be a change for the better.

I personally think the political parties should be able to offer an iron clad guarantee for the continuation of the monarchy to get full democracy in return. That could be a meeting point.

Personally I think the proposal I made to the king on May 3 is the best of all options.
It preserves the monarchy, it goes about nine steps ahead of every political party in the country in terms of offering the goods to the people, it totally steals the political and social thunder of the Maoists, something no gun can do, and leaves them the option to become a peaceful party or become irrelevant, just like that, evaporate off, it makes corruption near impossible, it puts Nepal on the political cutting edge. I can totally imagine American progressives pointing their fingers in Nepal's direction, green with envy, and asking out aloud as to why they can not have something as wonderful also in America. I can imagine the CPI and the CPI (M) totally coming around to the concept of total, transparent democracy in India and launching a non-BJP, non-Congress Third Front, immediately. I can imagine the Chinese saying they continue to denouce the western democracies, but that they actually like the Nepali version. The king of Nepal becomes the Samrat of Asia. Alexander and Napoleon used physical force. But conquest today is done with ideas, over the Internet. Plus, we no longer live in an era of emperors conquering physical territory with brute force. We live in an era where the competition is to see as to who can design the best political and social infrastructures so as to best serve the individual. It is about the individual. This is science we are talking about.

This would be a good use of Article 127. The only good use.

Actually I don't think you have to use anything in the 1990 constitution to form an interim government. You just go ahead and form it.

In The News

    • Reconciliation In Coming Weeks Kantipur ..... US Ambassador to Nepal, James F Moriarty ..... "I hope in the coming weeks we will see an attempt [by the king] to reach out to the political parties, and, if there is such an attempt, I hope the parties will respond." ..... "Whatever change comes, it should be something that the palace and the political parties should be comfortable with." ..... "If you are going to have a reconciliation in this country, both the sides - the palace and the parties - will have to be ready for some give and take." ..... "When Cristina Rocca was here she welcomed the fact that the parties were working together, but we need to see both the sides move forward from there and we hope that the parties' common agenda becomes a tool for negotiating with the government." ...... the king has publicly stated that he believed that restoration of the House would be unconstitutional. "So, it might be difficult to negotiate around that issue, but if that is possible, we welcome it." ...... "Last week was horrible - there were police beating up the Maoist victims, people were getting rearrested in the courts and the government took a series of dumb steps." .... there has been some progress, especially in terms of the release of detainees and the restoration of civil rights. "But there has to be a progress in reaching out to the political parties, and that is the key." ...... Feb 1, said Moriarty, was a setback to the international community's perspective on Nepal because many started to think if the main problem in Nepal was the insurgency or the king. ...... "we have been carefully saying that the goal here is to try and get as many Maoists back into the mainstream as soon as possible." ...... First, that there should be unity among the legitimate political forces in the country. Second, the whole international community should tell the Maoists that they are not going to take over power in Nepal and that the former was not going to allow that to happen...... Finally, the Maoists have to be convinced that they are not going to win militarily and that they have to come back and negotiate seriously....... "I believe that if the palace and the parties don't work together there is a good chance of the Maoists ending up taking over power. Whether that is through military means, through negotiations or terrorism I don't know. But frankly, if everybody screws up, the Maoists are going to win." ..... "While there are two issues tied to it: First, domestic political developments…we want to see clearly the civil liberties coming back and an end to arbitrary use of power and we also want to see the reconciliation process." He, however quickly added, "That sounds cut and dried but it's not because of the other consideration, which is the military balance…which makes us nervous." ...... our twin goals (the path back to democracy and ensuring that the Maoist don't takeover) ..... "If we get very nervous about the Maoist progress, then that will be a factor we will consider." ..... "Are we nervous? Yes. But it is hard to say if we are nervous enough." ..... That's a long way from saying that we look at Nepal through Indian eyes. I have a tremendous ego and I wouldn't be here if I thought that was the case and we would close down our embassy...... if he believed in different versions of democracy, he said the ability of people to elect and change their government, free press, and independent judiciary were all pretty standard...... "We are not believers in different sorts of democracy for different sorts of people because that has always been used to disguise paternalism and authoritarianism"

    • Iran And Nepal: Both Need Freedom Of All Kinds United We Blog Iran is a country being ruled by Islamic fundamentalists. Nepal is a country being ruled by royalist fundamentalists....... (Iran has arrested over 20 bloggers over the last year.) Iranian bloggers who have been released have reported being the victims of torture......

    • Republicans Inside The Royal Palace Prateek Pradhan, Kantipur February 1 putsch ..catapulted undeserving people to the helm of power who are now prepared to go to any length to hang on to the power ..... these people are invoking extremist moves to force the parties to join a republican force ...... Tricky Giri, Khelkhud Shah, Chameleon Pandey and the like won't mind no matter how serious the crisis facing the country or the institution of monarchy is ...... The government has become totally dependent on the army now. Such a harmful trend does not only raise the ambition of the armed forces, but it also seriously hampers the effectiveness of the government...... they are working on nepalization of democracy...... they must be aware that any attempt to undermine people's rights to choose the government and rule the country through their representatives would further resent the constitutional forces and the people. And if so, the King will have no option but to rule the country by tightening the iron fists, whence they will be able to further savor the power....... The attempt is to widen the chasm between the pro-constitutional-monarchy political parties and the pro-multiparty-democracy King...... the ball is in the King's court to recognize and get rid of the pro-republic force occupying stronghold inside the Royal Palace.

    • Republicans Inside The Royal Palace United We Blog KGBs of Nepal ...Tricky Giri, Khelkud Shaha, and Chameleon Pandey ..... royalists with slave mindset are inciting the king to take such measures that will not ultimately harm the Nepali monarchy badly but also put it in a grave risk of extinction....... King Gyanendra’s Boys ...... these very KGBs are the ‘republicans’ in the royal palace that are trying to ruin the future of monarchy....... it is yet to be proven whether their moves are intentional or inadvertent, it is clear that they are helping the pro-republican force ...... It’s not new in Nepal for people to be more royalists than the king himself. The coterie of ultra royalists is trying to keep king in confusion and rule on their own in the name of king........ a “bunker regime" ...... KGBs or parasites or freeloaders ....... “they know that, once they are out of power, they will have to run away from the country. And some of them have already done so in the past.” ...... “Their aspirations will be fulfilled only if they continue to remain in power even in a fluid situation,” Pradhan says, “It simply does not cross their mind that the fluidity will eventually hit hard the longevity of the institution of monarchy.” ........ These parasites “won’t mind no matter how serious the crisis facing the country or the institution of monarchy is. The only intention of these leaders is to hang on to the power by hook or crook.” And they have proved this argument of Pradhan by doing all nonsense things over the last four months. “In a bid to strangle whatever remaining confidence the King and the political parties have in each other,” Pradhan writes, “these people are invoking extremist moves to force the parties to join a republican force rather than reconcile on constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy.” ..........the people inside the Royal Palace are doing their best to weaken the ideology supporting pro-constitutional monarchy within the political parties ......... The longer they keep Narahari Acharya, Lila Mani Pokharel and the like in detention, the stronger the republican voice will grow. The more they play cat-and-mouse game with the student leaders such as Gagan Thapa and Rajendra Rai, the louder their voice will be heard within and outside the political party. The harsher they become with human rights activists such as Krishna Pahadi, the greater will be the local and global influence. They know that unless they do not send the security forces inside the court to manhandle lawyers and journalists, most of these people would not think of the republic set up. ........... the involvement of army in the everyday chores of the country is like turning a tiger into a man-eater by letting them to taste human blood. ......... The choices are simple: safe future for monarchy by being constitutional or the republic system in Nepal. As Pradhan says, the ball is in the king’s court.

    • Visiting A Detention Center In Nepal United We Blog Bode, Bhaktapur ..... I was actually reluctantly accompanying my reporter friend and co-blogger Saroj to meet his detained brother Sudeep Sharma.The Agriculture Development Bank’s training center was transformed into an autocratic hell, thanks to Feb 1 Move...... Visibly sick and jaded Urmila told that she will be taken to Bir Hospital for medical check up tomorrow. Bal Krishna, in haste, dropped the Fanta bottle brought for her sister..... Rajendra Pande was a bit furious with the authority. He retorted: “Can’t a politician meet his relatives? Is it his crime to have such relatives?” He said he was there to visit his grandson Sudeep Silwal. An apologetic Assistant Sub Inspector sent for his grandson...... As the political crowd left the venue, a police grilled me asking why I was there.

    • Gagan Thapa Release, What About Others? United We Blog Gagan Thapa (waiving hand) vowed to fight for democracy and constituent assembly..... Yesterday, Supreme Court issued an order that said: “In fact, detainee Gagan Thapa hasn’t been released from the illegal detention as per the court order. That is against the fundamental objective of the constitution and the laws of the country.” ..... home minister Dan Bahadur Shai commented: “The court order didn’t specifically barred police from re-arresting Thapa. So police did no wrong re-arresting him.” ..... A free Gagan Thapa vowed to continue fighting for democracy in Nepal. “Now, our target is constituent assembly,” he said. “The movement should go ahead for that goal. We should do no compromise with the king. We should not listen to his sweet and phony talks about peace and democracy.” ...... arresting pro-democracy political activists will only weaken the regime.

    • Samrat Of Everybody's Heart United We Blog So, I also decided to visit the place to juxtapose the Samrat of my imagination with the Samrat of flesh and blood..... I at last saw Samrat of my heart ..... His characters are so life-like and speak the language of common people of Kathmandu...... Samrat got a Whiting Award in 2001 for his debut book Arresting God In Kathmandu, and his second book Guru of Love was an enormous success. His fans are curiously waiting for his third book that is getting published in a few months.
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