Prachanda Press Statement

Prachanda has issued a press statement.

• Prachanda Press Statement INSN

Some observations I make:

1. He says he is ultra careful that his party does not become pro-King or pro-India. Okay, so you are for a republic. As for India, it can not be that you are against India as a country. You have active ties with the Maoists in India. So if that is ideological, that is okay? If it is okay for you to have ties across the border along ideological lines, why is it not okay for people of other political persuasions to have the same? Maybe the Nepali Congress is close to the Congress (I), maybe the Sadbhavana is close to the Janata Dal. Maybe they have ideological affinities too. Since when did your ideology become more relevant? But then political links are not all. Every Madhesi I know has family relations in India. Maybe your mother is from India, or your brother or sister got married to an Indian. If you are anti-India in a blanet way, you are trying to split up these families: undoable and laughable. It can not be the India of cultural and religious ties.
   
2. If you are a responsible leader of Nepal, you can not be ignorant of the political plight of the Madhesis, part of the DaMaJaMa coalition. The anti-India stick is the one primarily used to foment ethnic prejudice and hatred and discrimination against the Madhesis. I am not saying you are necessarily doing that. But you have to publicly draw the distinction and come out saying you are against the India stick used against the Madhesis. The Madhesis are as much Nepalis as Pahadis. Your ideology seeks Janajati liberation. It must also seek Madhesi liberation. Right?
   
3. Which brings me to some legitimate grievances Nepalis should have when it comes to Indian foreign policy. You have to be specific and say what is what. Is it the 1950 treaty that bothers you? Then be specific. Is it the Sugauli treaty? Be specific. I think the only true solution for small countries like Nepal is to come around to this idea of a reorganized United Nations.
   
4. When you are not specific, you just play into the hands of the false nationalists.
   
5. I am glad you use the word flexibility. It is much in demand.
   
6. I am extremely glad you have agreed to the idea of a Constituent Assembly as a common minimum program for all Nepali democrats and our friends, wherever in the world. I don't mean to say this is a new stand for you, and I don't mean to say your line is different or independent from Baburam's. I have always only sought respectful dialogue with the Maoist organization, which means I leave the Maoist inner-party differences to the Maoists, not that I am in any position to get involved even if I wanted to.
   
7. I hope you take heed of my last blog entry where I have urged you and your party to do the smart thing on military issues. Let your military thoughts be guided by this one issue alone. Ask yourself, am I helping or hurting the cause of a Constituent Assembly? Military refrain is the way you can best help the cause. And I urge you to do the right thing, the wise thing.
   
8. I am extremely glad you have finally decided to move beyond press statements to actual bilateral and multi-lateral dialogues. Better late than never. It is extra important to create and maintain communication channels. It is super important for the democrats and the Maoists to not row the boat in opposite directions.
   
9. Hold your gun, let the movement gather momentum.
   
10. I am glad your party is thinking in terms of an ideological transformation to fit with the times. Marxists are supposed to be scientists, and scientists are supposed to face facts, and new facts keep emerging. I urge you and Baburam to take a look at these: (1) Nepal Communist Party (Progressive) (2) Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace
11. 
    
What Mao did in the 1930s is not necessarily the best thing to do today.
12. 
    
Microsoft has an operating system: Windows. There was Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000. The operating system changes. My point being no dogmatic Marxist is a true Marxist. I urge the two of you and the others in your party to take a serious look at the concept of total, transparent democracy. That is surgery with anesthetics. I think it is foolish to insist on conducting surgery without anesthetics when anesthetics are available.
In The News


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Baburam Bhattarai: Only Visiting Indian Express ..... Bhattarai or Laldhwaj as he is called by fellow comrades is the man, negotiators hope, who can change the plot by steering the Maoist ship towards mainstream politics without a gun. .....
this 51-year-old ..... took shape in the famous Left bastion of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Bhattarai spent his crucial years in JNU as a research student under Professor Atiya Habeeb Kidwai of the Centre for Study of Regional Development. He received his PhD in 1986-87....... he was not in the thick of JNU’s political action. He was short, thin, frail, docile and distanced from any distraction to his academic pursuits ....... The 893-page thesis called ‘‘The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure in Nepal’’ is one of the longest submitted to the Centre. In fact, the original draft was 1,800 pages which was returned by Kidwai to be redone. He calls himself Kidwai’s ‘‘problem child’’ while acknowledging her contribution......... While in Delhi, Bhattarai had a near brush with death. He was hit by a bus while crossing the Outer Ring Road outside Old JNU campus. He went into coma and many of his friends thought they had lost him. He recovered and went on to complete his project........ Though not in the forefront of student politics, he and his wife Hisila Yami spent considerable time with Nepali immigrants in Delhi........ In the northern most mountainous region, he says, it was a direct conflict between man and nature...... In the central hilly region, it was a triangular conflict between the dominant class, nature and the exploited class while in the Southern Terai region it was a straightforward clash between the dominant and the exploited.......

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The Heavy Price Of Feudal Nostalgia The Guardian King Gyanendra, according to a foreign ministry official, believes that the Indian government, the EU and the US are offering too much support to the country’s democratic parties...... Seven leading political parties agreed earlier this month to oppose the king’s “cruel experiment in outdated tyranny” ...... Both India and the British embassy, speaking on behalf of the EU, welcomed the agreement, observing that it offered a possible basis for a dialogue...... India routinely interferes in Nepal’s affairs. It offers a retreat for Nepali politicians and activists of all stripes when they have to absent themselves from the country; it provides military equipment, training and intelligence to the army in its war against the Maoists; and it supplies occasional shelter to those same Maoists, perhaps with an eye to intelligence. India’s Hindu parties maintain close links with the monarchy, and bilateral treaties give India the power to veto arms supplies from elsewhere, while geography offers it the power to turn off the trade tap at will. Frankly, it’s a little late to complain about interference...... What the king really objects to is not interference per se, but the kind he regards as unhelpful to his plan to let the army rip, without human rights scrutiny, to defenestrate the legitimate political parties ...... When the US flew in a series of “security experts” last year to argue that talks with the Maoists would only bear fruit after the rebels had been given a “bloody nose”, the king raised no objection. Indeed, when a delegation of officers from US Pacific command flew in to give the benefit of their advice to the Royal Nepalese Army, he seemed quite happy. When the US offered special forces training and the UK offered military supplies, the palace was content. But to encourage democratic political parties, he says, is to go too far........ the army and the Maoists are in a military stalemate from which the only exit is via negotiation...... Nepal is paying a heavy price for his refusal to let go of feudal nostalgia.......

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Interview With US Ambassador Moriarty Nepali Times We welcome the lifting of the state of emergency but obviously things have happened since then to cause people to doubt the seriousness of that action...... I am not trying to defend the king’s actions, we have already said that we are concerned by them....... The parties say some reasonable things to me in private but if you look at what they say in public, well its pretty tough....... this should be the beginning point for talks rather than a bottom line ultimatum ..... The published record of what I say and the private record of what I do all is a recognition that the arrests are unacceptable, that the detainees have got to be released ..... I have been pretty outspoken since February 1st on the matter of curbs on civil liberties. It is just plain dumb. Frankly, they put in the state of emergency much more effectively than they lifted it....... Between 1990 and 2002, life expectancy increased 50 percent, education increased more than that, the network of paved roads trebled, income went up significantly. Frankly, if you had not had this ideological insurgency, you would have seen conditions for an economic takeoff, with the economy growing at seven or eight percents a year right now....... If the army has the weapons and ammunition, it will not be possible for the Maoists to win. What happens if your military runs out of bullets, is the number one question facing your country today......... Frankly if the army runs out of bullets, they can come in with khukuri knives........ you may actually see the Maoists come out more unified and tougher, leaner and meaner ....... two and half years ago Maoists were active in 14 out of 75 districts. Today, it is 70 out of 75 ....... You’ve got a glass here, obviously it is mostly empty, maybe only a quarter full, but there is some fullness here and it is not that everything has gone to the extent of your worst nightmare.
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Nepal Confronts Growing Insurgency Washington Diplomat “For some time, we will have to curtail some civil liberties, we will have to clamp down on human rights, we will have to put a few people behind bars, which may not be very pleasing to Western countries, but we have to take these measures,” says Shrestha, a career diplomat with more than 40 years of experience in Europe, South Asia and the United States........ Once we have peace, then we can talk about other things, like democracy and human rights....... has pledged to hold elections within three years. So far, however, no clear roadmap for reaching that goal has been annunciated...... “Last year as many as 10,000 schoolchildren and teachers were abducted for periods of up to seven days. They try to indoctrinate them and send them back” ...... The ambassador says there are an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 “hardcore” rebels, plus about 12,000 to 15,000 “militia” on whom they can call. “But that is a very rough estimate,” he cautions. “They seem to come in large numbers, but how hardcore they are, how well-trained they are, how willing they are to fight is difficult to establish.” ...... Their guerrilla-style tactics make it difficult to combat the rebels militarily, Shrestha adds. “They hit and run,” he says. “They have this advantage of surprise and assimilation. They surprise you in the dark of the night and then they disappear and immediately mix in with the common people. They are just not there.” ...... The ambassador says the government’s strategy for containing the insurgency focuses first on political dialogue, even though the Maoists have twice broken cease-fires during peace talks in 2001 and 2003........ The king had to make a very bold decision and take the reins of the government into his own hands ....... After Feb. 1, the government put several opposition leaders, including former prime ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Girija Prasad Koirala, under house arrest .... “It was also for their own safety,” he adds. “When violence starts, you never know how it will end up.” ...... the media is now “lively and critical of the government.” ...... Shrestha admits that the king’s clampdown may have helped to unify the political opposition, but he insists that the move has significant popular support. “[Supportive] groups are not well organized, so you do not hear their voices as much as you hear the opposition’s voice,” Shrestha says.......

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.