Koirala Is Out: Expect Some Action

Girija Koirala is out. But none of the news items carry any statement from him. Yet. But the elder statesman is known to speak his mind. So I am expecting some action. I would think he is consulting with his colleagues.

I sense it that the king is slowly loosening his grip. It will be to his credit if he follows the constitution and lifts the emergency by the end of the month. A 3-month limit is specified in the constitution. Only a parliament can extend it, and the country has no parliament.

When India - the world's "office" - and China - the world's "factory" - are contemplating a free trade area between the two, Nepal's sorry state is even more glaring by comparison. The political paralysis engineered by a reluctance to go for a Constituent Assembly prevents the nation from focusing on the economy, like China, like India.

In The News

• Nepal lifts ex-PM Koirala's house arrest Times of India
• Nepal ex-PM Koirala, others freed Indian Express ... Kishor S. Rathore, president of the Nepal Students Union—affiliated to NC-Democratic—was also among those freed.
  
• Nepal Lifts Politician's House Arrest ABC News
• Koirala freed to calm India Calcutta Telegraph, India In an attempt to placate the international community including India, the US and Britain, King Gyanendra’s government today released former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala from house arrest after a two-month detention...... the “Grand Old Man” of Nepali politics ...... 82-year-old ...... Prime Minister on four different occasions ..... he is expected to spearhead the movement for the restoration of multi-party democracy for the second time in two decades ...... Bush administration had promised to deliver a large cache of small arms and ammunition in May ..... two weeks after former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was freed ..... Indian embassy had been tipped off about the release earlier in the day ......embassy issued a statement saying that it hoped today’s development would lead to the immediate release of Communist Party (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and other detained political leaders and workers, human rights activists, student leaders and journalists ...... In a statement, Nepali Congress leader Bipin Koirala said
• China defies world to support embattled Nepal king Reuters AlertNet "The international community should respect the choice made by the Nepali people" .... "We support the king and the government of Nepal to ensure national stability and reconciliation and for economic development" ..... Kathmandu, home to 1.5 million people, had stocks of fuel and food supplies to last more than a month.
• Li appreciates Nepal’s one China policy Gorkhapatra, Nepal .... thanked His Majesty the King and the government of Nepal for the “continued support for China’s reunification cause for the motherland.” .... Li said he was happy about the audience he received from His Majesty the King..... taking advantage of development of China’s western region and train service to Lhasa by 2006.”
• Security alert in Nepal ahead of nationwide strike Ireland Online, Ireland .... government hoped to foil the strike .... “We have a heavy presence along the major highways. There is no way they can disrupt the traffic” ....
  
• UNICEF appeals for fear to be banished from Nepal’s classrooms I-Newswire.com (press release) The start of the new school year in Nepal should be a time for all parties involved in the conflict to ensure that violence and fear stay out of the classroom ..... Schools, teachers and students have been a key casualty of the last nine years of the conflict ..... “Older children are much better able to pick up where they left off if their education is disrupted. Younger children have to start again with this difficult business of learning to read, write and count. Too many disruptions and it just gets too hard.”
• Bangladesh, Nepal among world's leading disaster hot spots Express Newsline A new study conducted by researchers at Columbia University in New York suggests that Bangladesh, Nepal are some of the world's most vulnerable countries as far as natural disasters are concerned..... implement a preventive, rather than reactive, approach to disasters
  
• India asks Nepal to remove all curbs on civil liberties Press Trust of India, India ....
• Nepal Monarchy showing signs of weakness in the middle of drifting ... India Daily, NJ ....showing signs of weakness in the middle of drifting foreign policy ..... Dahkal also said opposition parties "should stop" secretly associating with Maoist rebels, and said that the Nepalese government could lift restrictions on freedom of the press if the media does not encourage terrorist activities..... The King and his monarchy is following a directionless foreign policy with little support from the world except non-democratic power centers like Pakistan and China...... The political parties are spectators watching slow destruction of their country.
• A strange anti-India coalition – China, Pakistan, Nepal ... India Daily Hundreds of Nepalese journalists defied a government ban on protests and demanded restoration of press freedoms in Nepal. Police closely monitored the protesters but, unlike previous protests, did not disperse them or arrest anyone involved.
  
• Nepal deploys troops to block fresh bid by Maoist Daily Times, Pakistan Violence in the valley, where bombings were an almost daily occurrence last year, has virtually halted since King Gyanendra seized total power on February 1...... a statement urging the masses “to create a storm of action in favour of full democracy and against autocracy.” ..... although bloodshed has subsided, it was not clear if the rebels were wounded or preparing a major assault, the general admitted. “We have been expecting a big attack somewhere,” he said. “They have the initiative to chose a place and time ... They have been collecting weapons.” ..... The army has grown from 45,000 troops in 2001 to 80,000 today, facing what the spokesman estimated to be 6,000-8,000 well-armed combatants and a militia of 20,000-25,000 equipped usually with homemade weapons..... insurgency has since 1996 claimed more than 11,000 lives — about two-thirds of them Maoists, according to the army .....
• From The Ringside In Geneva .... the situation cannot be improved without serious intervention by the international community ..... A military solution is not possible .... democracy is the only option to improve the situation .... Royal takeover is illegal .... International intervention will work to prosecute every CDO and army officer who is involved to violate the rights of people in Nepal. He further said that international community should restrict the government of Nepal and its official to travel any part of the world...... Diwaker Panta, Director of HR Promotion Centre, said that this government is legal and that the government has provided for a budget for the NHRC...... the constitution does not permit the formation of such a type of government, which violates the jurisprudence of constitutional monarchy .....
  
• Forces Of Democracy And Peace Are Winning Mathura P. Shrestha ...... corner meetings, public agitations, lectures, interaction programs, debates, discussions in families and communities, campaigning by graffiti writings, pamphlets, posters, placards and flags ..... People who are enslaved by feudal autocracy for centuries and who are denied of their rights have nothing to loose except their chains and virtual slavery. They have however to rebel...... The so called military discipline in Nepal is based upon and dominated by slave mentality. The senior officers, commanders treat their subordinates as slaves .... Same advice goes to the Maoist military personnel who commit atrocities against the provisions of international humanitarian laws. Both categories should remember the likelihood being referred to International Court of Justice as War Crime Suspects in future...... Nepali Congress ....dissolving its liberation army in 1941... compromised with the palace by forsaking its objective of Constitutional Assembly during 1957 political agitation ..... Its armed revolution of 1962 was withdrawn because of Chino-Indian War ...... The revolution was waged for the republican democracy. ... Communist Party of Nepal - UML ..... The party stopped collecting monthly revenue or fees or donations from about a quarter of million of their cadres that amounted to only one or two rupees per head per month....... lost a large financial base to depend upon large financial houses and rich gentries ...... so called elected governments including the interim one .... became virtual stooges to palace gentries in order to strike ‘non-confronting compromises’ with the monarchy ....
• Violence Precedes Nepal Nationwide Strike Scotsman, UK ... Businesses were closed in most areas of the Himalayan kingdom because of the strike ..... a series of blasts at government buildings and a marketplace ...... Many of Nepal’s roads and highways were deserted because of the strike ..... Security forces were on alert and highway patrols were stepped up in a bid to foil the strike....
  
• One killed in Nepal blasts ahead of rebel strike Reuters AlertNet, UK ....a string of bomb blasts in west Nepal .... "The blasts were apparently aimed at scaring people to enforce the strike." .... Maoists have urged factories, businesses and schools to shut down during the strike .... about 200 cars, buses, trucks and oil tankers bound for Kathmandu and the tourist town of Pokhara were waiting in the southern town of Aaptari on Saturday for army escorts ...... people generally heed the call of the rebels
• Divisions among Nepal's Maoists Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Nepal's Maoist movement has grown so fast that it is now a proud citation for revolutionaries around the world..... the communists who until the 1980s ruled one-fourth of humanity.... Nepal's Maoists stand at a crossroads ......Bhattarai, who holds a doctorate in engineering and remains the intellectual force behind one of the most potent Maoist movements in the world, is said to be unhappy with Prachanda's alleged megalomania. Followers of the party boss Prachanda believe he has given an entirely new meaning to the Maoist revolution and hence his brand of Maoism, Prachanda Path, puts him alongside such giants of the international communist movement as Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong....... The Maoists have indiscriminately torched transport vehicles that have defied their shutdowns, forcibly recruited thousands of children in their ranks as soldiers and levied parallel taxes from teachers to businesses ....... Maoist workers were aware of the "differences in the party and actions have been taken against the dissidents at various levels". ...... "Prachanda will do all he can at damage control, in the event that Bhattarai has actually been expelled from the party."
• BP’s son Prakash Koirala hails Royal move Gorkhapatra, Nepal said Prakash Koirala, the central member of Nepali Congress. “Setting aside the truth and reality of what the Nepalese people want, the foreign media have been trying to mislead the people against which we all need to remain cautious.”..... He said that he was following the footsteps of his father late B.P. Koirala who had firm belief on constitutional monarchy ......“I had also raised voice in support of a government led by late Manamohan Adhikari and I had said that the government should be allowed to complete its full five year tenure.” ...... “All forces should isolate the terrorists and there is no possibility of joint works between the Maoists and other parties.” ......“If all people set their personal interests aside and support the Royal move, peace and order will be restored earlier than three years.”
• Eight killed, 20 injured in Nepal violence OregonLive.com, OR

The Monarchists, Not The Maoists, Are Like The Al Qaeda

In Iraq, the Al Qaeda did everything in its powers to disrupt the elections to that country's Constituent Assembly held early this year. They failed, and rightly so. In Nepal, the Monarchists are doing everything in their powers to deny Nepal its elections to a Constituent Assembly. And these Nepali Monarchists are succeeding. So the Nepali Monarchists are the Nepali Al Qaeda, only much more vicious and entrenched.

In The News

• China aims to boost ties with isolated Nepal Reuters AlertNet, UK ....by turning down Nepal's request for a visit by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, China had also shown it did not want to antagonise India, which has condemned the king's actions and urged democracy be restored ...... royal government was reaching out to China and Pakistan to show that it was not isolated ..... expected to invite Gyanendra to visit China ..... Political parties have vowed to launch a nationwide protests against the monarch on April 8, the anniversary of the establishment of multi-party democracy in 1990...... Islamabad would consider supplying arms to Nepal if Kathmandu were to make a formal request
• China minister in key Nepal visit BBC News ... the Nepalese authorities are attaching a lot of importance to the visit ..... Mr Li's visit follows trips by junior ministers from Pakistan and Cuba..... Pokhara, a police officer died from bullet injuries after being shot
  
• Barun Roy: Nobody gains from a weak Nepal Business Standard, India Foreign tourists, who, like non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are the mainstay of the Nepalese economy, are staying away from the country for now...... My flight to Kathmandu from Kolkata was two-thirds empty. At the height of the tourist season, Soaltee is reporting no more than 25 per cent occupancy. Hoteliers at the Chitwan National Park have started laying off staff. Wood carvers and tankha painters of Bhaktapur say they seldom had it so bad........ The political oligarchs totally misused the opportunity that was given them, doing nothing but consolidating their individual wealth....... there hasn’t been a single case of bombing in the valley in the two months that the King has been in absolute power ...... If the pollution in the valley is brought under control and roads, water supplies, electricity, and health services in the interiors are developed to acceptable standards, it can be an attractive nursery for many industries and services, software being one of them. The retirement industry can be another, given the degree of sympathy that a lot of outsiders — Americans, Japanese, Europeans, even Indians — have for this lovely country........ What the country needs is real money for real investments, and that can come only from the global private sector, provided the policies and inducements are right.
• LOSING KATHMANDU Calcutta Telegraph .... crisis is a product of deep-seated structural issues in Nepalese society ...... Gyanendra, whose paranoia makes them immune to both the interests of their own people and international pressure ...... a result of our encasing Nepal in a relationship of subordination ..... matters from building hydro projects to roads required India’s tacit approval. Even though we were in many ways a benign power, we were ultimately paternalist. The overall structure of the relationship lent itself to creating a politics of resentment in Nepal. And this relationship was driven by our conception of security, not by the imperatives of development in Nepal......... the king’s policies had little to do with effectively dealing with the Maoists. As reprehensible as their methods are, they draw upon legitimate grievances and are a viable political movement. Indeed, the present conjuncture is a unique opportunity to bring many of them into the political mainstream. Some of the Maoists realize that their long-term goals require them to gain broader political legitimacy. Democracy itself can be a path to power. The Maoists have, for the first time, allowed regular political parties to operate in areas under their control...... the Indian government is not doing enough to establish political links with the Maoists. A great failing of our policy is that we often let the intelligence establishment define our political objectives........ Now that there is an opportunity for them to be part of the political dialogue, we want someone to destroy them. ...... The king .. apparently believes that India and the United States of America will not put maximum pressure for fear of sending him closer to China....even our ambassador can be sent away without an audience. ........ impress upon the king that now is his last opportunity ...... a groundswell of republicanism inside Nepal ...... The international community will have to think of a decent exit strategy for the king ...... What India needs in the Nepal crisis is deep links with the important actors, the Royal Nepal Army, the Maoists and others. Foreign offices are not good at cultivating these links....... in the past we have attenuated Nepal’s sovereignty based on our security concerns. Now we should perform a constructive role in maintaining democracy in Nepal....... It is about time that Nepalese society writes a constitution for itself, rather than being handed one by the king....
  
• Bangladesh, Nepal among world’s leading disaster hot spots New Kerala, India
• India, Nepal discuss bilateral issues Economic Times, India Nepal ... continues to receive economic assistance from India.
• Nepal General Strike Protests King's Power Grab Scotland on Sunday, UK Streets were largely deserted ..... The strike today comes two days ahead of an 11-day nationwide strike ..... Biratnagar... factories remained closed and streets deserted today ... Business and schools also remained closed .....security forces were escorting some vehicles along local highways but only a few were willing to take the risk..... Eastern Nepal has two key border points with India, which hundreds of trucks use daily to deliver goods between the two nations. There was no traffic movement on either border points
• Nepal’s political parties to step up protests Daily Times The demonstrations on April 8 will coincide with an 11-day general strike starting Saturday that Maoist rebels called ....... We are working on strategies to be bring out the mass protest next week. It will be joint rallies organised by the five major political parties ..... the protests haven’t gained momentum because their top leaders are either in detention, exile or hiding
  
• Chinese foreign minister arrives in Nepal Xinhua, China "I believe my visit will help to further promote friendship and mutual understanding of our two peoples." ..... visit is on the eve of the golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nepal
• China is Nepal's reliable friend: Nepali King Xinhua, China "Nepal firmly supports the one-China policy of your government and will never allow any anti-China activities in Nepal's territory" .....
  
• India expects China will give "right" advice to Nepal Press Trust of India, India "I expressed the hope that China as a good friend of Nepal will give the right kind of advice to the Nepalese," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran ..... Saran, who called on Li here today prior to his departure for Nepal .... Li said that just as India is very much concerned about instability in Nepal, so is China. .... The Chinese Foreign Minister, who recalled that Saran had been earlier India's Ambassador to Nepal, asked for India's assessment of the situation in Nepal...... "I said that the steps taken by His Majesty, the King has not led to either an improvement in the security situation in the country nor had led to any economic recovery in the country. In fact, our sense is that in both these areas, the situation has become somewhat worse", Saran said.

King Gyanendra: A Profile

A Profile

"The days of royalty being seen and not heard are over," he says. "And the monarchy is not going to allow anyone to usurp the fundamental rights of the people. All I'm saying is stop saying 'me.' Say 'us.' Stop saying 'party.' Say 'people.'"

I think this statement from King G sums it up. Stop saying party, say people. I guess the guy is the ultimate Panche. Political leaders in a democracy are, by definition, going to disagree and disagree a lot. He finds that offensive. It is the mindset of an aristocrat, an autocrat. His gameplan is to stay, and to stay a little more. If he gets his three years - not likely - he will bring in a Musharraf democracy. Elections will be held, but the drama will be just his way of "hiring" a new face, to be dismissed at whim.

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyanendra_Bir_Bikram_Shah_Dev
2. TIMEasia Magazine: King Gyanendra: Extended Interview
3. TIMEasia Magazine: Interview With The King
4. BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Profile: Nepal's King Gyanendra
5. BBC NEWS | South Asia | Nepal king's biggest gamble
6. COVER STORY (Spotlight Weekly)
7. The Agonist | thoughtful, global, timely .... a man who believes in royalty, who believes that from his birth he has been "higher" than other people...After his father died, Gyanendra became a trusted adviser to his brother, King Birendra, but they fell out in 1990. That was when Birendra agreed to give up absolute power and become a constitutional monarch.Gyanendra opposed the constitutional monarchy from the start...So unpopular is Paras that at first Gyanendra did not dare name him as crown prince and heir, but waited until he had been on the throne a few months, and then rushed the announcement out during a holiday ...... In 2000, Paras allegedly killed a popular singer while drunk at the wheel. Half a million Nepalis signed a petition calling for him to be prosecuted......Most of Gyanendra's life has been devoted to preserving the absolute power of the kings of Nepal and, seen in that light, his decision this week to tear up the constitution and reimpose direct rule is not surprising. It was just the latest in a series of efforts to take back the powers his brother gave away in 1990.
8. TIMEasia Magazine: A Kingdom in Chaos January 26, 2004 As his servants take their leave with a series of silent bows, it becomes apparent that King Gyanendra spends much of his time in the company of ghosts..... "It is lonely," says Gyanendra, drawing deeply on a cigarette and flicking ash absently onto a tiger-skin rug. "I miss my brothers and sisters. I am a human being after all." ..... "I left this palace 30 years ago when I got married," says Gyanendra in his measured English. "I never thought I would have to occupy it again. It is difficult, but we do the best we can. It's people that change a house into a home, and that's what we've been trying to do." ..... Beset by enemies from within and without, with government control outside of the capital slipping away, Gyanendra alone rules a country that foreign diplomats and many Nepalese believe is verging on anarchy........ the Maoist uprising is currently the deadliest conflict in Asia ... also the most brutal. ...... crowds of Maoists would watch their leaders break every bone in a "class enemy's" body, then skin him and cut off his ears, lips, tongue and nose, before sawing the body in half or burning it ........ the "almost identical pattern" of such atrocities suggested this was "a policy coordinated at senior command levels." ...... the countryside, the majority of which is under the control of neither the Maoists nor the army ....... since 1996, Maoists have destroyed 1,321 village administration buildings and 440 post offices, while police have abandoned 895 stations and teachers have abandoned 700 schools...... "The smell of burning tires on the streets of the capital reeks of democracy in decay," writes Nepali Times commentator C.K. Lal. ....... Gyanendra says he will relinquish power and reinstate Parliament only if the parties unite to pull Nepal back from the abyss ...... in April 2003 the Maoists released a manifesto expressly welcoming "citizens of any foreign nation who were compelled to leave [their home countries] due to their involvement in revolutionary activities." ...... "The future of Nepal, yes, lies in constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy," he says. But he refuses to leave governance solely to them. "The days of royalty being seen and not heard are over," he says. "And the monarchy is not going to allow anyone to usurp the fundamental rights of the people. All I'm saying is stop saying 'me.' Say 'us.' Stop saying 'party.' Say 'people.'" ....... "He's an ambitious man," says sacked Prime Minister Deuba. "He just wants power." ...... "If some people do not understand me, if there is mistrust and a crisis of confidence, let's do something about it." ...... Gyanendra admits that he has reservations about the need to be known and demystified ...... "There is a human face to every King," he says, "but that does not mean he has to flaunt it." Asked about his sense of isolation, he grows defensive. "What makes you think I don't have friends?" he asks. But one such friend, Prabhakar Shunshere Rana, says that, for a King, relatives are the only true confidants. "You can have friends, advisers, all the experts you want," says Rana. "But without family, without brothers and sisters, monarchy is a very lonely place. The late King used to consult with Gyanendra all the time. If you look at Gyanendra now, he's really on his own." ........ Gyanendra says he still dreams of a time when "all of Nepal should have the opportunity to progress irrespective of color, caste and creed." He adds, "If the people are happy, the King is happy."
9. King Gyanendra: The absolute monarch :: KuraKani.tK :: Dedicated ... He was in favor of absolute monarchy since he was a kid. He was angry at his brother and late king Birendra for accepting to be a constitutional monarch....... Most of Gyanendra's life has been devoted to preserving the mystique and power of royalty. He even played a small part in the drama of Britain's own royal family. When Prince Charles came to Nepal in the late 1970s for some space to think about whether he should marry a young blonde called Lady Diana Spencer, it was Prince Gyanendra who took the English prince under his wing, playing host and devising the "royal trek", a route below Machhapuchhre mountain where Charles walked and meditated on his decision....... after those tumultuous events of his boyhood, Gyanendra had to learn to play the part of the dutiful younger brother. He developed his own business interests: a hotel in Kathmandu, a tea estate in eastern Nepal, and a cigarette factory. He also became a leading conservationist........ After his father died, Gyanendra became a trusted adviser to his brother, King Birendra, but they fell out in 1990. That was when Birendra agreed to give up absolute power and become a constitutional monarch.Gyanendra opposed the constitutional monarchy from the start....... Gyanendra might well get away with his gamble - but for the Maoists. He may have seized absolute power, but it extends only over Kathmandu and a few government-controlled towns outside the capital. ...... The front line is just 20 miles from Kathmandu. Across it, you are no longer in Gyanendra's Nepal, but in the Maoists' Nepal.

News Clips March 27,29,30

March 30

• Royal scandal rocks Nepal Times of India, India Princess Helen, aunt by marriage of reigning King Gyanendra, was given Nepalese Rs.12 million last year from the Prime Minister's Welfare Fund, meant only for the poorest of the poor...... Princess Helen has stakes in the five-star Hotel de l'Annapurna in Kathmandu and a luxury resort in western Pokhara city, Fishtail Lodge ...... The request for allocating the sum to her is said to have come from the palace, possibly from King Gyanendra himself, during his usual weekly audiences with former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in the Narayanhiti Palace on Thursdays....... Some say Deuba - who was sacked by the king in 2002, re-appointed last year, and then dismissed again after a royal takeover last month - had granted the request hoping to remain on the right side of the King.
• Pakistan offers Nepal $5m trade credit, free trade pact Daily Times, Pakistan
  
• Court martial for Nepal officers BBC News, UK three are accused of involvement in the death of Maina Sunuwar, who was being held in custody in a barracks at Kavrepalanchok

March 29

• Nepal journalists march for freedom New Zealand Herald, New Zealand 200 Nepali journalists defied a ban on protests ....riot police stood guard .... two Maoist rebels stormed set off a crude bomb in the western business town of Butwal .... hundreds of journalists have lost jobs .... many outspoken Web logs, or blogs, have sprung up.
• Nepal arrests 138 anti-king protesters; 3 soldiers killed Peninsula On-line dragged away by security forces and loaded into police vans .... Maoist rebels killed three soldiers in eastern Nepal after kidnapping them while they were on their way home on leave ..... The three men, who were not carrying any weapons, were attacked with stones, knives and then shot dead in the Maoist stronghold of Ramechhap ..... The guerrillas have vowed to step up attacks on government forces
  
• Absolute monarchy to absolute democracy Asia Times Online In order to stop a complete unraveling of the Nepali future, political parties backed by civil society must wrest the state back from the palace and military administration.... the regime change conducted by King Gyanendra was an attempt to bring back authoritarian rule on the pretext of tackling the Maoist insurgency ...... The democratic state is more than capable of confronting the insurgency, as long as the palace and army do not play spoilsport. ..... King Gyanendra's takeover has its origins in a 1960 deep freeze that does not countenance the current socio-political reality ...... it is clear that the royal proclamation was not a knee-jerk action but something thought of months in advance with the help of willing military commanders ..... the longer term plan would be to do away with the 1990 constitution and develop another document which redirects substantial power back to the monarchy. ..... Thereafter, an election would be conducted where a conservative force is made to emerge in order to sabotage the secular system of parliamentary governance...... Gyanendra would be attempting to bring back "guided democracy" .....sycophants and quislings from the early Panchayat era are emerging from the slurry ..... through an interim government put in place at the initiative of the political parties, with or without the palace in agreement. ..... Article 27 (3) of the 1990 constitution, which enjoins the monarch to "preserve and protect" that supreme law, has been used instead to destroy the letter and spirit of that document. ..... clandestine rebel radio broadcasts now fill the resulting vacuum with their vicious propaganda. ...... the advances achieved by print and electronic media over a dozen years of unfettered freedom are being rapidly eroded, and the domino effect on society and economy will be significant ..... The Nepali army can only evolve into a disciplined and professional fighting force if it is kept out of public affairs and brought within full control of parliament...... shifted the attention of the state apparatus from counter-insurgency to the suppression of democratic institutions ...... a means to cynically rally support for an active monarchy. What the king detested were obviously not the individual political personalities, but the very process of pluralism they represented. ....... made difficult by timid leadership, inter-party wrangling as well as confusion over priorities at this instance - whether to go for an all-out fight for the republic or save the rights guaranteed by the 1990 constitution first ...... a future constitutional monarchy can only be ceremonial, without even the residuary powers he prefers to read into the 1990 constitution ...... willful misinterpretation of its various provisions - such as Article 27 on protecting the constitution, or Article 127 on removing "impediments" in its implementation ....... the royal move has accelerated state-weakening trends set in motion by the rebellion ...... development activity is at standstill ...... New Delhi is now more a player in Nepali affairs than at any time in the past five decades. ...... the police force sidelined and sullen ...... The continuous need to raise money through extortion, the lowered motivation of fighters unable to make spectacular attacks on army and police garrisons, and the loss of political control over increasingly militarized cadre are other reasons that the Maobadi are likely over time to collapse under the weight of their own contradictions. ....... unless there is an unprecedented collapse of the insurgency unrelated to the royal takeover, the population is in for a long haul ....... the extended period required for a victory-through-arms will simply entrench the military ....... it is unrealistic to expect more support than this from the outside. The battle for restoration of democracy must now gather steam within Nepal...... Since an extended royal rule is obviously not a possibility, one can make out the contours of a royal plan to build a new political terrain where pro-palace political forces are made to emerge. Loyal royalists would be nurtured so as to support monarchical activism well into the future......... the royalist and Maobadi mind sets are not variables that one can rely on ...... chart an independent course. Only the political parties of the suspended third parliament ..... referendum, election-to-parliament, election-to-constituent assembly, or a roundtable conference of all concerned parties, including the rebels. ....... ensuring the RNA's allegiance to civilian government; instituting a restrictive definition of constitutional monarchy that defines a ceremonial role for the king; removing the "Hindu" appellation from the description of the state; and transitioning to a federal system of governancean interim government under the aegis of the mainstream political parties ..... the political parties must present the palace with a fait accompli in the form of a fully-formed interim government .......If King Gyanendra will not loosen his grip on the state, the state will have to pry it from him.
  ........
• Nepal - Nursing the Pinion .... the policies of those three governments vis-à-vis the ongoing civil war in the Himalayan nation must share considerable blame for the present crisis ...... More than 12,000 U.S. M-16s, 5,000 Belgium FLN sub-machine guns, and some 20,000 rifles from India have filled the arms coffers of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) since 2001. Britain has added helicopters armed with machine guns and rockets. The size of the RNA has grown from 50,000 to 73,000 and is due to reach 80,000 next year. If one counts the police, Royalist forces now number 138,000. While the insurgent forces are small--4,000 core soldiers and about 15,000 supporters--virtually no independent observers believe the central government can defeat them, because the roots of the war are in the social and economic poverty of the nation..... the majority of deaths have come at the hands of government forces ...... Back in early December, The Economist was predicting a coup and provided a virtual blueprint for what happened on Feb. 1. Citing the arming and training of the RNA by India and the U.S., the editors wrote: This (the foreign military aid) helps contain the Maoist threat. But it also bolsters those in the king's camp who think that a military victory is possible and might be easier if the trappings of democracy were jettisoned. The information minister, seen as the king's man in the cabinet, has dropped hints of a more 'authoritarian' government. Many human-rights activists and politicians in Kathmandu expect the king and the army to assume more direct power and, blaming the war, suspend many civil liberties. ....... a statement made last year by former U.S. Ambassador Michael Malinowski that the CPNM "literally have to be bent back to the table." The Bush administration sees the Nepal insurgency as another domino in its international war on terrorism, arguing that the country could become a "failed state" and hence a haven for terrorists. The CPNM has been placed on the State Department's "Watch List," along with Al-Qaida, Abu Sayyaf, and Hezbollah....... there are suspicions in the region that American involvement is also part of an overall U.S. plan to ring China ...... India has stepped up counter-insurgency operations against what it calls "Naxalites" (India's term for Maoist or communist insurgents) in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh....... the groups don't share a common ideology, political program, or even goals ....... India recently arrested Mohan Vaidya in Darjeeling, West Bengal , the number three person in the CPNM ...... The Maoists have even been building fortified trenches on the border to repel such an invasion, although it is a very unlikely scenario....... Some Scandinavian nations have already proposed UN intervention ..... It is a step the Maoists favor, but which the U.S. and the Indians oppose. The former do so because of the Bush administration's reflexive hostility to the world body; the Indians because they fear external mediation might be used to address their own insurgent movements and the ongoing crisis in Kashmir ....... These countries have intervened in Nepal 's civil war for reasons having to do with their own internal affairs, foreign policy strategies, and political ideologies, not because any of them are overly concerned with the welfare of the Nepalese.
• Pakistan team in Nepal for talks on arms and aid Times of India Pakistan is emerging as one of the royal regime's closest allies ....Pakistan had pledged $5 million in economic aid to Nepal in soft credits and loans
  
• Nepal-Pakistan business talks after 10 yrs Khalsa News Network
• Journalists Rally in Nepal to End Censorship Voice of America
• Nepal: The King’s Gambit World Press Review The royal government has reacted with defiance saying that Nepal doesn’t need help and can go it alone. Ministers have expressed outrage that the international community is not helping in its fight against “terrorism.” “America has one standard for itself in its fight against terror and another for the rest; India coddles Bhutan’s autocrat king but lectures us on democracy.” King Gyanendra is gambling that given the choice between himself and the Maoists, the international community will ultimately have no choice but to support him. The question is: who will blink first? But two months on, if there have been any major victories against the Maoists, the army is not boasting about them. In fact the security forces have been busy putting down pro-democracy demonstrations by political parties, keeping politicians in detention, enforcing censorship, and intimidating the media. .... very few people support either republicanism or absolute monarchy, and most want the king to remain a constitutional monarch ...... In a meeting with the American ambassador last month, the king is said to have asked for 100 days to lift the emergency. His time is nearly up. ..... The king has opened himself up on three fronts with his takeover: the Maoists, the political parties, and the international community...... It is doubtful that China will jeopardize its growing economic ties and geopolitical rapprochement with India and play tug-o-war over Nepal.....
  
• Nepalese police break up anti-king demonstrations Baltimore Sun They arrived in a public bus and quickly pulled out party flags and chanted anti-government slogans, surprising police and blocking traffic for a few minute .... the first time since King Gyanendra's Feb. 1 takeover and suspension of civil liberties that protesters have been able to demonstrate so close to the main government offices....
  
• India to double security at Nepal, Bhutan borders Pakistan Times, Pakistan India currently has 25,000 paramilitary members guarding the two borders including provincial police units .... India has hiked the SSB’s annual spending by 47 percent to 5.32 billion rupees (115 million dollars)..... In late 2003 at India’s urging, the Bhutanese army launched an operation to evict separatist rebels, fighting for independence in India’s northeast, from their territory. India honored Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck for his role in evicting the rebels by making him the chief guest at the 2005 Republic Day parade.
• India to double security at Nepal, Bhutan borders to stem rebel ... China Daily Nepal and Pakistan Tuesday started talks for establishing a free trade area (FTA) between the two countries
  
• Nepal, Pakistan start Trade talks Xinhua, China ..to stop the flow of rebels into the country

March 27

• Rein on Indian firm for king kin Calcutta Telegraph Nepal’s decision to prevent an Indian telecom joint venture from getting new subscribers appears to be aimed at helping a close relative of King Gyanendra to get a foothold in the local telecom market..... the Nepalese move appears to be aimed at favouring a close relative of the king, who is to launch his own telecommunication services in the kingdom
• Patrolling along Nepal border to be increased: Patil New Kerala Nepal’s Army has said that it would step up its offensive against the Maoist guerrillas to force them back into peace talks after the coup left the kingdom in its worst ever political turmoil.... Gyanendra’s appointed cabinet has drafted a strategy focusing on corruption and poverty, it has announced no strategy for peace with Maoists
• Nepal's Economy Turns More FragileVoice of America The trekkers are a lifeline for about 75,000 mountain guides and porters, who work for a few months every year in the climbing season ..... Tourism contributes as much as three percent to Nepal's gross domestic product. ..... shrinking foreign aid ..... Foreign donors contribute more than two-thirds of the funds for development activity in the country.... .. poverty has intensified in the past two decades in the country where per-capita income is $230 a year
• Top News ; Maoists kill six in Nepal: Keralanext The guerrillas tortured to death three soldiers of the Royal Nepalese Army after abducting them from a bus bound for eastern Nepal ...... The government had claimed an improvement in the security situation since King Gyanendra assumed absolute power Feb 1
• Kathmandu-Lhasa direct bus services from May 1 Gorkhapatra Sajha Yatayat will be running the bus service from Nepal while a private transport company of Tibet will be doing the same from Tibet. ...... The 840 kilometer long Kathmandu-Lhasa bus travel will take two days while the one-way fare is said to be around 50 to 70 dollars. ...... service to be available nine months a year ..... direct air service between Kathmandu and Lhasa is available for only six months a year ....... bus service is also expected to support promotion of economic tourism in Tibet specially by the Nepali Buddhists
• UN to review Nepal peace mission rolePeninsula On-line, Qatar
• Indian Policy on Nepal in Quandary as China Consolidates TiesSouth Asia Tribune, VA Nepal is considering taking military aid from China and on the other, Indian Naxalites have begun logistic and moral support to Nepalese Maoist rebels ...... effigies of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister were burnt by pro-Gyanendra elements ...... Jyoti Prasad Adhikari, Press and Culture Officer of the Royal Nepal Embassy at New Delhi told the South Asia Tribune: “I can’t say with authority on the issue of military aid from China, but every country has a minimum requirement of security. However, Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Kritinidhi Bista has already commented on it.” ...... Bista had indicated on March 20, 2005 that Nepal might sign a deal with China for the supply of arms and ammunition for the Royal Nepal Army (RNA). ....... “China is a sincere neighbor, which always wanted stability and prosperity in Nepal. China has become a major power to be reckoned with. ....... Soon after India’s stalling of military aid, King Gyanendra closed down two Tibetan refugee camps. He also closed down Dalai Lama’s office in Kathmandu to send positive signals to China. ....... the image of Indian political leaders is gradually being tarnished. The Nepali underground leaders have also failed to form any common platform to spearhead political agitation in Nepal from India....... Due to External Ministry’s failure to form any definite policy and basically pursuing a reactive ‘wait and watch’ policy ...... Naxalites support Maoists, and Indian communists support Pakistani communists ...... India could impose blockade against Nepal if it seeks military aid from China as it did in 1989 when Nepal had imported arms from China ..... in some quarters it is believed that this time China would protect Nepal if India imposes a blockade ...... Former Nepali Prime Minister Marichman Singh has reportedly said that India has been playing foul game with the tiny Himalayan kingdom for a long period and there are thousands of people in Nepal who are on its pay-roll, and these people are being utilized in the anti-Monarchy agitations....... Naxalites are supplying arms to Maoist forces in Nepal ....... 17 battalions have been deployed along the nearly 1,800 kilometers long Indo-Nepal border. In the wake of Naxalites logistic support to Maoists, 32 additional battalions will soon be deployed ....... “Awaam ke paas agar awaami fauj nahin hai to uske paas kuch nahin hai” (If people do not have People’s Army, then they have nothing). ....... Bhattarai is said to be hiding in the Indian State of Bihar. He and his wife Hishila Yami have been expelled from the party over an invitation from King Gyanendra for peace talks........ It is said that Bhattarai is in favor of a dialogue with the Monarchy whereas Prachand is opposing it. In this regard, according to an anonymous source, a Naxalite leader, namely Vibhash Mondal has secretly moved to Nepal to hold talks on this issue.

http://www.blog.com.np/

1. From The Base Camp Of Rebels The village, Pravakar told us, was considered as the ‘base camp’ for Maoists operating in this region ..... There were no ambushes, no armed cadres, no nothing...... the closer of Mobile service (especially the pre-paid one) have a huge impact on Maoist communications and the smooth running of their organization in places like Chitwan .... Maoist sangathan (organizational network and functioning) was “pre-paid sangathan" ..... There are two municipalities and 36 villages in Chitwan where nearly four hundred thousand people live. And not a single village has been unaffected by Maoists...... They come over here in the evening, according to a local who didn’t want to be identified, and go back to jungle in the night..... saw several wall paintings with pro-Maoists and anti-King slogans .... was a new painting on the wall ..... Chitwan is considered as a 76th district of Nepal (where there are 75 districts including Chitwan). “Many people from different parts of country come here and live
2. Walking Through The Gate Of Maoism .... we walked through a newly constructed gate of bamboo sticks wrapped with a red cloth that was full of names of various comrades who were either killed in the war or were in jail ..... “But information about fight taking place definitely comes in to us. That’s not coming in to us these days. So I think there are no fights at all.” Why? ..... A local told me that these days Maoists of all parts of country are gathering in to the eastern region for their conference ..... It seems, without having to fight, cadres are involved in publicity and extortion campaign. It also seems, but not confirmed, that they are campaigning against each others’ camp: Prachanda Vs Baburam.
3. I Report, You Decide, Were They Terrorists? .... families of those boys have now agreed to accept the corpse of students only after authorities agreed in written form that they were in fact killed by shooting but not in fighting as it was claimed earlier by the authorities.
4. Prachanda's Father: "Prachanda has not been a good family man." I saw deep pain and agony burning in to his eyes ...... Mukti Raj goes to a nearby temple daily, spends about four hours in the holy place chanting slokas from Mahabharat and Ramayan, and singing bhajans....... His son, Prachanda, the ‘great’ for some and ’satan’ for others, has been challenging the rulers at Kathmandu, capital of the nation of Nepal, from secret hideouts for the last decade ...... I have heard no news from his ever since he went underground ..... ‘hasn’t contacted’ his home ...... he started the revolution in Nepal in the beginning of 1996 after he buried his mother who died a year earlier from blood cancer ..... Some years later, his wife followed him to live the underground life..... “Raja sabai ka bhale bhayeka chhan .... Khai heru, ke garda rahechhan. Desh ko bhalo hune, janata ko heet hune kaam gare bhane ta thikai ho, natra…” .... younger son of Mukti Raj has become a family man ..... “He is doing well, in the UK. He has been a good boy. I wish he had stayed with me. I am all alone.” ...... He didn’t seem to be supporting or protesting what his son is doing in Nepal. But I could read his eyes that were clearly telling that he wants his son to be successful....... Prachanda’s younger brother is currently doing PhD in forestry in a UK university. ...... Why the dad is so happy with the younger sibling? “He sends money frequently,” dad responded instantly, “and tells me, ‘Spend whatever amount you need for your medical expenses. I am here to take care of you’.” ....... The daddy has only one wish that his younger son was here with him to help in daily routine, to accompany in his lonely life. Mukti Raj has become alone in his life since his wife left this world in 1995...... “My grand daughter (in fact his brothers grand daughter) lives with me,” he said. She works as staff nurse in Bharatpur Medical College, a nearby educational institution. “So,” he continued, “sometime I cook, sometime she cooks.” ...... “Oh..him?” shouted the father with love in his heart, “He has taken everything that belonged to him. He sold them all. Now, nothing is here that belongs to him. He sold his property. This house is registered under his brother’s name.” Well, the dad is really not angry with his son........ “Babu, Party ma foot bhayo bhanchan. Ke ho sachhai? Aba ke hola ta?” ["Son, people say that there has been fraction within the (Maoist) Party. Really? What will happen next?"] ...... 70 year old Mukti Raj hasn’t been well for the last three years. Stomach ach and back problems give him constant pain. He has visited Kathmandu- Teaching Hospital and also to Dr Ashok Baskota, country’s top bone related disease specialists. He was also admitted in a local hospital. No one has been able to cure this man...... Well, at one point, Mukti Raj told about the recent visit of security personals in his house. “A month or so ago,” he said, patting once again on his bare thigh, “they (army) came in my house.” He wasn’t there. They politely requested to allow them to search the hosue. They did their duty and went back. “But they haven’t tortured or misbehaved with me [as you might have thought so],” Mukti Raj said....... emigrated from his original place in Pokhara in 1962 in Shiv Nagar VDC. There, Prachanda was directly admitted on third grade. In Pokhara, Prachanda learned alphabets, according to his daddy, in home. In school in Shiv Nagar, he was promoted from class 3 to 5. He passed SLC in 2nd division and went to Patan Multiple College, Patan. He came back to his hometown for further studies in Agriculture. After finishing intermediate degree, Prachanda briefly taught in a primary shcool in Gurkha district ......
5. Meeting Prachanda's Father ..... happens to be the father of the person who is now shaking Nepal as a whole, and making Nepalese seriously think about their future ..... after 40 minutes the official routine of Curfew starts. Chitwan is not Kathmandu; I came to know this fact today. People here are living strange kind of life. Guys at this cyber cafe just let me enter here for 20 mins to type these words
6. Organizing Arrest-Free Rally Until then the mediapersons didn’t know where the rally was happening ..... after they arrived, around two dozens activists gathered, took out flags from their pockets and starting moving towards Naradevi, west of Bangemuda, chanting pro-democracy slogans ..... The activists rallied in the 200m long road before the leader of it ordered to ‘disperse’ and all the participants took out the flags from sticks, put it into their pockets and disappeared in the various sides

Online Coverage Of The Maoists

I just bumped into a trove of stuff. Looks like our BRB has been getting published widely in the global ultra left circles.

1. Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the Royal Dictatorship and the Need For a Democratic Republic in Nepal
2. Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the Failure of the Peace Talks in Nepal
3. Women’s Leadership and the Revolution in Nepal
4. A Communication from the Revolutionaries in Nepal on the Current (September 2002) Situation in the Civil War
5. Comparisons Between Recent U.S.-Backed Coups: Caracas and Kathmandu by Wayne Madsen
6. Birthpangs of Democracy in Nepal: Commentary from Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
7. The Letter of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the Palace Massacre in Nepal

8. Nepal: Two Futures, Two Roads by Li Onesto

9. Dispatches: Report from the People's War in Nepal

10. People's War In Nepal
11. Photos From The People's War In Nepal
12. Interview with Prachanda

In The News

• FEATURE-Orphans bear brunt of Nepal's brutal war Reuters AlertNet, UK Two-and-a-half years ago, Sinam's mother was shot dead by the Nepali army, allegedly for violating a curfew in the countryside..... Her father became an alcoholic ..... she looks completely lost...... "Children write to us that they are scared they will be abducted, scared they will be beaten or killed, scared that they will be blown up, and too scared to go to school." On a recent trip to the Maoist heartland of Nepal, a Reuters team saw children scarcely more than 10 years old carrying rifles, members of a Maoist village militia. Locals said children as young as 14 or 15 are recruited into the Maoists' frontline fighting force, the "People's Liberation Army"...... The teacher said Maoists came to his school almost every month and took children off for several days of indoctrination. Others are asked to join the militia forces, or to work as porters or messengers..... Maoists plan to introduce their own curriculum, and have already forced rural schools to observe a minute's silence at morning assembly instead of singing the Nepali anthem..... they are asked to pay five percent "tax" to the rebels, except when the Maoists come on a "emergency fundraising" drive -- and ask for an entire month's pay ...... Side by side, victims of the security forces eat, sleep and play with the victims of the Maoist rebels. .... 10-year-old Hira Pariyar. Her father was killed by the police in 1996, just a month after the Maoist revolt began. Her mother married again, and left Hira and her brother Krishna to fend for themselves.
• Nepal-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission meeting on Mar 26 New Kerala, India
• Swiss cut back aid projects in Nepal Swissinfo, Switzerland "We are working in an environment which is partially unreal, as what we read and see in the capital Kathmandu is very different from the information we are getting from the field" ...... I think the picture you get abroad is probably more accurate than the one we get in Nepal ..... "The picture we get in Kathmandu is a rosy one that does not correspond with the reality of escalating conflict and increased insecurity." ..... 73 per cent think the conflict between government forces and Maoists could be resolved through talks .... people in the countryside were defenceless ...... During the nine years of insurgency there has not been a single incident in which a tourist was attacked......
  
• Nepalese Parliamentary Parties Back Maoist Call For Constituent ... Indymedia Ireland The wildcard in Nepal's civil war has been the marginalized parliamentary parties centered in the capital city. .... victims of the army's rapes and abuse ...... the Maoists have galvanized the lower classes, particularly the desperately poor peasants, into a cohesive fighting force that cannot be defeated by the monarchy...... U.S. ambassador James Moriarty told the BBC that failure to bring the "mainstream" parties back into alliance with the monarchy could result in victory for the Maoist rebels....... The Congress Party, UML and the other main "legal" parties declared in a March 16 New Delhi meeting that "This will be our last fight with the king. There will be no more compromise." They have accepted the Community Party of Nepal's main demands for an end to the monarchy, the establishment of a republic and the calling of Nepal's first constituent assembly...... Li Onesto, a journalist with the Chicago-based Revolutionary Worker, trekked into the heights of the Himalayas to meet with the rebels in their base areas, mass organizations and scored a unique interview with the CPN's leader Prachanda. Her recent book Dispatches From the People's War in Nepal ..... Her portraits of common people in struggle and their inspiring belief that they can remake the world against centuries of oppression is a tonic to the lowered expectations and defeatism afflicting much of the post-everything left.
  
• Soldiers kill three students in Nepal: report New Kerala, India Nepalese soldiers in plain clothes shot dead three students seeking donations ahead of a Hindu festival and then tried to allegedly cover up the triple murder..... Narayan Bahadur Kanaugee, 17, Tek Bahadur Gaha, 15, and Dal Bahadur Darlami, 15 ..... According to a statement issued by the army headquarters in Kathmandu, the teens were terrorists extorting money from passenger and car drivers. ..... relatives of the students took out their bodies from the graves in which the soldiers had buried them, two of them still in school uniform, and took them to a hospital at Tansen town for autopsy...... The killings were reported in details only Sunday by a web site, United We Blog.
• Nepalese soldier arrested for murder New Kerala The soldier was under the influence of liquor when the incident occurred
  
• Let exams be unhindered, UN to forces, Maoists New Kerala over 300,000 Nepalese teenagers ...... Schools have fallen victim to the conflict (between the communist guerrillas and security forces). They have been used for political purposes and as barracks. They have been attacked, destroyed and their grounds mined and dug with trenches....... Maoists have threatened to disrupt examinations if their demand that the government open more examination centres in remote towns and villages was not met. .... House owners are reluctant to take in young people from areas known as Maoist strongholds for fear that they might have guerrilla links and invite the wrath of the army...... In the past, there have been several instances of the guerrillas and the security forces clashing on school premises, causing the death of students in the crossfire.
  
• Govt-Maoist word war hits a new peak Times of India ....independent journalists who have contacts with the Maoists say there are some differences in the leadership but not to the extent as propagated by the RNA ..... Some Maoists have told me that Bhattarai and Prachanda do have their differences
  
• UN to review Nepal role in peace missions? New Kerala, India .... Nepalese soldiers deployed on UN peacekeeping operations were involved in sexual abuse in Congo .... the government of the kingdom of Nepal is a generous contributor of troops and civilian police to UN peacekeeping operations ..... peacekeepers in Congo persuaded abandoned orphans to consent to sexual encounters by offering gifts as trivial as two eggs ..... Nepal has about 3,000 military personnel engaged in several UN missions around the world, including Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Kosovo, Lebanon, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Haiti, Sudan and East Timor...... Their deployment in UN missions is a matter of great pride for the army.
• Three Nepal scholars barred from India meet New Kerala, India Lokraj Baral .... Krishna Khanal and Krishna Hachchethu ..... An indignant Baral told the Kathmandu Post newspaper: "If we are a threat to the state, we ask to be imprisoned. If not, why are we being treated like this?" ...... He also told the daily that professionals should not be treated as politicians...... The new regime has also said it could impose curbs on movements of its citizens as well as others living in the kingdom.
• 17,000 Nepal women forced into prostitution in India Xinhua, China
• Nepal says it is self-sufficient as far as its military ... New Kerala, India

Nepal Communist Party (Progressive)

It is this king and his coterie that have been in the way of lasting peace and progress for the country. The Maoists have time and again expressed their desire for UN mediation to lead to an all-party government and elections to a Constituent Assembly. It is this junta that will not accept that roadmap to peace. And so it is for all forces domestic and international to act like it is this junta that is irrelevant to Nepal's future, that this junta does not have the powers to hijack the future of this country. It is my firm belief that in the current climate when all global forces are lined up against this king and his gang, if the democrats and the Maoists were to forge a strong Democratic Coalition, this regime will collapse. It is time we stopped acting like we are at the mercy of a change of heart on the part of the Monarchists. They should not be given the powers to set the timetable for peace. Homework time.

My first choice is to include all democratic parties without getting into technicalities. We all know what the parties are. Might as well go ahead and recognize them in the absence of constitutional bodies whose job it is to do so. We have the UML, the Koirala Congress, the Deuba Congress, the RPP, Thapa's newly formed RJP, the Mandal Sadbhavana, the Tripathy Sadbhavana, and the Jana Morcha.

The 4S Campaign is for an all-party government and a constituent assembly. The government in waiting is to have the following composition:

Prime Minister: Girija Koirala
Deputy Prime Minister: Madhav Nepal
Deputy Prime Minister: Hridayesh Tripathy
Ministers: Sher Deuba, Pashupati Rana, Prakash Lohani, Badri Mandal, Amik Sherchan, Baburam Bhattarai and about a half dozen others to reflect the gender, ethnic, caste and regional diversity of the country.

But this is assuming all parties accept the 4S Campaign. If there are parties now that do not agree to the idea of a Constituent Assembly, we should work on them. And if we fail, we should kick them out of the coalition. There might be some bad blood between some of the names mentioned here, but this is not a mutual love coalition. This is a coalition with a sole agenda of holding elections to a constituent assembly.

And I would like to suggest that the Maoists do some homework of their own. The Constituent Assembly is their idea. In coming to the idea, the other parties are doing some major homework. It is for the Maoists to reciprocate. And I suggest they do that by giving a fresh look to their ideology.

I believe they should start with their name. I am aware Mao's contribution was that he saw revolutionary potential in poor farmers and peasants as opposed to the traditional industrial base sought by the communists. And so his teachings seemed to make sense for Nepal, a country where 9 out of 10 people are farmers. But the Nepali Maoists need to move beyond cult of personality, and change their name to Nepal Communist Party (Progressive). That means they will continue to be wed to the ultimate goal of a classless, communist utopia, and they will continue to draw upon the works of all major commuist figures, from Marx to Mao, but communism is not Marx, Lenin or Mao any more than physics is Albert Einstein. Physics is a discipline. Similarly the Nepali Maoists should be dedicated to the scientific process. Be constantly studying the local and external conditions, for one.

Used to be doctors performed surgery without using anesthetics. You got to feel all the pain, while your limb got sawed off, for example. But we live in different times. Surgery can be painless. And I think the communists should similarly renounce violence as a political weapon for good. What made some sense a hundred years back is actually counterproductive today, and is to be even less relevant down the line as the human population as a whole gets better educated and information is more easily accessible by the masses. Instead, shoot for what I would call Total Democracy.

Step 1, Total Democracy. Ban political fund-raising and instead the parties get public funds that is directly proportional to the number of votes they secured in the last held national elections. Every elected leader, from local to national levels, is on a decent, monthly salary, so it is an attractive career option, like being a teacher, or a health worker, or a doctor.

Step 2, Transparent Democracy. All expenses by the state, to the last paisa, are posted online and archived. Ditto for the property owned by all politicians and bureaucrats, to be updated annually. Also applies to all public words by all public officials. All political deliberations at all levels of government.

Step 3, Scientific Democracy. To be defined later beyond what is not obvious by the name. It builds on steps 1 and 2, rather than taking away from them.

So Maoists, change the name of your party, redefine your ideology so as to renounce violence as a political weapon for good, and let's create the world's very first democracy. Let's make peace on our schedule, and not on that of the Monarchists. Let's force them out instead of waiting for them to volunteer out, an unrealistic scenario.