Democracy For Nepal

Monday, August 14, 2006

Who Will Tie The Bell Round The Cat's Neck

The monarchy is on its way to getting abolished. The army is being brought under the paliament, and will get restructured, and might even get abolished. Nepal is on its way to becoming a federal republic. All these are big, positive changes.

But there is no talk of reforming the political parties. There is no talk of reducing the powers of the political party leaders. This is alarming.

The goal of the April Revolution is to empower the individual citizen, not the political party leaders. And that has to get reflected in Nepal's next constitution.

Proposed Constitution

Direct Elections

All MPs in both houses at the federal and state levels have to be directly elected by the people, without exception. That also applies to all seats in the constituent assembly. This is a must. I see an unhealthy tendency among the political parties to suggest they should have the power to nominate a few members, and they are exploiting the social justice agenda to put forth that position.

I am all for social justice, but moving away from direct elections is to move away from social justice. Instead we should be looking at the idea of reserved seats. So if a seat is reserved for Dalits, all candidates in that constituency will have to be Dalits. You end up with a Dalit MP, but that MP is still directly elected by the people.

I feel strongly about the idea of direct elections, just like I feel strongly about the idea of democracy. Power to the people, not to the political party leaders.

State Funds For Political Parties

It is the misfortune for Nepal that its entire political class is beholden to either Karl Marx or to the British Magna Carta. If some westerner did not think of it before, it can not be done.

This is also a way to balance the first past the post, direct elections system. The one with the most votes wins. But all national political parties earn state funds in direct proportion to the number of votes earned. And that is the only source of money for the political parties. This has never been tried before. And this arrangement is the only idea that will do to true justice to the greatness of the April Revolution. Minus this idea the April Revolution will have been just another Third World hartal.

And of course all the book keeping of the parties will have to be transparent.

Reserved Seats

The Pratinidhi Sabha will have reserved seats for the four groups, Dalit, Madhesi, Janajati and Mahila, 5%, 10%, 9%, and 12% with some overlaps. Half of the seats for women will cut across that of these four groups as well. For example, of the 5% seats for Dalits, 50% of them will have to be women. And the 5% for Dalits will be half in the Terai, but that is not to cut into the Madhesi reserved seats. 5, 10, 9 and 12 are a quarter of the supposed shares of the populations of these groups, to be revised each census. When identifying the seats for the Dalit, Madhesi and the Janajati, the Election Commission will seek constituencies where the groups have their largest share of populations. No three contiguous seats may be reserved seats. The total number of reserved seats may not exceed 40% of the total. In addition to this formula, seats will be reserved so as to ensure women as a group get 33% of the total seats.

(Source: Proposed Constitution)

Language Policy

All bills must be posted online in three languages - Nepali, Hindi and English - for at least one week before they may be voted upon....... All formal political deliberations at all levels of government in the long run and at the state and federal levels in the short run are to be posted online in as real time as possible in the language that was used at the venue. Efforts are to be made to make the same available in Nepali, Hindi and English.

The education system shall follow a tri-lingual policy up to Class 10, beyond which it is for each individual institution to decide on their own as to the language of instruction. The first language is to be the student's first language, the second language is to be Nepali. For those for whom Nepali might be their first language, the student may choose any language spoken in Nepal. The third language is to be English, the contemporary global language of science and commerce. This policy applies to schools in both the private and the public sectors. The language of instruction for all other subjects to Class 10 will be a decision to be made by the individual school board for the public schools and by the owners of the private schools: it is to one of the three - Nepali, Hindi, and English - or a combination.

It is for the state parliaments to decide on the use of a second, local language as the language of government at the local levels.

(Source: Proposed Constitution)

Handling linguistic diversity is the key social diversity challenge at the policy level.

Federalism: Competing Maps

There are some basic questions that have to be answered.

How many languages are there in Nepal, dead and alive? How many dead languages can be rescued? How many alive languages are nearing extinction and need special attention?

How many of the alive languages exist only in spoken form? They have no script, no literature.

How many exist in oral as well as written forms? How many of those that exist in written forms also have their own unique scripts? Are those scripts well preserved or not?

How many have their own scripts but also use Devanagari, the script used by both Nepali and English? How many have their own scripts and do not use Devanagari right now but might want to and need help?

How many of the languages have a sizeable body of literature?

How many of the languages have ever handled at least secondary school material? Namely science, maths, social studies stuff.

It is clear not all languages are at the same developmental stage. Linguistic diversity, especially when we talk of the small population groups, are like ecology in the Amazon forest. You are looking at delicate stuff. Small group languages have to be preserved like they were rare species of plants and animals.

My point being language policy can not be left entirely to the one person one vote mechanism. Say if there is one village of 2,000 people somewhere in Nepal that speaks one language. You can not expect their local tax base to sustain that language all the way. They should qualify for some sort of federal help.

The concept of federalism is very related. The map that competes with mine is that of the Maoists. And that map is my second choice so far. I can settle for their version. But my disagreement is that you do not look at cultural and religious diversity in geographical terms but rather in terms of social institutions.

There is the individual. Then there is the family. There is the school. There is the workplace. There is the state at various levels, local to federal. Those are the primary social institutions you are talking about.

The individual and the family are not state territory. Each person and family decide on their own on the language(s) they will use within their private space and private communication. And there will be a small but growing group of two language families down the line. People will mix. That is natural, that is healthy.

The workplace will be largely in the private sector. There it is the market that decides what language(s) get used. But then there is the public sector, the territory of government jobs. And that is state policy territory.

Two institutions that need urgent attention are the schools and the state organs. Again, primary, secondary and higher educations have their own unique challenges.

My proposal is to have a standard education paradigm across the country. In the private schools in the country that are all as a rule English medium, all subjects get taught in English from the very first grade, and Nepali is taught as a second language. That is the ground reality right now. In the public schools all subjects get taught in Nepali from the very first grade, and English is taught as a second language.

My proposal bridges the gap between the two, and brings in a third element, the concept of a third language, the child's first language. This is where the Maoist map can come handy. For 90% of the students, this will be neat and tidy. But especially in the urban areas like Kathmandu, you are looking at schools that are diverse. You might have students speaking six different languages in one class, maybe more. What to do?

I insist on the three language policy for the private and public schools because that will be a sure way to get private and public resources given to the development of the languages in Nepal. Developing languages should not be the small responsibility of some ivory tower academy. It should happen in all schools in a very alive way.

Say there are 20 schools in a part of Kathmandu with diverse students populations. Perhaps they could pool resources. And so one school could focus on teaching Maithili to students from the 20 schools, another could teach the Rai language. Creative options have to be looked into.

At the primary level you are looking at reading, writing and arithmetic. Maybe we should make two scripts standard for education and government work. Devanagari for all languages in Nepal. And the English language's Roman script. And use the Roman script for numbers in the maths.

You still preserve the non-Devanagari scripts, but you don't use them in education or in government. This uniformity might encourage people to learn each other's languages. Otherwise you are looking at a nightmare situation in education and the government machinery.

So a child goes to school and starts out learning two scripts, three languages and arithmetic. That happens in grades 1-3. Then 4-5, you introduce some more science and maths and social science. The private schools will probably use English. The public schools will have a choice: Nepali, Hindi, English. Then 6-12, a few more subjects. All along three languages are learned. I can imagine a lot of Nepali speakers taking Hindi as their second language.

There has to be an emphasis on science and maths all along. Maybe science and maths, those two subjects should be in English for everybody. Otherwise you are creating two Nepals.

The idea behind language policy in the schools is to best prepare the students for the economy, for their careers, for their place in the world economy. Ethnic pride is an important but a smaller factor.

Upto grade 12 is school. Beyond that there is no state policy as to the language of instruction. Each college and university decides on its own. English is dominant today. A few decades down the line you could be looking at Hindi and Chinese. You never know. And those decisions get taken by the market. Public policy has and should have only so much impact on the market.

As for the state machinery, I think the federal and state parliaments should allow three languages. There should be immediate translation into all three languages of all the deliberations.

Then at the district level, local languages come into play. You should be able to use Newari in Kathmandu. And Maithili in Janakpur. Those are no brainers. In a village near Janakpur where every single person speaks Maithili, it would make no sense to do government work in any other language.

Pahadis need to stop getting defensive about Hindi. Before Mahendra came along, Hindi had its place in Nepal. Your hostiltiy to Hindi is to do with the Panchayati propaganda you have been subjected to. I am not saying Hindi should be the link language in the Terai. I am reporting that it is. The only question is if that ground reality will be given political recognition or not.

English gets recognition as the language of global commerce and science. Nepali is the link language in the hills, Hindi in the link language in the Terai. When a Maithili speaker from Janakpur talks to a Bhojpuri speaker in Nawalparasi, they do so in Hindi.

Hindi is also about Nepali empowerment at the global level. It is very much a Nepali agenda to have Hindi as the sixth UN language. Both Pahadis and Madhesis have to get behind that idea.

My ideas are fluid. I have concrete proposals, sure, but I am open to alternate proposals. The important thing is that there be an open, participatory, wide discussion. People have to feel they are being listened to.

The first phase is wide discussion. During the second phase we can get around to specific policy alternatives. There will be competing proposals. We will pick one.

On The Web

[PDF] Language Policy in Multilingual Switzerland
Multiculturalism in Switzerland
Language policy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Languages in Switzerland
Ethnologue: Switzerland
Switzerland: Language distribution (map)
Wikipedia - Switzerland a strong economy in finance and banking ..... four national languages .... Switzerland is a federation of relatively autonomous cantons, some of which have a history of confederacy that goes back more than 700 years, arguably putting them among the world's oldest surviving republics.... In 1798, the armies of the French Revolution conquered Switzerland and imposed a new unified constitution. This centralised the government of the country and effectively abolished the cantons. The new regime was known as the Helvetic Republic and was highly unpopular. ....... preserving the cantons' right to self-rule and the need for a central government ....... unusually strong elements of direct democracy ...... Switzerland proclaimed neutrality in World War I and was not involved militarily in the conflict. Neutrality was again proclaimed in World War II, and although a German intervention was both planned and anticipated, it ultimately did not occur. ....... Women were granted the right to vote in the first cantons in 1959, at the federal level in 1971, in the last canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, only in 1990...... On April 18, 1999 the Swiss population and the cantons voted in favour of a completely revised federal constitution. ...... In 2002 Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations, leaving the Vatican as the last widely recognised state without full UN membership...... Switzerland, a country that is traditionally perceived as isolationist. ..... Both houses, the Council of States and the National Council, have equal powers in all respects, including the right to introduce legislation....... Through referenda, citizens may challenge any law voted by federal parliament and through initiatives introduce amendments to the federal constitution, making Switzerland a direct democracy........ The judges are elected by the Federal Assembly for six-year terms...... Switzerland features a system of government not seen at the national level any other place on Earth: direct democracy ...... The energy generated in Switzerland comprises around 40 percent nuclear power and 60 percent from hydroelectricity...... For much of the 20th century, Switzerland was the wealthiest country in Europe by a considerable margin...... Switzerland has three official languages: German (64%) in the north and centre; French (19%) to the west; and Italian (8%) in the south. ..... The federal government is obliged to communicate in the three official languages. In the federal parliament, German, French and Italian are the official languages and simultaneous translation is provided......... Learning one of the other national languages at school is obligatory for all Swiss, so most Swiss are at least bilingual.....
swisspolitics.org | Swiss news, Switzerland, Politics
swisspolitics.org | Information and News about Politics in Switzerland
Politics of Switzerland
Switzerland > Politics in the Yahoo! Directory
Open Directory - Regional: Europe: Switzerland: Society and ...
Switzerland, Politics Timeline, 21st Century
Political Resources on the Net - Switzerland I
Switzerland - Further Reading - MSN Encarta
Politics in Switzerland - the Swiss political system : Political ... Switzerland’s existence as a modern federal state dates back to 1848. ..... The Swiss people can influence political affairs through the highly developed system of direct democracy. ....

Education in Switzerland The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons ..... The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. The Swiss maintain a high standard for education that is world renowned. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures. Diversification of the education system in 26 sub-systems is viewed by many as being inefficient. Consequently, the Swiss people will have to vote on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the States. .......
Military of Switzerland The Swiss Armed Forces are a unique institution somewhere between a militia and a regular army.... There is an organised movement in Switzerland aiming at the abolition of the military......

Ethnic Demography of Nepal
Ethnologue report for Nepal
Ethnologue report for Nepal
Nepal Languages - Demographics
Nepal Languages
Nepali language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Category:Languages of Nepal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nepali language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nepali - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hindi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maithili language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bhojpuri language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Awadhi language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tharu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Urdu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Newar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nepal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Demographics of Nepal 92 different living languages ..... Nepali (49%), Maithili (12%), Bhojpuri (8%), Tharu (6%), Tamang (5%), Newari/Nepal Bhasa (4%), Magar (3%), Awadhi (2%), Bantawa (2%), Limbu (1%), and Bajjika (1%). The remaining 81 languages are each spoken as mother tongue by less than one percent of the population. ....... Nepali is the official, national language and serves as lingua franca among Nepalis of different ethnolinguistic groups. Hindi is also widely spoken, especially in the southern Terai Region.

5 Weeks, 4 Weeks

Dashain Ayo, Khaunla Piunla

Congress Unification In Five Weeks. Maoist Soldiers In Barracks In Four Weeks. Interim Constitution In Four Weeks. This is the talk. If we can get these, that would be wonderful. Dashain would be festive for the first time in 10 years. That has been a long wait.

I commend Koirala for taking the initiative to unify the two Congress parties. He can do it if he sets his mind to it. He has the stature. He can just go ahead and decide.

Monarchy And Maoists

If the seven parties do not agree to abolish the monarchy right away, the Maoists are simply going to have to accept that position. The monarchy gets turned into an interim monarchy. I kind of like the UML proposal. You hold a referendum on the monarchy at the same time as you hold the elections to the constituent assembly. That will be fair enough.

Nepali Congress Convention

If the Nepali Congress were to hold a convention, which would be the best way for its two factions to become one, that party will get a clear republican thrust from its grassroots. And Koirala is going to get irrelevant. Or if he manages to impose himself on his party, the Nepali Congress is going to pay a heavy price for its stand for a ceremonial monarchy.

Language Policy

This is a stickler. This asks for a lot of work to be done. This was the number one topic of debate at the Alliance Picnic. (Alliance, GFIPN: Audio, Video, Alliance Picnic 2, Alliance Picnic)

Janajati In NYC

They give me much hope. There are too few Madhesis for me to have a large natural social justice base. But there are plenty of Janajatis. And I am impressed with the level of their political consciousness. (Global Federation Of Indigenous People Of Nepal, GFIPN 9)

Census, Citizenship Papers

There has to be a census, and citizenship papers have to be issued to all Nepalis before there can be constituent assembly elections.

Direct Elections, Reserved Seats For The DaMaJaMa

All those who will end up in the constituent assembly will have to be directly elected by the people. There should be no compromise on that.

And there should be reserved seats for the DaMaJaMa. Kind of like the Ram Vilas Paswan seat in India. His has been a reserved Dalit seat.

Anand Bist, Surendra Devkota

I am not a Congressi, so I don't know. But Sujata Koirala flexed her muscles and dumped Anand Bist.

I have met Surendra Devkota. He is a nice guy, and well qualified.

Perhaps these two Congress factions within the Koirala Congress will also make unification attempts. Right now there are two groups. The bifurcation got engineered from Nepal.

In The News

PM Koirala in Biratnagar; says he is committed to party unity NepalNews
Govt. appoints Katawal as acting CoAS of Nepal Army; fills various vacant posts
Referendum should decide the fate of Monarchy: Bijukchhe
Tortured repeatedly, a pro-democracy activist battles for life
"Inclusion of Nepali language in NCSU is a recognition of Nepali as a dignified community"
King owns 40,000 ropanis of land: Ministry; govt asked to ban royal land transactions
King should not be given any space in new democracy: Prachanda the King should be suspended till the elections of the constituent assembly.
Workers’ strike brings work in tea estates and processing units to halt
Lack of consensus among parties delaying interim constitution: Aryal

Koirala optimistic on party unity within five weeks Kantipur Publications the parties will be unified with dignified positions for all the members.” .....
Govt announces financial help to Jana Andolan victims; makes new appointments
Kin of 30 killed by NA seek compensation
Prachanda says King shouldn’t be given space in interim statute though several attempts were made to force them to return to war, his party wouldn’t go back to “jungle to wage war again.” ...... “Rather we are ready to launch a Kathmandu-centered revolution but we won’t return to jungle.” ......
State Minister Lekhak held up for two and half hours
Over 150 Maoist victims arrested in capital
Notorious robber Limbu among three arrested in heist attempt Limbu and his gang has plotted and successfully executed over a dozen heists in the capital in the past one year. ..... The same group looted property worth more than Rs. 2 million from Continental Marketing, Teku in Kathmandu only three weeks ago. ...... Limbu confessed that he has so far looted Rs. 1.5 million from Nawa Kantipur Finance, Rs 1.1 million from Nepal Bank Limited, and Rs. 1 million from Royal Cooperatives, and property worth Rs. 3.2 million from the house of Shrawan Kumar Goyal in Battisputali, Rs. 1.5 million from the house of Shobha Kharel and Rs. 700,000 from the house of Santosh Limbu in Dhumbarahi
Thapa alleges US of intervening in peace process Janakpur, Aug 13 - A senior leader of CPN (M) Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal ..... Thapa dubbed the problems of citizenship in Terai region as minor issue. However, Thapa admitted that the constituent assembly polls might get affected if citizenship problems were not resolved before the country embarked onto the polls. ..... his party was ready to hold talks with Goith's front.
King owns over 32,824 ropanis of land throughout country: Report
ँहतियार लुकाउँदैनौं’
धर्ना बसेका माओवादीपीडित पक्राउ
सर्वाधिक खोजिएका लुटेरा स्थानीय बासिन्दाद्वारा पक्राउ
चौकी आक्रमण गर्ने माओवादी धम्की
दलित सहभागितामा जोड
महिला भेद विभेद
हतियारको त्रासमा संविधानसभा

Nepal MPs ban sale of royal property Hindustan Times, India
Arlen Specter Visits Nepal OhmyNews International, South Korea
UN team to monitor arms in Nepal BBC News, UK
Arms management by mid-Sept in Nepal: Home Minister People's Daily Online and interim constitution should be adopted by mid-September ...... "If this deadline is met, only then will the constituent assembly election be possible by mid- April 2007." ..... now two major agendas needing to be settled before the country goes for the much-awaited constituent assembly. ..... the agendas are management of the army and the arms of guerrillas and promulgation of an interim constitution. .....
Maoist fighters in barracks by mid-September: minister DailyIndia.com
Nepal names new army chief Scotsman, United Kingdom
Nepal-India talks on petroleum products concluded without progress People's Daily Online, China
Nepal Maoists to continue struggle Bangkok Post, Thailand
Fazlu shifts from Malaysia to Nepal Hindu, India Fazal-ur-Rehman, the underworld don who was recently arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police, shifted base from Malaysia to Nepal .... Fazlu, had been operating from Dubai since mid-1990s, his two brothers Irshad and Naushad had set up a business in suitcases and handbags in Nepal. They migrated to Nepal like several others from their village in Darbhanga, a district located near the porous Indo-Nepal border, in search of a better livelihood....... Fazlu committed his first crime in 1988 in Darbhanga when he abducted a young woman he was attracted towards. He was arrested in that case and spent four years in jail. Later, he came in contact with big-time gangster Jameel Khan, who introduced him to underworld dons like Babloo Srivastava. In due course, Fazlu developed close relations with the wife of Jameel's brother, with whom he had been living since. His children are pursuing their studies in Nepal. ......

UML CC Meet Continues For 10th Day Himalayan Times
NC, NC-D merger before Dashain: PM Koirala today said he would give a respectable place to the NC-D in his party...... Koirala also said that his health was improving.
No aid for govt with terrorists: US
Bill to replace military acts tabled in House The government today produced in the House of Representatives a bill to replace the Military Act 2016 BS, the Military Power Conferring Act 2015 BS and The Power, Duty, Authority and Service Condition of the CoAS Act 2026 BS. Once passed by the House, the bill would become the Military Act 2006. ...... the army will be controlled by the government and mobilised on the recommendation of the Defence Council headed by the prime minister. The defence, home, finance and foreign affairs ministers will be the ex-officio members of the council. ..... The bill also proposes that the CoAS would retire once he attains the age of 61 years. ..... Defence Council will formulate policies and programmes regarding the mobilisation and control of the Nepal Army, fix its strength and organisational structure and decide on the management of arms and ammunition. .... the government can dismiss any army officer, while the CoAS can dismiss any non-gazetted officer or demote him/her. .... Clause 28 of the proposed Act authorises the army to set up an Army Welfare Fund where every personnel must deposit 15 per cent of their salary.

Lack of consensus among parties delaying interim constitution: Aryal NepalNews a lack of consensus among the seven-party alliance (SPA) and the Maoists on important issues. ..... We need their consensus on major issues of the monarchy, alternative to the Parliament and citizenship. ..... the ruling alliance and the Maoists should form common stance on the political issues since a poorly formulated interim statute could impede the path to the constituent assembly elections. ...... Maoist leader Dina Nath Sharma..... said the inclusion of the monarchy in the interim constitution is unacceptable .......
House should not be dissolved in haste: PM Koirala Koirala has said that there was no question of dissolving the House of Representatives until there is a reliable alternative...... While the Maoists are depending on their weapons as their source of power, parliament is the source of power and weapon for the unarmed political parties and the people ........ Koirala said that the Maoists should lay down arms before joining the interim government. ..... Regarding his recent controversial remarks to provide space to the King and the Maoists in democracy, Koirala asserted that his remarks were based on the reality ..... “I will do what my conscience tells me. I am not going to bow down to anyone. ...... On the issue of unification of the two factions of Nepali Congress, he said, “Unity between the two congresses would pave the way out of the existing national crisis. It is the need of the hour." ..... NC parliamentarians expressed serious concerns over the disregard of the Maoists toward the understandings and agreements reached with the government, as they are continuing extortions, intimidation and abductions. .....
Legal experts ask to guarantee independent of Judiciary in interim constitution
Man held by Maoists found dead: Report
Summit talks by end of August: DPM Sherchan
UN special rapporteur to arrive on Sunday
Security beefed up at TIA after UK terror plot

Janakpur to Geneva: a ‘disappeared’ trail Kantipur Publications As per an optional protocol to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, action could be initiated at the Geneva-based UN Committee against the guilty in such cases if the concerned government fails to take action against perpetrators even three months after lodging the case.
Man held by Maoists found dead
Tea garden workers to go on strike from today
137 suicide cases in past year in Kathmandu: Police
National consensus on economy must: FM Mahat
सहमतिको भित्री कथा दुवै पक्ष्ाको सेनालाई निश्चित क्याम्पमा राखेर अनुगमन गर्ने सहमतिले वास्तविक युद्धविरामको महसुस दिलाउने निश्चित छ । दुवैका सेना निश्चित घेरामा कैद भएपछि जम्काभेट हुने कुरा पनि भएन, त्यसकारण तत्काल हिंसात्मक गतिविधि हुने खतरा टरेको छ । यस सहमतिले पहिलोपटक माओवादी सेनालाई मान्यता दिएको छ । ...... साउन १६ गते एमालेले पनि त्यस्तै तीन सूत्रीय खाका प्रस्तुत गर्‍यो, जसमा पहिलो चरणमा माओवादी सेनालाई दर्ता र प्रमाणीकरण गरी तोकिएका शिविरमा राखिनुपर्ने, दोस्रो चरणमा हतियार र सेनालाई अलग पार्ने तथा हातहतियार संयुक्त राष्ट्रसङ्घको निगरानीमा ताल्चा मारेर राख्नुपर्ने र अन्तिम चरणमा माओवादी सेनालाई एकीकृत गरनिुपर्ने उल्लेख थियो । ....... दिनानाथ शर्मा भन्छन्, "संसद् विघटनको मुद्दा केन्द्रीय प्रश्न थियो, त्यसलाई विषयान्तर गर्न राष्ट्रसङ्घ आयो । पछि त हतियारकै मुद्दा मुख्य रूपमा उठाइयो । जबसम्म राजनीतिक समस् यालाई केन्द्रविन्दु मानिँदैन, तबसम्म्ा दिगो हतियार व्यवस् थापन हुँदैन ।" ..... यस्तै अवधारणा माओत्सेतुङ्ले ५९ वर्षअघि चीनमा लागू गरेका थिए । सन् १९४७ मा तत्कालीन चिनियाँ शासक च्याङ् काईसेकसँग माओ आफँैले ४५ दिनसम्म वार्ता गरेर जनसेना घटाउनेदेखि आधारइलाका कम गर्नेसम्म सहमति गरे । त्यसबेला राष्ट्रियताको विषयमा जापानी सेनाविरुद्ध चिनियाँ राष्ट्रिय सेना र जनसेना एउटै कमाण्डमा आबद्ध भई लड्ने, जसको नेतृत्व सुपि्रम कमाण्ड च्याङ्काईसेकलाई दिने भन्ने थियो । चीनमा च्याङ्काईसेकको सुपि्रम कमान्डअन्तर्गत सात वर्षसम्म विद्रोही सेना सामेल भएको इतिहास छ । तर, पछि तिनै जनसेना र केही राष्ट्रिय सेनाले विद्रोह गरेर चीनमा जनवादी सत्ता ल्याइयो । यस्तै स्थिति नेपालमा आउनसक्ने आशङ् काले राजनीतिक दलहरूले पछिल्लो अवधारणालाई ठाडै अस्वीकार गरेका हुन् । ......... मिष्टुराको सात सदस्यीय टोलीले साउन १७ गते माओवादी अध्यक्ष प्रचण्ड तथा नेता डा बाबुराम भट्टराईसँग भेट्दा २५ः५० को अनुपातमा हतियार व्यवस्थापन गर्ने प्रयोग विधि अगाडि सारेको थियो । त्यो भन्नुको मतलब, सरकारी सेनाको २५ प्रतिशत हतियार प्रयोगविहीन गर्ने र विद्रोहीको ५० प्रतिशत हतियार निःशस्त्रीकरण गर्ने । तर, यस प्रस्तावलाई माओवादी नेताद्वयले इन्कार गरे । "हतियार व्यवस्थापनको कुरा उठ्दा कसैले २५ र कसैको ५० प्रतिशत निःशस्त्रीकरण गर्ने भन्ने प्रश्नै उठ्दैन, दुवैलाई समान ढङ्गले व्यवहार गरनिुपर्छ," मिष्टुरालाई प्रचण्डले जवाफ दिनुभएको थियो । ...... "राष्ट्रसङ्घले त डिभिजन स्तरका कमाण्ड बनून् भन्ने सुझाव दिएको छ तर त्यो हाम्रो अनुकूलमा खडा हुन्छ, आवश्यकता परेमा बिग्रेडस् तरका पनि क्याम्प बनाउने पनि छलफल चलाएका छौँ ।" .... "त्यस्ता विशेष दस्ताहरू डिभिजनबाटै सञ्चालित भइरहेकाले डिभिजनमा फर्किन्छन् ।" ..... "राष्ट्रियस् तरमै छुट्टाछुट्टै क्याम्प बनाएर सेनाको मान्यता दिएपछि त्यसको भरणपोषण पनि राज्यले गर्नुपर्छ । अनि, मात्र चन्दाजस् ता समस्या निवारण हुन्छन् ।" ....... "आन्दोलनकारी शक्ति बाहिर बसेर संविधानसभामा जाने कुरै हुँदैन । यदि सरकारमा सामेल नगराई जबर्जस्ती संविधानसभाको निर्वाचन गर्न खोजियो भने अर्को विद्रोह हुन्छ ।" ...... राष्ट्रसङ्घको सहभागितामा अफगानिस्तानका ५९ हजार विद्रोही सेना शान्ति प्रक्रियामा सामेल भएको थियो । ...... राष्ट्रसङ्घकै अग्रसरतामा मलायाका विद्रोहीको हतियार नष्ट गरएिको, कङ्गोमा विद्रोहीलाई राष्ट्रिय सेनामा समावेश गरेर त्यहाँ प्रजातान्त्रिक चुनाव सम्पन्न गराएको, उत्तरी आयरल्याण्डमा विद्रोहीका हतियारलाई ताल्चा लगाएर सरकारमा सामेल गराएको, सियरालियोनमा छुट्टै फौज खटाइएको अनुभव छ । ...... "विद्रोहीको हतियार नष्ट पार्नु भनेको हात काटेर फालेजस्तै हो । त्यसैले राष्ट्रसङ्घले यहाँ आएर हतियार जम्मा पार्नेभन्दा पनि कसको सेनाले कस्तो भूमिका खेलेको छ भनेर पर्यवेक्षण मात्रै गर्ने हो ।" ..... माओवादीको दीर्घकालीन योजना भनेकै राष्ट्रिय सेनामा समाहित हुने हो । ...... साउन २४ गते अध्यक्ष प्रचण्ड र डा बाबुराम भट्टराईसँगको भेटमा प्रधानमन्त्री कोइरालाले डा भट्टराईको अभिव्यक्तिले आफू अपमानित भएको गुनासो गर्दै, 'मलाई त्यसरी अपमानित गर्न हुन्छ ?' भन्ने प्रश्न गर्नुभएको थियो । तर, माओवादी अध्यक्ष प्रचण्डले प्रधानमन्त्री कोइरालाका विरोधाभाषपूर्ण वक्तव्यहरूका कारण राजनीतिक आशङ्काहरू उत्पन्न भएको बताउनुभएपछि प्रधानमन्त्री कोइराला शान्त हुनुभएको थियो । सूत्रहरूका अनुसार, प्रधानमन्त्री कोइरालाले माओवादी नेताहरूसँग राजतन्त्रका बारेमा आफ्ना धारणाहरू जेजस्ता भए पनि संविधानसभामार्फत जनताले दिने निर्णय आफ्ना लागि मान्य हुने बताउनुभएको थियो । .... प्रधानमन्त्री कोइरालाको स्वास्थ्यमा सुधारको अर्थ शान्ति प्रक्रियामा बढी गतिशीलता आउनु पनि हो ।
ठेक्कापट्टामा माओवादी
खाँचो दीर्घकालीन एकीकरणको
एमालेमा सरकारको आलोचना
ँम कोइरालाको फलोअर नै हो’
छोरा खोज्न जेनेभासम्म
एकीकरणबिना समाधान हुँदैन'
घाइते आन्दोलनकारी आजदेखि विरोधमा
ँवार्ता भाँड्न पार्टीभित्रै सक्रिय’
'बार्ताबाट निकास'
सेना पुनर्संरचनाबारे बिर्सिएको आयाम

Attack Pak, B’desh, enter Nepal: Rajnath Mumbai Mirror, India
'Nepal's top Maoist leaders are in India' Times of India, India The Maoist leaders could meet a senior party leader Mohan Vaidya, who is currently imprisoned in Siliguri.... India is widely perceived as having brokered an agreement between the Maoists and the opposition parties, resulting in a united movement against the king that forced him to step down this year.

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14 August