The seven political parties have come up with a four point program: (1) restore parliament, (2) all-party government, (3) unconditional peace talks with the Maoists, and (4) constituent assembly.
The first point is a major roadblock. Who will fulfill that demand? Not the Supreme Court. Then the king? Using Article 127? What if he just is not going to do it? You put 10,000 people into the streets and he does not go for it, then what? You put 100,000 people into the streets, and still he does not do it, then what? Therein lies the fundamental flaw in the program. When you have a strategy with such a fundamental flaw, you end up draining your resources, you tax the patience of your workers. You frustrate their efforts.
If your goal is to either deprive the king of all political power or to get rid of the monarchy completely, why is your strategy one that totally depends on the king? That is a fundamental contradiction. This is a looking Tokyo, going London strategy. If your goal is to take away all the king's powers, why are you so intent on giving him veto power! I mean, everything you want to do depends on him, it seems like.
Instead get rid of the first point, and jump straight to point two. Form an all-party government right now. And seek recognition of the same from India, US, EU and the rest. I think it might work. And then move on to point three. Hold unconditional peace talks with the Maoists.
Your strategy has to be one where the king is largely irrelevant. No matter what he does or does not, your gameplan should still work.
The same with the Maoists. They want UN mediation. They want a Constituent Assembly. Both demands are like giving veto power to the king, because neither happens without the king saying yes. It is amazing when avowed republicans are so intent on giving the king veto power.
Instead the Maoists should hold unconditional peace talks with the parties so as to facilitate a movement towards a Constituent Assembly. An all-party government minus the Maoists is formed. The Maoists disarm, and then are inducted into the government. And elections are held by that government. Something like that.
I have repeatedly sought a private email communication channel with Dr. Baburam Bhattarai to facilitate this process. So far with no success. Instead the Maoists talk through statements. Bhattarai's recent Delhi visit also brought no visible success. They need to make use of the more productive Paramendra option. It will work.
The democrats say they are for full democracy or for republicanism. The Maoists say they are for republicanism. Well, it is time they started acting like it. Put forth strategies that renders the king irrelevant. That will work.
In The News
- Critique of Harpers Magazine Hitpiece on Nepal Maoists : LA IMC quote from U.S. Ambassador James Moriarty .... "It's not Islamic fundamentalism, obviously, but it is a very fervent brand of Maoism that could cause great trouble in this area. They've said they're going to invade the United States."
- IMC India - Critique of Harpers Magazine Hitpiece on Nepal Maoists
- Sweep of History: My letter to the editors of Harpers
- Lawyers condemn Nepal government BBC News, UK Lawyers in Nepal have demanded the immediate dissolution of the country's government. ..... Nepal's Bar Association, which represents about 10,000 law professionals, passed a resolution at the end of a two-day meeting saying that King Gyanendra's takeover was an extreme violation of the country's constitution....... nearly 200 journalists held a rally in the capital, Kathmandu, demanding the lifting on the ban on FM radio stations to broadcast news.
- Dissolve 'unconstitutional' government, demand lawyers
Outlook (subscription) the top lawyers' body in Nepal has demanded the royal government's dissolution and reinstatement of the House of Representatives...... The two-day assembly adopted 17 resolutions demanding end to the ongoing practice of promulgating laws through ordinances...... Frequent enactment of ordinances is against the principle of the rule of law, they said. The act of amending and scrapping laws formulated by the Parliament through ordinances should immediately be stopped..... "It is high time to reinstate the House of Representatives to reactivate the Constitution and restore democratic rights. The unconstitutionally formed Royal graft commission to grill opponents should be scrapped and the government should abolish the proposed draconian press laws", NBA President Shambhu Thapa told PTI.... The assembly also demanded release of all political prisoners, human rights activists and lawyers from detention. - Raise The Red Lantern Outlook Works briefly for USAID, returns to US-aided varsity ... Joins communists in '71, goes underground in '80 .... Prachanda's youth was spent in Chitwan, a district the US assisted Nepal to colonise and develop; he studied agriculture science in an institute the US funded; and he worked, albeit briefly, with the US Agency of International Development (USAID) .... in the last 10 years of this war, the myth has only grown: he's feared, hated and reviled; he's also revered as "Comrade Prachanda" by thousands of followers. ....... In his childhood, though, Prachanda showed few symptoms of alienation or even bellicosity...... Nepal and the US were together developing as a model district with educational facilities and healthcare centres. ..... To his seven other siblings, though, Prachanda was the benevolent brother. He contributed to their upbringing, returning from school and ploughing the family land with a pair of bulls. When Prachanda was in Class X, he was pressured by the family into marrying Sita Poudel, a girl from the neighbourhood. The couple went on to have a son and a daughter. (The son is now a comrade.) ...... In a burst of paternal love, Muktinath even took his son's horoscope to astrologers. And they, without exception, have said that the planetary configurations in Prachanda's horoscope suggests he is blessed with "rajayoga". In other words, he's destined to occupy positions of power....... At the age of 16, Prachanda completed school and enrolled for ISc in agriculture science in Patan.There he taught for six years in various schools and worked briefly for USAID to support his family and finance his studies....... He returned for his BSc to the University of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (UAAH) in Chitwan's Rampur area, where his college in Patan had shifted. It is at this US-aided university that he became a commited communist, and where he also met many of his future comrades. ....... Very few have seen him in flesh and blood; his photographs too are extremely rare. The first photo was obtained by the government from the UAAH files. His sheer elusiveness prompted many to believe that Prachanda was a fictional figure the wily Maoists had created to hoodwink the security forces. In the initial years of Prachanda the myth, politicians of all hues tended to dub rivals whom they loathed and feared as the "real Prachanda". For the political parties, the king was the "real Prachanda"........ Padma Taludhar ..Taludhar furiously points out, "Both The Times of India and The Asian Age twice used my photograph as Prachanda's." The mistake was sufficient for pro-palace circles to dub Taludhar the "real Prachanda". ........ Those who know the real Prachanda say he has endearing qualities. "He is a leader...he listens, he acts, and he changes himself whenever necessary," says Durga Subedi, an ex-revolutionary who in 1973 hijacked a Nepal Airlines plane and decamped with Rs 40 lakh to start an armed revolution. Subsequently, Subedi abjured violence and became a Gandhian. "Prachanda is a jovial and open person, always concerned for his comrades' grievances," he says. ........ In the 1980s, Prachanda became a politburo member of the Communist Party (Mashal), yet another mutant of the communist movement. In 1985, an armed insurrection aimed at capturing areas around Kathmandu under the leadership of Mohan Baidya was beaten back. The defeat prompted Mashal's politburo to accept collective failure and voluntarily undertake one rank demotion. Prachanda was the only exception; he was elevated to the rank of general secretary. ....... On the advent of democracy in Nepal in '90, Prachanda and Dr Baburam Bhattarai came together to form the Samyukta Jana Morcha. The new party won nine seats in the 205-member House of Representatives. But attempts by the larger parties to split the SJM goaded the duo to opt out of parliamentary politics. ....... In February '95, under the banner of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), mobs launched simultaneous attack on police posts in four districts—Sindhuli, Gorkha, Rolpa and Rukum. A new chapter in Nepal's Red history was inaugurated in blood........ The only face-to-face interview Prachanda has given is to Le Ernesto of Chicago Revolutionary Worker....... there's no sign that Prachanda will give up the gun and turn to the people for political support. His future looks as bleak as other rebel leaders who came, became myths and then disappeared.
- A Glimpse of a day in Nepal United We Blog, Nepal Nepal’s lawyers and journalists are the most vocal professionals coming forward protesting the Feb 1 royal takeover.....
- Koirala concerned over military aid NDTV.com, India
- Koirala to camp in New Delhi now
Deccan Herald New Delhi, where he will be staying for an unspecified period ..... speculation that the Maoists have been in touch with the coalition leaders as well as some Indian leaders ..... two communist leaders were heading for Lucknow where they could have secret meetings with the underground rebels ......
- Children detonate bomb, destroy concrete building Outlook (subscription), India attempted to make bombs using match sticks, tooth paste tubes, splinters and radio wires
- Conflict Corners: Some Talks on Nepal Maoism, Israel-Palestine ... United We Blog, Nepal the humiliation that Palestinians carry everyday as they hand out their IDs to Israeli police officers at check points that was once their land ......at the wake of Sept 11 people in America realized how painful it is to bear the brunt of humiliation and lost lives, both at once. ...... rarely any of the ruling elites in Kathmandu encountered a threatening death warrant from the Maoists; they were cozily ensconced in their wired houses protected by civil law and state military ....... the Shahs and Ranas, who were able in all respects to negotiate peace, yet chose military might to suppress the movement, with no less counts of organized state terrorism than that of Israel...... Vietnam was no Germany, neither was Iraq ...... like the expelled Jews of Europe are rehearsing the horrors of holocaust over the lesser people of Palestine, independent states get the premonition of emerging powers and plan a systematic dismantling of their structures ...... Nobody will do anything. States will silently witness the plights of Nepalis, or critics will study the case, newspapers will publish it, like Palestine, our stories of terror will be written in history, and forgotten.....
- Nepal objects to construction of Indian dam India Daily, NJ
- Gyanendra Shah's Death Samudaya The unthinkable happened circa 2013—China decided that it wanted to be the moral guardian of the world.
- Dear Miss Koirala Samudaya ..... open letters are in, so I'm sure you will not mind my hipness ..... I'm only embarrassed for your grandfather that the hatred for your political family far surpasses the love for him. ......your family has become such a liability to our freedom. Any attempt to talk about freedom and justice is dismissed if your aunt makes an appearance, and any attempt to return to sanity, to seek modernity, is shunned as long as it is led by your granduncle and his pals ...... we are a country that shatters stores and vehicles over what Hritik Roshan did not say ...... rich people shouldn't be criticized for their thoughts just because they are rich; it was only when you described the king as "an epitome of selflessness" that I concluded somewhere in you is an absolute nutcase ...... Your suggested solution to the Maoist problem, however—that "it may be through dialogue or through the army but no other alternative"—roared into much laughter because I had always thought that dialogue and military were alternatives to each other ......
- Koirala Arrives On Democracy Mission The Peninsula arrived here yesterday on a week-long visit .... He is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajayee, ruling United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, longstanding friend and former prime minister Chandra Shekhar and some leftist leaders...... an umbrella group called Jan Sampark Samiti ..... Earlier it was feared that Koirala would be detained at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and prevented from leaving
