Prachanda: A Profile

Prachanda: "My main thrust is that I hate revisionism. I seriously hate revisionism. And I never compromise with revisionism. I fought and fought again with revisionism. And the party's correct line is based on the process of fighting revisionism. I hate revisionism. I seriously hate revisionism."

The picture that emerges is of a person who prefers a few, simple broad strokes. He deplores "confusion" and "revisionism" and "intellectualism." He seems to have the mentality of the religious fundamentalists. Much emotion, little logic is involved. This can lead to "bold" action and a detachment from reality. Prachanda seems to exhibit the certainty of a stopped clock.

Prachanda might be the hardliner, and Baburam the moderate. Baburam is capable of nuances, Prachanda is not. When Baburam says Democratic Republic, he perhaps means it. He sees his work in the same vein as the French Revolution of 1789. But I am not sure Prachanda means the same thing when he says democratic republic. His could be the Kim Jong Il version.

Prachanda talks about the "intellectuals" like they were foreign tourists. Baburam talks about them as a group he belongs to.

But I would not stress this point too much. After all, the two have worked in close co-operation for quite a while. It is not possible there are such sharp differences between the two. But tough times require tough measures. Just like the king got rid of the politicians, it is possible Prachanda felt the need to sideline Baburam.

Prachanda is a total Old School Maoist. I am not sure he can even function in a democratic framework. I don't get the impression he is capable of going out to ask for votes. That might be too much "sunshine" for his mentality and thought processes.

That is why it is important to strengthen the Maoist moderates. Because if you humiliate them, like was done during the "peace talks," you end up with the hardliners.

I think the best option is to enage them in respectful dialogue as opposed to trying to divide and rule. They are so opaque, it is hard to figure out what is happening.

The central issue in dealing with the Maoists continues to be that the Monarchists are intransigent on questions like Constituent Assembly. The Monarchists are the number one impediment. February 1 has given more leeway to the hardliners among the Maoists.

Prachanda is for the Constituent Assembly idea as much as Baburam is. To me that is enough reason to take them seriously and treat them respectfully. This stand shows they are capable of reason and should be spared the caricatures.

But the "fissure" between the duo could be a serious "two-line struggle," as Prachanda mentions.

Also, distinctions have to be made between what the Maoists say in their internal deliberations and what they say at the negotiation table. Some posturing has to be tolerated.

1. Reporters sans frontières - Nepal .... runs the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with an iron hand
2. RW ONLINE:Red Flag Flying on the Roof of the World .... in areas where the People’s War is the strongest — like the Rolpa and Rukum districts in the West .... spring of 1999, RW reporter Li Onesto ..... the main thing is ideological clarity .... every time when there has been mass struggle, this leadership has been able to confuse the masses, to make compromises with the ruling classes and to get some concessions for this revisionist group...... when the British left India, Nepal became a semi-colony of Indian expansionism ..... There was a big ideological and political debate for 10 years after the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, and all our leadership team is a product of that ideological struggle...... 1986, I think, when we finalized Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as our ideology. At the time, only the Communist Party of Peru had said this ...... the main question in these types of countries is how to fight against revisionism ..... when a revolutionary objective situation develops, at that time, deal a big blow ..... it is not a small country. Geographically when you look at the whole country of India you can travel in one or two days to every part and corner. But in Nepal you have to walk up and down for many days ...... mountainous region is very favorable for guerrilla warfare ..... we are surrounded on three sides by this big Indian country ..... 20 to 25 different oppressed nationalities ..... We fundamentally depart from all the revisionist and bourgeois parties. We uphold the right of self-determination for the oppressed nationalities ...... The West is historically, geographically, and culturally the basin of the revolution. It is the main point for the revolution-the people here are more oppressed by the ruling classes, and the government in Kathmandu is very far from there. ...... in the last part of the 18th century, at that time, this part of the country was not totally captured by the central government. There was a kind of compromise...... you saw how all our comrades there look Chinese ..... These nationalities are so sincere and such brave fighters- ..... Even male domination in these places is weaker-it is not like in the dominating castes. And at the same time, our party has a long history of working in these areas, like in Thabang and Rolpa...... one other area where we should concentrate work is in India, because more than seven million Nepalese live in India. ...... More than 72 percent of the Nepalese people live below the poverty line...... Just before the initiation we organized so many big mass demonstrations and mass meetings..... We had already declared we are going to initiate the People's War. But the ruling class didn't believe it and thought, "These people are talking, only talking." ...... The revisionist parties and revisionist leaders always teach the people the question of reform, reform, reform. And reform is reformism, is revisionism. But the question of making leaps is revolutionary..... we had indirectly participated in the elections, and we had 11 members in the parliament, nine in the lower house and two in the upper house..... There was parliamentary work but the main party organizational mechanism was underground at that time-you should note this....... In one push, the party was established in a big and national way and it was in the center of debate-after only one month..... the enemy started to massacre the people. Arresting, raping, killing, looting ..... In the whole process of this final preparation...there was consistent international involvement. First and foremost, there was the RIM Committee (Revolutionary Internationalist Movement). There was important ideological and political exchange. From the RIM Committee, we got the experience of the PCP (Communist Party of Peru), the two-line struggle there, and also the experience in Turkey, the experience in Iran, and the experience in the Philippines. We learned from the experience in Bangladesh and from some experience in Sri Lanka. And there was a South Asian conference that we participated in. At the same time we were also having direct and continuous debate with the Indian communists, mainly the People's War (PW) and Maoist Communist Center (MCC) groups....... we made some investigation of the Bihar in India. We went to Andar Pradesh to look at the struggle there ..... there had been a big setback with the People's War in Peru [with the capture of the PCP's leader, Chairman Gonzalo ..... we also took help from all over the world ..... We thought that, possibly, more than 50 percent of our party members could fall away but that other new comrades and new people would come and join the party....... there were so many petty bourgeois tendencies, so much intellectualism .... if we are prepared mentally, then it will not shake us.... we had a military plan to attack the police force, the landlords, the local goons in the rural areas .... we did not have a big plan for sabotage in the capital city because, at that time, we did not want to create a situation where with one stroke the intellectuals would go away from us ...... In Rolpa, in one month, thousands of people went underground. Not only party members but also masses went underground-in Rukum, in Jarjarkot, in Salyan, in Kalikot...... in the cities where there are more intellectuals, the process of transformation was very, very low, and in some cases, we can say, unsatisfactory ..... And at that time, what happened in the city? Wherever we went people said, "You should not stay here, the police will come." ..... for 22 days we had to move about continuously in the city...... in the city, the intellectuals were vacillating so much ..... Women in Kathmandu were the other force who, in that time of terror, boldly supported us and gave us shelter and helped us move around. ...... it was mainly laborers, women and students who helped us. But the intellectuals, who had a lot of knowledge of philosophy, theories, etc., these people were wavering so much they could not help very much.... Some petty bourgeois revolutionaries, due to terror, fled to India, to Arab countries ..... Questions of marriage, questions of love, questions of family, questions of relations between people. All of these things were being turned upside down ...... We have worked to make new relations between men and women ...... there are comrades who cannot change their whole thinking. They think just like before ..... there have been more than 700 martyrs. But thousands have stepped forward. This process does not harm us, it helps us.... When the ruling class started their repressive Kilo Sera 2 operation ...... there is vacillation among some intellectuals. But there are also good comrades from among the laborers, women, and students ...... Peoples of the oppressed nationalities-the Mongolian peoples, the Terai peoples and the far western peoples ....... the Magar National Liberation Front ..... the Tharu National Liberation Front in the Terai region and the Terai National Liberation Front and the Rai and Limbu and Tamang. And in the capital city there is Newar Khala ..... The great Karl Marx stated that the working class would have to go through 15, 20, 50 years of civil war, not only to crush the enemy but also to transform itself, to make itself fit to exercise new power...... the process of People's War is not only to crush the enemy, but also to clean our own dirtiness and all our bad habits .... Without destruction there will not be construction ..... without destruction there will not be any construction ..... war is a great process of construction. War has a very big cleansing effect...... The intellectuals' instinctive tendency is that we have to learn all these things, we should read everything, we have to do all these things, and then we can make war...... The question is learning war through war...... the police would sleep outside the post. They would put a candle or lantern inside the post, and when the Maoists came to attack the post, then they would be outside in the forest...... at that point in the villages there were not any Village Development Committees and there were not any police...... our comrades tax the local businessmen, how there are people's courts, land distribution, and collective farming, divorce, marriage ..... we can distribute land, we have collective farming, we can divorce, we can make arrangements, we can break all the chains, we can tax the businessmen, we can manage the forests ..... thousands and thousands of quintals of grain have been captured and distributed to the masses .... In terms of land ownership, it will be private ownership by the peasant. But the production process will be collective..... How many work hours a particular family did on that land-the return will be in that percentage...... Private ownership, but farming collectively...... When all our families work together, eat together, sing together, dance together-then it is more communal...... We are not yet able, in the Terai, to seize the land. But we are able to seize stored grain....... Armed struggle with no vision? ... No vision, exactly. This line exists in India..... a particular national situation and international situation is also necessary. This means there are big contradictions among the ruling classes-they are fighting among each other-and there is also an unstable situation with India. Because for us, ultimately, we will have to fight with the Indian army...... When the Indian army comes in with thousands and thousands of soldiers, it will be a very big thing. But we are not afraid of the Indian Army because, in one way, it will be a very good thing..... they will give us lots of guns..... they will dare, they will be compelled..... when Rolpa, Rukum, Jarjarkot, Salyan become a liberated zone, then we will declare the People's Republic of Nepal ..... we can organize a big mass movement in Kathmandu and other cities also ..... at one point we will have to declare a new government and the president and the republic, the ministry and all these things .... The whole feudal and individualistic, sectarian culture that has prevailed has been changed upside down...... thousands and thousands of people will have to be prepared to be sacrificed...... Mao said, if there is a third world war, everybody cannot be killed. Maybe half the population will be gone and half the population will remain and a new world will emerge...... in the mountainous region, in the Western Region, as you saw, there are not so many temples. But when you go to Kathmandu there are so many temples-it is a capital of temples...... among the oppressed nationalities, there is not so much male domination. There is a kind of equality there. In some nationalities women are seen as more important-the wives are seen as more important than the men...... the party is discussing the question of how to organize collective childcare.... to not have a baby for five to seven or ten years because it will be a big practical problem ..... there was a big two-line struggle inside the party, and I continuously went with the revolutionary line .... economically and culturally imperialism is in deeper crisis than before World War 2 ...... we see that a new wave of world revolution is beginning .... just like Mao said, there will be 50 to 100 years of great turmoil and great transformation. ..... The People's War in Peru has done a good job of establishing Maoism...... Nepal is a small country, we are a small party-but we have a big perspective. Our People's War may be a spark, a spark for a prairie fire..... In every corner now in India the People's War in Nepal is the subject of debate..... exposing international revisionism, modern revisionism, revisionism in China and Russian revisionism. In Nepal there is a very big revisionist party and much revisionist influence..... without the help of the RIM and without the help of all the communist leaders and dedicated comrades who are keenly and seriously helping the People's War in Nepal-we will not be able to sustain and maintain the People's War in Nepal.
   
3. RW ONLINE: Statement by Comrade Prachanda, Communist Party of ... After the declaration of the ceasefire, the Royal Army not only mounted unnecessary checking and arrests, but it also continued killing our cadres in cold blood in Darchula, Makawanpur, Bhojpur and in other parts of the country, including encircling and forcibly arresting a People's Liberation Army contingent stationed peacefully in Kanchanpur....... brought an end to the relevance of dialogue, urging us to capitulate politically by handing over our weapons ..... It is obvious to all that our party is a revolutionary Communist Party fighting for a people's republic ..... we suspended the demand for a people's republic as an immediate issue to be settled at the negotiating table, and instead came to the universal method of solving problems through a constituent assembly. The slogan of a constituent assembly is not a communist revolutionary slogan ..... The paradox is, they would rather see the country get ruined than make the people sovereign through the election of a constituent assembly. The old state is ready to bow down to foreign powers and ready to drench themselves in the people's blood, but it is not ready to accept the people as sovereign.......
   
4. Nepal Quote from Interview with comrade Prachanda StrategyPage.com
5. Philosophical Concept of Prachanda Path Germany, which was backward compared to advanced England and France, gave Marxism. Russia that was backward compared to Europe and other countries gave birth to Leninism. China, which was underdeveloped and oppressed by imperialism, gave rise to Maoism. Today, the credit of giving birth to new ideas in the form of other height of Prachanda Path is going to Nepal, the third poorest country of the world. It is a matter of glory....... Gautam Buddha, a great thinker that gave message of atheism, dialectics and federalism ..... Prachanda has been specifically emphasizing on the concept of defense, application and development of revolutionary principle..... Prachanda has been standing for materialist dialectics against metaphysics...... Dialectics of development of each object and its phenomenon, which are interrelated with each other and exist constantly in a dynamic flow of changes, is such that, as Lenin said, does not take place in a straight line but takes place in a spiral form, that development does not take place spontaneously without notice and in a gradual way, rather it does in the form of a rupture in continuity, leap, catastrophe and revolution, in the form of transformation of quantity to quality and negation of negation....... In the course of struggling against the reformist and evolutionary concept of development prevalent in the Nepalese communist movement, the Party did sharpen specially the science of development of Marxist dialectics regarding collision, rupture, leap and catastrophe...... "Unity and struggle of opposites is the basic law of dialectics". .... "Unity is relative, temporary and transitional, where as, the struggle is constant and absolute." ...... "The bourgeois idealist cycle of idea, idea and idea that was dominant in the Nepalese communist movement has been shattered by the revolutionary theory through revolutionary practice. The door of the scientific process of developing and refining revolutionary theory through real revolutionary practice has been opened up." .... Mao has concretely formulated class struggle, struggle for production and scientific experiment as the source of knowledge. In its essence, Nepalese People’s War is the concrete expression of class struggle, struggle for production and scientific experiment...... the process of practice, knowledge, again practice, again knowledge is infinite...... He has been constantly emphasizing in the necessity of struggling against dogmatism and empiricism ...... If analysis is emphasized, it creates a danger of empiricism, departmentalism and regionalism..... on one hand, and the ideological struggle against modern, dogmatic and pluralistic revisionism together with the weaknesses of Stalin, on the other..... Comrade Prachanda, has further enriched and sharpened the Leninist concept on transformation of quantity to quality by presenting in the form of rupture, revolution, collision, qualitative leap and catastrophe...... the incarnationist concept regarding divine origin of the king has also been forcefully refuted here...... simple, innocent people struggling to live peacefully in steep slopes with their natural economic system and tribal culture ...... It is a matter of no lesser pride that even Karl Marx, the proponent of communist ideology and the leader of the world proletariat, too, had appreciated the sacrifice, bravery and skill shown by the Nepalese people in those wars...... "The centralized feudal state in Nepal has, by imposing Hindu feudal and Brahminist racial chauvinism upon the lingual, religious, cultural and traditional democratic concepts and right of different races, indigenous people and regions has obstructed the development of real national unity and strength and, it is necessary to establish today a foundation of strong national unity based upon equality and independence according to the right of self- determination in the present context of New Democratic revolution." ....... bureaucrat capitalism took birth in Nepal...... the necessity of turning this region into a new Soviet federation of the twenty-first century..... has guaranteed the acceleration of the people's consciousness to move from the world of necessity to that of freedom, by linking high technology with the cheap labor of the huge population of the masses...... with globalization to grab profits, unprecedented development in the field of information technology, mainly electronics, has narrowed down the world just to a small rural unit. Therefore, it is very likely that an event in any place will have a great positive or negative impact on the world as a whole, and vice versa...... has been preparing a revolutionary objective situation for 80 per cent of the people of the world ...... when the world in the process of globalization has been transformed into a small rural region? ...... national capitulationism ..... "Why all those parties that achieved victory by struggling, inside and outside of it, in the period of revolution ideologically against right, left and centrist deviations, being united with the necessity and interest of the masses and attaining unprecedented records of earth-shaking heroism, sacrifice in class war against enemy, turned all over the world into bureaucratic, revisionist, dissociated from the masses and counterrevolutionary ones relatively easily in a short span of time after seizure of power? ......... It is the problem of scientific application and development of the theory of continued revolution under two-line struggle inside the Party and dictatorship of the proletariat." ..... He has seriously embraced the universal significance of violent revolution....... the world has been narrowed owing to intense development of science and technology. He has regarded Nepal as a base area of world revolution....... The process of initiation of People's War, its continuity and development has taken place amidst innumerable series of people’s rebellions and shock-like military actions. In the task of bringing out originality, particularity and grandeur, the dialectics of Prachanda Path is very much militant, revolutionary and noble...... Without a goal of seizing people’s power through People's War, to talk of mass mobilization and mass line is revisionism...... If Nepalese People’s War by getting plagued with right capitulationism or left adventurism suffers a setback, in this or that form, it will play a big negative role in the development of world revolution...... to prepare for intense military offensive by establishing the accusation of terrorism is going to be the most effective way ...... Communist Party is a division of one into two ....... two-line struggle is not a process that appears and disappears in times but is the one that exists constantly, sometimes in high and sometimes in low level ...... When two-line struggle is not developed and expressed in higher form, then it is within the limit of non-antagonistic struggle and is resolved through the method of criticism, self-criticism and disciplinary action. But, when it develops and appears in higher form then that is expressed in antagonistic way, which is resolved through a qualitative method ......... carry out struggle constantly against factionalism, splittism and all kinds of non-proletarian thinking, trends and styles of work, advance the process of rectification campaign ahead ..... the dialectics of Prachanda Path has excellently succeeded also in struggles against liquidationism, anarchism, individualism, mean Alok tendency* and pluralism. It is in favor of unified and centralized leadership in all domains of idea, policy, plan, command and activities including organization and struggle....... ensure right to build another Communist Party by rebelling against if that goes wrong ..... discourage use of force in two-line struggle ..... ensure ally classes to participate competitively in the power and not confine to cooperative role only ..... the concept of consolidating proletarian dictatorship on the basis of development and wide democratization of the state power, an institution that can organize constant flow of revolution..... has hit hard with a strong theoretical blow upon those class enemies and revisionists, who while pretending to be great democrats and accusing revolutionary communists of dogmatism, totalitarianism and mono-partyism, are in fact the real killers of people’s democracy ...... Prachanda Path is now standing in a new turning point of history to make a qualitative leap in the process of becoming universal, not particular.
6. International Nepal Solidarity Network » Archive » Gyanendra ...
7. United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal » ‘Prachanda Hasn’t Been A ...
8. Prachanda, February 1, 2005
9. CHIP-INDIA KNOW HOW
10. The Rising Nepal

Special Mention

• Marla Ruzicka: Trekking In Nepal The story of Nepal is the same as many failed states. The situation reminds me of Iraq, when the US disbanded the army after the fall of Saddam and failed to create jobs, and what they have now is an ugly insurgency ....... Some say the Maoists control 70 percent. Although “control” is probably an overstatement. They operate freely on much of the countryside because the government is absent ...... Maoists enter people’s homes demanding food and shelter. Then, the government forces trouble the homeowners. The Security Forces have even taken food from poor villagers, claiming it was for the Maoists ..... At curfew I saw soldiers hanging around a house with beautiful young girls. For the girls, prostitution is their only way to make a wage ..... Jit Man Basnet ..... About a year ago he wrote an article about a military action where 16 unarmed Maoists were discovered meeting and subsequently killed. (They should have been arrested not killed on the spot, Amnesty International condemned the action). Two months after the article was published, Jit Man was enjoying tea at a friend’s shop near the airport, when three men in civilian clothes grabbed him, tied his wrists together and blindfolded him. He was then taken to an army base. He was told to sit on the cold floor and then they beat and interrogated him. For 251 days Jit Man’s wrists were tied and his eyes covered. He forgot what color the sun was and the sound of the human voice. With the intervention of Amnesty International and other human rights groups he was finally released. Almost a year later his back is still marked from the whippings. Jit Man has trouble walking and suffers memory loss. Every month he has to go back to the base to be questioned by the military. A couple of days ago another journalist disappeared. Jit Man does not want to be taken away again........ a union leader for teachers and member of the Maoist Survivors Association was recently shot in cold blood by the Maoists ...... He was the best and the brightest ..... Why do the Maoists claim they are for education and health for the masses when they murder teachers and destroy clinics? ..... Senator Leahy sponsored an amendment which is now U.S. law, which put human rights conditions on military aid to the Nepalese Army. (I am not against US military aid as we do not want a Maoist government). I have been talking to others about setting up safe houses for human rights activists who feel threatened and hotlines where people can report abuses on both sides...... There is so much more to tell you. I am still very much focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, but having been to Nepal I want to dedicate at least a few hours a week to this cause. The world needs to pay attention to this conflict. Nepal deserves peace.

In The News

• Geneva: Resolution Adopted INSN ..... appeals are mainly directed to His Majesty’s Government of Nepal as it is subject to international obligations; additionally gravely concerned at the serious breaches of humanitarian law committed by members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity ..... certain rights, in particular the right to life and the right to freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are recognized as non‑derogable in any circumstances ..... condemns the recruitment and use of a large number of children into Maoist forces .....
  
• Former Top Nepali Diplomat Writes To The US President United We Blog Murari Raj Sharma, a former ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations ..... your strategy to root out terrorism: smart use of force to weaken the extremists accompanied by a political process to isolate them ..... there are no signs that the king will roll back his draconian step. The United States, together with other countries, must do more
• The 5-Minute Briefing: Nepal's Maoist insurgency Independent, UK ....Nepal should be spoken of in the same breath as Somalia and Sudan...... students, many of whom said the King was forcing them into an alliance with the Maoists. Many say they are angry with the King's move but too scared to protest in the face of repressive measures from security forces. In the Maoist-controlled areas the King's coup has had little effect, since his power does not extend there anyway.
• If Nepal King seeks audience, PM likely to oblige in Jakarta Indian Express
• Nepal King leaves on first foreign tour since power grab : 123Bharath.com
• Nepal Must Restore Democracy, End Arrests, UN Rights Body Says Bloomberg ....people held at unknown locations and subjected to torture by security forces..... Under the agreement signed last week with the Nepalese government, UN monitors will set up regional offices to respond to human rights violations
• Blast in southern Nepal kills 4, wounds 5 Boston Globe The bomb exploded when the policemen were trying to remove sacks left by the rebels to block the roads. The bomb had been hidden behind the sacks.
• Geologists find a new active fault in Nepal, potentially links ... PhysOrg.com, VA
• Cabinet approves signing of extradition treaty with Nepal Hindu, India
• 18 injured in western Nepal explosion Xinhua A group of suspected insurgents hurled the socket bomb at a crowd gathered at government office premises
  
• Nepal to deepen relations with Asian, African nations: king People's Daily Online, China
• Commerce secy level talks of Nepal, Bangladesh begins Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• Ashok Menta: India Can Not Just Wait And Watch INSN (The Tribune) The King believes there is life after democracy — which is absolute monarchy ..... The Economist last month asked, “what’s the plan, Gyan”, the King does have one. .... RNA has claimed killing 195 Maoists for the loss of 15 of their own soldiers since February 1. .... He is not interested in a dialogue with the Maoists or reviving the democratic process ........ The RNA is short of 4000 officers at a time when it is rapidly expanding to double its size to 100,000 in the next two to three years to achieve a force ratio of 1:25 against the Maoists ...... that he required 100 days to restore the political process — which is holding municipal elections! He has skilfully skirted parliamentary elections..... He is defiant and confident as never before. His eyes are fixed on the elections in which monarchists secure the majority. He has ignored the sanctions and strictures of the international community ...... There is little pressure on the King internally. Dissent has been squashed .... the RNA is emerging as the real power centre ..... The RNA is being pampered. Four of the six ambassadors announced by the palace are retired Generals, and 52 Brigadier-Generals have been appointed. A salary hike is in the offing....... India does not have a fall-back position as it still hopes the King would roll back ...... The policy of wait and watch is not going to work with King Gyanendra. The squeeze on the King seems inevitable. India has done it before in the late 1980s. It can be done again but surgically ...... Internal and external pressure has to be applied on the King ..... an all-party resolution to revive the democratic process, intelligence agencies engaging the Maoists
• King, Maobadi And Democracy Express India ....Nepal’s socio-economic backwardness can largely be ascribed to the period of absolute monarchy under his father and brother .... Gyanendra, who remains opportunistically fixated on condemning political parties as the source of all evil. ..... a king who seems for the moment unbending but whose hold is precarious...... Knowledgeable analysts and army generals confirm the possibility of a rebel takeover is just not there....... Maoists have lost some of their best fighters over the last year ..... credible information of division within the Maoist leadership on matters of strategy ..... Guerilla leaders would know that there is no winning this war and it is important to try and bring them to a ‘safe landing’ before they fracture into warlordism. There are even indications that the leaders seek such a landing, but a palace bent on victory would not even be willing to call their bluff....... The political parties have not yet been able to mount a spirited campaign against the coup. They are meant to function under parliamentary structures, but the absence of Parliament since ’02 has made cooperation problematic, not to mention a palace working overtime to exploit inter-party differences. ...... internal power plays are in progress. There are also divisions between those who call for a fight-to-finish for a king-less republic, those who would like to see a ceremonial monarchy retained, and others who regard the army-backed royal palace as too powerful to confront...... the democratic interlude heralded rapid advance in social/economic indicators, and ushered the rise of ethnic and regional assertion against dominant elites, full media freedom, the doubling of the rural roads network, spread of telecommunications, and the opening up of overseas employment which has sustained the economy in these lean times ..... His choice of fellow travellers are ultra-conservatives from the earliest Panchayat raj....... democratic governments must stay the course and not provide any support/succour to the king. ..... they must not fall for the ruse that the rebels will win if the king is not allowed free reign.

How To Move Towards A Common Minimum Program?

First you identify the players. I see these:

1. Congress
2. Congress (D)
3. UML
4. RPP
5. RJP
6. Jana Morcha
7. Sadbhavana
8. Sadbhavana (A)
9. Maoist
10. Monarchist

Then you seek a representative from each. If not, you seek out their public statements. Then you come up with a Common Minimum Program (CMP). All except number 10 agree on one thing: February 1 needs to be reversed, all those detained released, and all fundamental rights restored.

So that is your CMP. Then you start playing with that CMP. It is important to keep all deliberations public.

Another major CMP has been to invite UN human rights monitoring. That was a big step. That is the only CMP that brings all 1-10 together. So far.

Then you attempt a ceasefire. You have 1-8. But 9 and 10 are not with you. So it is upto 1-8 to work on a platform that will forge a strong Unity of the Willing.

Then you try and suggest an all-party government to replace the current one. You might get 1-8 but not 9 and 10 again. And since 10 holds key here, you end up nowhere. But to enhance chances, it is important for 1-8 to suggest a complete list of the proposed cabinet. And make that list public so as to keep up the pressure.

What about the CMP of a Constituent Assembly? You have 3, 6,8, and 9. Work should be done to bring 1,2,4,5 and 7 along. If 1-9 can come together on this one, there will be enormous pressure on 10 to comply. Also, this CMP will, for the first time, provide some concrete common ground between 1-8 and 9. And so the exercise is worth it in its own right.

I think the fastest would be for 1-9 to move towards this: Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace. It brings in full democracy. It brings peace. And this is the only strategy that does not depend on compliance from 10.

The key for 1-8 is relentless, public dialogue. That is the only way to drown out the guns of 9 and 10. That also is the democratic way. The democratic way is not where one person makes the pronouncement and everyone else falls in line.

Are you for a Constituent Assembly? Why? Why not? Why are you for a Constitutional Monarchy? At what point will you stop being for it? What would be your tipping point? What are the issues we can agree on? What do we disagree on? Can we put aside the issues we disagree on for now, and focus on those we agree on?

The second key is organization. The democratic process does not have to equal disorganization. Can the democrats launch effective protests? Can this be made possible: eDemocracy, 4S Campaign, 24/7 Vigil For Democracy: Take Over Tundikhel ?

The Nepali Diaspora Contradiction: Would You Like Some Tea?

If I were to offer you tea, and you said, no, thanks, what are my options? Do I keep repeating my offer? Or should I exhibit some manners and take you at your word?

Today my attention has been drawn to an article - Democratic Middle Ground In Nepal - collectively authored by numerous smart Nepalis living abroad, supposedly after two months of internal discussions, with contributions from many Kathmandu-based intellectual-types. I quote below from the article extensively.

The tea is the idea of a constitutional monarchy, and you are the king, and I am the democrats who are ideologically committed to the idea of a constitutional monarchy. The democrats need to stop fooling themselves. The democrats are not in a position to "offer" the king such a thing. Nepal is not in a position to offer a billion dollars in foreign aid to America. The concept is similar.

But I don't think it is a sense of affection for the king, or a deep understanding of the need for such an institution as the monarchy that these Nepalis keep offering tea. I think the reason is much closer to home: it is self-interest. The mental lethargy of these Nepalis to move beyond their social prejudices along caste, religion, gender and region lines is what keeps them gravitating towards "tea."

Only yesterday I was reading an article online - Women’s Leadership and the Revolution in Nepal - by some Comrade Parvati, and I was so impressed. I have never heard any such thing from any Nepali man or woman ever. During the course of my studies, I have had the opportunity to delve into gender issues, and I must say what she has to say stands with some of the best articles I have ever read on women's rights issues, and that is saying a lot.

My point being, we should be able to look at what the Maoists have to say. We can not be outright dismissive. I don't agree with the gun. But then if you don't agree with the gun, the way to deal with the "gun" is to accord the Maoists some respect with regard to their political and social agenda. I think the so-called democrats are more offended by the social progressive agenda of the Maoists than by their guns, because the gun never reaches them, it is not their family members that are dying, but the social progressive thought strands do reach all who care to click around online, and the challenge goes unappreciated. You want me to look at women as equals? No, thanks. It is that "regression" that is preventing resolution.

We would like to have a parliament and elections, but we would rather not disturb the social hierarchy that makes sure when I show up at an Association of the Nepalis in the Americas (ANA) convention somewhere in the US, although Madhesis are half of Nepal, I see less than 2% faces that are Madhesi. The social filter keeps the rest back at ground level.

I think the reason many in the democratic camp can not entertain the idea of a Nepal without a monarchy is because these democrats are prisoners to the Nepali Speaking High Caste Male hegemony concept. They don't love the king, they love their own narrow selves.

There might also be another explanation. The abused end up with an emotional dependence upon the abuser in many cases, psychologists say, pertaining to cases of child abuse and spouse abuse. This might be one such case.

My question to all the political parties - Congress, Congress (D), UML, RPP, RJP, Jana Morcha, Sadbhavana, Sadbhavana (A) - is, why did you all not gather around the idea of a Constituent Assembly a few years back when you had a chance to provide a soft landing to the Maoist insurgency? How can any democrat be against the idea of a Constituent Assembly?

It pains me no ends to see the civil war go on. But I don't blame the Maoist hardliners. They are who they are. I don't blame the Monarchists. They are very clear about where they stand. But I do blame the democrats. Because it is only when the democrats can muster the courage to come around a progressive political platform that the Maoists will be pre-empted and the Monarchists will be shown the door. Until then the war will go on, blood will spill, and the democrats will have blood on their hands.

I urge all democrats to gather around this common platform: Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace. The document is nothing but an extrapolation of the basic conept of one person one vote. That concept is the litmus test. Either you are a democrat, or you are not.

In The News

• Nepal in Mind: A Perspective from American Nepali Diaspora United We Blog, Nepal ...... to a large degree, political instability and crises seen in Nepal since 1996 are direct or indirect offshoots of the decision taken by the Maoists to collapse Nepal’s post-1990 political order through an armed insurgency ...... the widespread perception among the educated general public as well as in the institutional memory of political parties that the monarchy and its associates have historically not been in favor of allowing democracy the space or opportunity to succeed ....... Pluralist democratic systems have shown an ability to self-correct over time without infringing on the fundamental rights of citizens ...... potential for transforming socio-political structures and relationships unchanged for centuries ..... solution is possible only when the parties in conflict, monarch, Maoists and parliamentary parties, choose to move to the middle ground ...... A solution to the present conflict cannot be found without reinstating full democracy ..... Presently, a vast majority of Nepali people do not support abolishing the monarchy and establishment of a republican state .....February 1 must be reversed immediately ...... Peace and progress in Nepal can be achieved only through more democracy not less ..... requires all contending political forces to shift slightly their presently held positions; however there appears to be no need for a major ideological shift ...... Parties in Nepal represent the most moderate elements of the political spectrum, and without them Nepal drifts to the extremes ...... operation of the parties lack transparency and democracy within themselves. Younger members of political parties often complain that party bosses run the party like a fiefdom. Party finances are not audited. ....... Nepal is a country where the public perception is that there is routine, massive, and pervasive corruption at all levels of the state ...... Responsibility without financial resources is a recipe for failure ....... recognizing, adopting and adhering to the middle path takes much vision and courage ..... requires friend and foe to migrate sufficiently towards each other so that the peoples’ business can move forward and flourish. We urge all political forces in Nepal to recognize that great achievements in the affairs of nations have come about when leaders practiced the art of compromise...... Dharma Acharya, Ph.D.; Ambika Adhikari, Ph.D.; Roger Adhikari; Gaury Adhikary, MD; Pramod Aryal, Ph.D.; Alok K. Bohara, Ph.D.; Girija Gautam; Shiva Gautam, Ph.D.; Madhu Ghimire, MD; Naresh Koirala; Shambhu Lama; Anup Pahari, Ph.D.; Mallika Shakya; Arun Sharma; Vijaya Sharma, Ph.D.; Puru Subedi; Sharda Jung Thapa; and Suman Timsina.
• Ram Sharan Mahat, Pradip Nepal, Pashupati Rana, Minendra Rijal, Pari Thapa ....the October 4 action and subsequent developments have given validity to the Maoist theory that the "people-based sovereignty" enshrined in the present constitution is just an illusion, and that the ultimate power remains with the King as long as the army is under his effective control ..... the insurgency and regression have re-enforced each other ..... The country must be prepared for a radical political solution including election for a constitutional assembly ..... One reason why there may be less violence against civilians is because the Maoists have deliberately stopped harming the cadres of the political parties in an attempt to entice them to their side....... People are now listening to Maoists- run FM radios for news not reported by the censored media...... A coalition government must be formed, enveloping all parties represented in the dissolved parliament. Only such a government can have a meaningful dialogue with the rebels ..... The alternative was to change the Prime Minister or to try another multi-party coalition....... The constitution visualises an emergency under multi-party norms, not without those norms. It has changed all equations. If a compromise is not brought about, the consequences are inconceivable....... An inter-party common minimum program .... The Maoist’s resorting to violence has weakened the roots of democracy and has created a space for the King’s ambition to rule the country directly....... the political parties can, based on their common minimum program, enter into negotiation with the King to end his direct rule and establish interim government with full executive and legislative authority....... The Royal proclamation of February 1 has deeply shattered the basic elements of the 1991 Constitution ..... Political parties should accept responsibilities for their rigid adherence to few procedural phraseologies ignoring the weights of the multi-cultural identities within the country. National Peoples’ Front takes a pro-republican stance, but emphasizes on a common minimum ground .... February 1 move was not only totally unnecessary but also futile ..... Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) ..... In their rivalry to win the King’s support to stick to the power politics, they remained negligent and reluctant in institutional as well as structural strengthening of democracy ..... the Maoists, they were in favor of the dissolution of the parliament, nullification of the 1991 Constitution, and eventually to the collapse of the multi-party democratic system..... served the dark interests of the King and other regressive elements. These two interests came together to assemble a nexus, which turned out to be a fatal one to the democratic system in Nepal....... in favor of a republican state through the election of constituent assembly ...... what is important is not the individual standpoint of a party but the political power constellation of the country. There should be a minimum common consensus ...... the concerns for national security are not the business of a handful of people or the ruling elites. These elements alone cannot save the nation and provide security; this is the concern of all peace and justice-loving masses of people.
• US Senator Leahy Resolution On Nepal INSN .....despite condemnation of the King’s actions and the suspension of military aid to Nepal by India and Great Britain, and similar steps by the United States, the King has refused to restore constitutional liberties and democracy ...... King Gyanendra has said that he intends to pursue a military strategy against the Maoists ...... an effective strategy to counter the Maoists also requires a political process ...... it is the Sense of the Senate that King Gyanendra should immediately release all political detainees, restore constitutional liberties, and undertake good faith negotiations with the leaders of Nepal’s political parties to restore democracy
• UML Democracy Bulletin 5 INSN
• Nepal’s king wants foreign support to grab power Daily Times, Pakistan
• Nepal Calls Maoist Win Prediction 'Day Dreaming' Swissinfo
• Nepal's Ousted Prime Minister Rejects Corruption Panel Summons Bloomberg
• Top News ; Deuba named in graft deals, refuses summons: Keralanext
• Nepal close to being a failed state, says NYT report : 123Bharath.com
• Nepalese hero’s son accused of graft The Statesman
• At least 22 Maoists killed in Nepal clashes Sify, India
• Nepal army: 22 rebels, 3 troops killed Boston Globe
• NEPAL: Interview with Dennis McNamara, UN internal displacement ... Reuters AlertNet, UK
• Nepal Rhinos Dwindling Because of Poaching Reuters
• SAFMA appeals to journalists to support press freedom in Nepal PakTribune.com, Pakistan
• Nepal-China friendship helps regional peace Xinhua, China
• Unrest hits LGBT communities in Nepal Gay.com, CA

Prachanda Is Angry

Prachanda is mad at the world because his mother died of blood cancer in 1995. Well, Prachanda, what do you have to say to all those other mothers who have been subjected to the reverse tragedy of having to lose their sons because of your gun-talk? I am not a medical expert, but maybe there is no cure for blood cancer, yet. Maybe your feelings of grief could have been channelled to contributing to cancer research. The Pakistani cricketeer Imran Khan lost his mother to cancer and he proceeded to raise funds to erect a cancer hospital in his country.

Prachanda lost his mother to blood cancer. King G spent 90,000 pounds for his mother's medical care last year. Is that an offensive disparity? Is that the offensive disparity?

What exactly is Prachanda Path? If that is supposed to be a theoretical contribution to communist theory, I don't see any evidence of it. Where is it in writing? What exactly does it propose? Or is it about waging a civil war and building a road at the same time? Is that your contribution? You Maoists are at the early stages of building a proposed 50 kilometer road through what some might say is forced labor. The democrats built thousands of kilometers in the 1990s. Compare.

Marxism is supposed to be a science, and scientists dare to face facts. But you Maoists give me every impression you are members of some Flat Earth Society. You are singularly isolated from reality. You are married to a defunct ideology, the facts be damned.

What is your trick? To offer a shifting goal post? If the democrats might come around to the idea of a Constituent Assembly, that is no longer enough. If the democrats prepare to deal with Baburam Bhattarai, not to cause a split in your ranks but because your party itself has consistently projected him as the person who holds talks with other camps, you put the guy into some kind of a protective custody, your version of detention.

Your aversion to dialogue is the aversion of someone who fears his sense of "reality" might get challenged when exposed to sunlight.

Your personal grief is valid, like that of every other person who might have lost a mother or a son, or another family member. But ask if that same mother you grieve for would have approved of what seems like an addiction to violent ways. When does it end? In Maoism, it never ends. It does not end after Mao comes to power. It does not end after Mao consolidates power. It does not end while Mao is getting struck with bolts of inspiration as to how best to mould the society now captured. It does not even end when Mao dies. If your Maoism is an imitation of Mao, whose life details are public knowledge, you are doomed. You are nothing but a cult leader engineering a mass suicide for those who have chosen to follow you.

On the other hand, if you are a Marxist, in the scientific sense of the term, as it is supposed to be, and you are willing to face facts, and subject yourself to peer review, as all scientists do, and are someone trying to apply communist theory to current conditions, and are willing to get creative, and are capable of facing reality, it is time to show that is true. Time is running out fast.

Basically you have the choice to show you do mean Democratic Republic when you say it, that you do not mean the Kim Jong Il version. Or if you mean the Kim Jong Il version, you stand to face an isolation like the king never even dreamed of for himself. At best you can continue with the stalemate. You are not now, not never going to militarily take over the country.

I need you to take a look at this proposed constitution. If this can not be a meeting ground between the democrats and the Maoists, no meeting ground is possible. Then the democrats will have the option to steal away your political and social thunder to reduce you to a law and order problem. We intend to move ahead with or without you.

In The News

• Nepal Rebel Chief Rules Out Peace with Government, Predicts ... Voice of America ....Prachanda has ruled out peace talks or a cease-fire with the government, saying he has confidence in the rebels' ultimate victory .... said the rebels are in the last stage of a strategic offensive that began in 1996 to oust the monarchy and replace it with a communist state
• Nepal rebels rule out peace talks CNN The army, which backed the king's power grab, vowed in February to step up its offensive against the Maoists, but has shown little sign of doing so yet. Gyanendra's hand-picked government is against holding talks with the Maoists, calling them "ghosts that need to be dealt with the stick"...... Prachanda said the Maoists would only consider talks if the king withdrew his February 1 proclamation and seizure of power, and was prepared to hand over "all power to the people" by allowing elections for an assembly to draw up a new constitution...... Prachanda renewed an appeal to Nepal's political parties, sidelined by the king, to unite with the rebels "against this autocratic monarchy, on the minimum program of Constituent Assembly and democratic republic"...... He dismissed as "Goebble's (sic) propaganda" the army's claim that there was a split in rebel ranks between moderates who favor peace talks and hardliners who prefer a military solution..... Most analysts say the war is unwinnable by either side.
  
• Rebel threat closes Nepal schools BBC News, UK .....More than 1.5 million students attend some 9,000 private schools in Nepal.
• Nepal's private schools plan international plea after Maoist ... ReliefWeb (press release) Maoists want the institutions to cut fees, scrap singing the national anthem and remove photographs of the king ..... rebels have planted three bombs in empty private school buildings in western Nepal over the past week ...... "We are in a dilemma. The army orders us to remain open or have our registration cancelled" ..... The 4.9 million students studying in Nepal's 25,000 public schools have not been affected by the Maoists' closure demand.
• Nepali professor in Harvard thinks Nepal hasn’t hit the bottom ... United We Blog, Nepal I came to the conclusion that there is a need for a dialogue between the parties and they are ready to initiate it and they just need a spark...... the idea of house revival. It seemed to me that Deuba congress was the least receptive of the idea..... there were other alternatives to Feb 1 and the king did not explore them fully ..... Newspaper headlines and causal talks centered on Maoists problems. Everybody, I talked to was frustrated or even seemed depressed...... I felt I was ‘Nepal’ arrested. I could not call my relatives outside and even in the valley. ....People representing all sides of the conflict are well-educated and intelligent people, and yet we are not able to solve it in a humanely and civilized way....... King’s action has all the readymade ingredients for more violence instead of peace..... only two years ago when I thought the situation really took a turn from bad to worse ..... In the eve of Kot massacre King Rajendra (??) went to British Embassy in the middle of night looking for help. King Tribhuvan went to take shelter in the Indian Embassy during democracy movement. So there is precedence of seeking help from friendly countries when the country is in political trouble. Parties should coordinate with the international community and organizations (e.g. UN) for a dignified way out from the current problem.
• Parties give nod to municipal polls Gorkhapatra .... co-general secretary of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Dhruva Bahadur Pradhan .... General secretary of the Nepal Sadvawana Party Amrita Agrahari .... Dr Ram Sharan Mahat of the Nepali Congress ..... CPN-UML’s central member Siddhi Lal Singh ..... Dr Minendra Rizal of the Nepali Congress (Democratic) ..... Central member of the Rastriya Janashakti Party Nair Bahadur Swanr .... Chairperson of the United Left Front CP Mainali
  
• No one loves Nepal Indian Express, India ... on Feb. 1, he said the government had failed to use the army effectively against the rebels .... It has long been obvious that there is no military solution to the insurgency
• Group of human rights bodies attacks Nepal govt Zee News, India
  
• Panel set up to counter Maoists in nine states:- Webindia123 .....a high-power standing committee of chief ministers of nine affected states ... Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.... headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil..... spurt in extremist activities that were earlier confined to fringe regions. .... "The ghastly killings, landmine blasts, extortion and abductions (by Maoists) in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa have started bleeding the country"
  
• A terrified village in Nepal is mourning it’s massacred men United We Blog, Nepal In the midnight of Friday, April 15, hundreds of armed Maoists surrounded their tiny village and indiscriminately killed 10 innocent men..... All the terrified male residents have fled the village ..... Men from neighboring village have gone to Bargadwa (of Somani) to help stranded women and children to cremate the dead bodies and perform last rites. Terrified and horrified women do not even want to talk about the crime ..... killed by countless shots from indiscriminate firing. .... destroyed 15 houses..... detonated bombs in 4 cemented houses and set ablaze 11 other houses. More than 1 hundred people from those 15 families are now facing a bleak future. They lost almost everything....... at least 1000 locals have left the village and have gone to neighboring Indian villages some with their cattle ...... dead Chandra Man Dhobi ...... everything from grains and clothes to cattle were burnt .... armed members of the resistance committee in 12 southern villages bordering India have been patrolling 24 hours for the last two months...... Army brought a team of human rights activists here from Kathmandu on Saturday in helicopter. But human rights activists based on the district have not gone because they fear possible retaliation from the resistance committee or the Maoists.
• People's War' turning against the p Newindpress A 14-year-old boy, Kamlesh Yadav, who had appeared for the school-leaving examinations that ended last week, was among the 10 - aged below 30 - who were dragged from their beds around 11 p.m. and summarily shot..... Formation of such groups - sometimes with the active support of the government - is on the rise, unleashing a cycle of greater violence ..... Districts in the southern plains have recently been the site of such orgies of violence with arson and indiscriminate killings. ..... Kapilavastu district, the birthplace of the Buddha .... Ganesh Chiluwal, who headed the Maoist Victims' Association, was gunned down in the heart of the city in broad daylight ..... Last month, the Maoists forcibly took 22 villagers away from Bhitrikot village in Pyuthan district, ostensibly to help build a road. .... they have failed to return home even after a fortnight, their families fear they could have been forced to carry arms and equipment during an attack launched by the Maoists on an army camp in midwest Nepal recently...... With that clash leading to the death of over 160 people, the villagers fear that their men might have been among the innocent victims.
• EDUCATION-NEPAL: Schools Still Beyond Reach for Girls Inter Press Service (subscription), World ''The countries with the widest gender gaps in the region are Pakistan, where UNICEF projections for 2005 show a gender parity index (GPI) of just 0.83, and Nepal, 0.89'' .... there are 3.08 million children from the ages of five to nine in the country. Out of this number, 486,000 are not in school - of which 372,800 are girls. ...... ''Many children in Nepal are growing up in an environment shaped by guns, bombs, bandhs (strikes), killings, the sight of dead bodies and the fear of war, leading them to be preoccupied with thoughts and fear about violence and other psychosocial consequences'' .... schools in conflict-affected areas have been turned into barracks and used for political meetings and enforced political-indoctrination sessions ...... child marriages have become increasingly common in Nepal as a result of the armed conflict forcing many girls to leave school ..... After Maoists abduct a girl for indoctrination, even if is just for a number of days, she is likely to be rejected for marriage proposals ..... ''As a result, some parents are withdrawing their girls from schools and marrying them at increasingly younger ages to prevent this situation''
  
• Nepal King Seeks to Break Out of Isolation on Tour Swissinfo, Switzerland
• King unhappy with response to emergency Indian Express
• UN urges action on Nepal refugees BBC News, UK
• Nepal king to visit Singapore Times of India, India
• HM’s foreign tour to erase misconception about Nepal Gorkhapatra, Nepal
• UN team visits conflict-affected areas in Nepal Xinhua, China
• US official to discuss political issue of South Asia Xinhua, China
• Why US Support For The King Of Nepal Is Important? Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand
• Nepal Will Use Asia-Africa Summit to Explain Emergency Rule Bloomberg
• Nepal rebels rule out cease fire Pakistan Dawn
• Nepal: Police Attack Transgender People Reuters AlertNet, UK ...."In a country where political and civil rights have been suspended, the violence sends a message that no one who looks or acts differently can feel safe." ..... on the night of December 12, 15 policemen in the Jamal district of Kathmandu attacked two metis on the street. The assailants wore civilian clothes but reportedly showed police IDs. They took the victims to Tundhikel, a large open field in central Kathmandu, threatened them with guns, and beat and raped them..... On August 9, 39 metis who were members of the Blue Diamond Society were picked up in police raids in Kathmandu. They were held for more than two weeks in the Hanuman Dhoka police station, and denied adequate food or visitation rights. Several were beaten and raped...... Justice Ram Prasad of Nepal's Supreme Court acted on a petition received from a private lawyer, asking to ban the Blue Diamond Society on the grounds that it violated the prohibition of "unnatural sex" in Nepal's criminal code.
• Nepal Police Attack, Beat Transsexuals 365Gay.com
  
• ‘Nepal polls a plot to validate power grab’ Indian Express, India The leaders, who gathered to observe the 75th birth anniversary of Nepal Sadbhavana Party founder president and Terai leader Gajendra Narayan Singh, urged political parties to form a united front against the royal takeover...... Ex-PM Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepali Congress Democratic leader Minendra Rijal and others stressd on the need to forge unity among parties.
• Parties cry foul over call for local election Times of India Veteran communist leader Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar ..... Former minister Nilambar Acharya
• After Nepal, Bangladesh worries India, US Indian Express, India Encouraged by the effective cooperation between the two countries in dealing with the political crisis in Nepal, India and US today discussed ways to close ranks and synchronise efforts to respond to the deteriorating situation in Bangladesh.
• Natwar returns, Rocca to follow Indian Express
  
• Asst. Sec. General of UN presents an exit strategy for Nepal United We Blog King Gyanendra of Nepal is known to be an intelligent person who is well-read and very knowledgeable about the current world situation..... So why did he do it? ..... The King could have genuinely felt duty-bound to try to rescue the nation from a downward spiral of senseless violence and endless political strife....... he could now be equally daring and decisive in making a course correction ...... the King did indeed have a carefully crafted game plan but it seems to have been largely based on wishful thinking by some of his confidants ...... the King was advised by his military commanders that if the Royal Nepalese Army were given a free hand, under a state of emergency, it could quickly capture several top Maoist leaders...... The examples of support for Pakistan’s Musharraf and Peru’s Fujimori .... was surprised by the vehemence of opposition to his take-over by Nepal’s closest and strongest donors and supporters ....... Given the anti-democratic credentials of several such loyalists, the King’s professed commitment to a multi-party democracy is viewed with suspicion and even disbelief. ........ Gyanendra too is known to consult Hindu astrologers and priests ..... is known to command the loyalty of many orthodox Hindus in India. ..... one of the King’s new Ministers had telephoned the leader of the BJP party in India to seek his support ...... cultivating Nepal’s autocrats is not a worthy price for China to offend India and other Western powers. ....... While there is much support for the King’s counter-corruption measures, the fact that many of the King’s loyalists too have shady reputation, and these measures are seen to be politically motivated and of dubious legality ..... the government has found out that in today’s world it is impossible for any government to effectively cut off news and information ...... the void created by the banning of Nepal’s vibrant FM radio stations in rural areas has been filled by clandestine Maoist broadcasts ........ the King finds himself increasingly isolated and ill-served by his loyalists ...... country has become completely polarised ....... Outside Kathmandu, the situation has continued to deteriorate. ..... Genuine support for the Maoists is believed to be minimal and declining, but the high-handedness of the Royal Nepalese Army is alienating the populace. ...... Another unintended consequence of the King’s drastic step has been that India has become an even bigger player in Nepal’s politics today........ New Delhi has become the capital of Nepal on matters pertaining to international response to Nepal’s political crisis ...... both the Maoists and the government have hardened their position ...... pro-republican sentiments are growing ...... there is no military solution to the crisis ....... Each of Nepal’s 3 key political forces – the King, the parties and the Maoists – have lost genuine public support in recent years ...... a serious credibility gap in the verbal commitments of Nepal’s leaders ..... both the monarch and the Maoists proclaim their faith in “genuine” democracy. But their actions tell a different tale. The political parties promise good governance in their manifestos, but tolerate corrupt behaviour by their leaders ..... pursue peacefully an agenda of radical social reforms..... Having achieved considerable success in the countryside, the Maoists are now faced with the choice of either doggedly pursuing total victory, which frankly is unachievable and unsustainable, or trying to cash in on their strength and accept to become an influential political party that champions the populist cause of the poor and the downtrodden........ Nepal’s short lived multi-party democracy was functioning relatively well at the local level and was beginning to produce good results........ Nepal was actually on the right track ....... A functioning democracy tends to be self-correcting, as voters eventually throw out irresponsible and unaccountable leaders. .......Requirement for leaders to disclose their own and their immediate family members’ income, assets and tax payments on an annual basis, and especially before and after assuming ministerial or senior constitutional positions ...... serious consideration should be given to temporary restoration of the dissolved parliament, for an interim period, for certain specific tasks ...... the political parties must come up with a politically clear, unified and consistent stand on the Maoist insurgency and its resolution ..... peace process should allow face saving for all parties ...... Ultimately, the Nepalis themselves have to find enough common ground to end the conflict ....... There have been many offers of help from organizations like the United Nations, the Carter Center, the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the European Union, and several friendly countries.... disarmament and demobilisation, election monitoring, post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation, human rights promotion and institution of “truth and reconciliation” mechanisms that will be needed to heal the deep scars of injury and injustice left by the conflict......
• Shooting In Janakpur INSN
• Time Magazine Interview With Prachanda ..... declined to be interviewed in person but agreed to reply in writing ... to a go-between in rebel territory ......his first interview with an independent journalist ..... reply—dated Feb. 25 ..... In 1996, we had not a single modern weapon nor any trained armed groups, only an ideological, political and military line and a plan [that] defined three stages: defensive, equilibrium and offensive...... Our strategy for this last stage will be to fuse urban insurrection to protracted People's War.....our party has every right to blame the parliamentary parties for their conciliatory approach to feudal autocracy. .....RNA helicopters have started to bomb houses and unarmed people..... the People's Liberation Army, [which has] a plan to protect the masses through a series of attacks on the RNA's strategic points..... We are fighting for the liberation of the masses, whereas the R.N.A. is fighting against the masses...... the PLA has captured hundreds and hundreds of RNA and police personnel, treated them humanely, respected them as prisoners of war and freed them ...... we are very serious about the number of Nepalese people who have fled their home villages, even the country. We regularly appeal to people to return home and say we will take care of their security, and an increasing number of people who fled are returning...... Because we are at war, I can't rule out mistakes. But we try to correct them......I want to appeal to democratic institutions and people all over the world not to be confused by the yellow propaganda of the RNA. The propaganda concerning the use of children in the People's Army is curious. We strictly do not allow those below the age of 18 to join. But one thing [that confuses] commentators is the thousands of orphans of our martyrs. Our party naturally undertakes the responsibility to feed, educate and train them so as to be good successors to their parents. We never use them in fighting, but we educate and discipline them as a children's organization. When we are taking care of poor children, how can one draw parallels with things like the Khmer Rouge?....our party neither represents dogmatism nor revisionism. We are trying to defend, apply and develop our [communist] science to the national and international situation. We are different to how outsiders imagine us: remaining firm in our ideological orientation, but very flexible....Being a science it deserves continuous and consistent development...... these so-called democratic countries don't support the democratic demands of the Nepalese people. .. Developing sharp differences between the haves and the have-nots generates the basis for world revolution. Anybody can observe the growing global unrest at this world order. We deeply believe that what we are starting in Nepal is part of a worldwide 21st century revolution.....After thorough debate, we have put forward a new historic proposal called "the development of democracy in the 21st century" [which] guarantees the new state will be under the observation, control and hegemony of the general masses. There will be free competition among political parties, [provided they] oppose feudalism and imperialism and work for the service of the masses. We also propose the party should [divide]: one section will work among the masses and the other will handle the state work. After some time this division will rotate to check the party and state from the danger of bureaucratic capitalism and totalitarianism. Anyway, the main thing is we are trying to build a new type of party that continuously revolutionizes itself through constant ideological and class struggle. Beyond the necessity of centralizing leadership, there is no question of any cult of personality. We are trying our best to develop a system of collective leadership and a flow of successors..... the feudal autocratic nature of the King and the democratic nature of the Maoists. ..... China's current ruling class dreams of being the new superpower, which goes directly against the path charted by Mao Zedong. China fears the return of Mao in Nepal....there are other forces who directly or indirectly support our proposal for U.N. or international mediation, and we have so many friends and institutions with whom we have regular contact, but for technical reasons, I am unable to disclose who they are. .... .. I am from a poor peasant family. From my childhood, I came to feel the meaning of poverty and inhuman exploitation..... humanity marches together towards infinite prosperity...... I have no time and no interests outside the Party, the campaign and the masses.... this is my first and last dream..... I am not so hidden from my people. I am open and in constant interaction with them.
• Time Magazine Interview With Gyanendra his first interview with the foreign press since his takeover on Feb. 1 ..... TIME: It was a well-executed takeover. Had you been planning this for a while? ..... [the takeover] was a foregone conclusion. .... to fight for democracy against terrorism. Now our friends must come and tell us whether this objective is incorrect, or help us in this cause....... skepticism is slow suicide .... something that was done under the provisions of the constitution cannot be defined as undemocratic ...... a little less might have yielded no results at all ..... I am saddened by the few of our friends that have chosen to curb much-needed assistance. Many Nepalese are identifying who their real friends are in this time of need..... We hope saner heads will prevail [in countries] where we have already received such vital assistance...... TIME: Do you agree you've taken an enormous risk, with your crown and your life? ...... the monarchy has always sided with the people and risked itself with them ...... TIME: In your proclamation, you spoke of an offensive against the Maoists. When can we expect that? ....... Do you want us to be aggressive, insulting or attacking? I do not think it is wise to only attack. There are many other things which also have to be implemented, like winning the hearts and minds of the people, for example. You have to have the population with you in this type of situation. ...... TIME: You're hinting that this is an unwinnable war. ...... It's not a question of winning or not winning. It's a question of taming. ...... the RNA will do the needful—whatever is required. They will coerce, comprehend, coordinate, cooperate. No law abiding citizen in Nepal should feel any pain. Yet those who do not abide by the law, who do not accept the majority's choice, they will feel pain. ...... TIME: There are serious concerns over the RNA's human rights record. Do you share them? ..... Think of Guantanamo, Iraq. We don't have bad stories like that. ...... You asked me this once before, and I give you the same answer: are these questions being raised now because the RNA is being successful? ....... TIME: What about the reports we hear from Kapilbastu, of lynch mobs killing 30 people, burning hundreds of homes, and encouraged to do so by the RNA? .... Has Nepal witnessed rising public antipathy against terrorism? Yes. ...... No one needs to instigate the public. Enough is enough. That's clearly the message the rural population is giving the terrorists. They are rising up. And I welcome these moves by the people. ...... and according to the rule of law. But when they do rise up, they must conduct themselves in a proper and civil mannerIt also absolutely untrue that the RNA was in any way involved in this incident. ...... TIME: Doesn't it worry you, taking power with a military that is so criticized? ..... Gyanendra: Did I use the military to take over? TIME: OK, let's call them the security forces. ....... TIME: Let me put it this way: do you feel you have complete control over the army? ...... I do not believe in controlling anything. If the system works, discipline is there and the system does not function at the whims and fancies of an individual. If you're talking about loyalty, that's another thing. ....... Gyanendra: Are you accusing me of a coup? This is not a coup at all. ....... We have enough laws and regulations to do what we need to do. Nothing new has been introduced. ....... TIME: The one thing you share with the rebels is a frustration with the performance of the political parties. Tell me why. ....... I am still frustrated. I think any sane individual would be. ....... they need to come forward with their perceptions on four things: on our fight against terror, on our fight against corruption, on fiscal discipline, and on strengthening the bureaucracy to make it more result-, people- and service-oriented. If we are clear on these four things, then we can discuss the methods and systems to achieve peace....... I am giving you a roadmap. ...... TIME: The thing is, you shut down the political parties, locked up their leaders. Don't you think you damaged, or even made irrelevant, the very things you say you're working to strengthen? ........ You can only damage something if it's sound. ...... Look, democracy is here to stay. No one will be able to get rid of it. And the institution of the monarchy will see to it that no one can get rid of it. But the parties are a vehicle in that progress, and you can always change vehicles....... You cannot go to extremes to achieve things. But this is a language that they do not understand. Which part of the constitution does not allow them to talk peacefully? You don't like some word, you don't like some idea, these things can be thrashed out peacefully. This outdated, dilapidated thought that everything comes from the barrel of a gun is not an ideology accepted anywhere in the 21st century...... TIME: That's also something to talk about. To an outsider, this war, a King fighting a Maoist guerrilla, can seem strangely historic, as though Nepal is fighting the battles of the last century. ........ Gyanendra: (Laughs). ...... We cannot afford this conflict anymore. Democracy is not about 'I am as good as you.' It's about 'you are as good as me.' People have to understand this. ..... .. undisciplined freedom has nearly brought about the end of democracy ....... Why is it that as soon as we talk of freedom, everyone forgets their duty and responsibility to the nation? Are individuals above the nation? Is a system above the nation? ...... We want to see transparency, openness and communication flourish. ......... These times are not going to be easy for the Nepalese. We have to learn to be austere and pull up our socks. We have to learn to stand on our own two feet, and I am not saying that because aid is going to be stopped....... TIME: Let's be frank here. When you talk about dark times ahead, what you're saying is: 'people are going to die.' ...... I have requested people to give me a certain amount of time and I intend to make the best use of that time in the wisest way possible. Without the cooperation of the people, no one can succeed. What is all this exercise for, if not for the people? What is democracy for? ...... TIME: Taking over after losing most of your family, and then facing a crisis in which you have to ask people to give up their lives: do you feel the burden of office? ....... I feel it must be my destiny. ..... Without stability, there will be no prosperity, and prosperity is for posterity ...... and being at risk ...... any leadership is a question of living dangerouslyWe learn to meditate, relax and execute things correctly, which is nothing new to our culture. ...... TIME: I've asked you this before, but how lonely are you, in power, facing a crisis alone, with most of your family gone?
  Gyanendra: It depends how you view happiness and loneliness. If you pursue happiness, you will not achieve it. ....... It's a misconception that I am confined within the compound of the palace. ...... I am fully satisfied that I am hearing the voice of the people. ..... If you're asking me where is God, I would have asked you: where is he not? ...... Speaking to people about your worries, it's like a valve opens and the pressure is released. One does not have to go berserk, or go into a state of depression. This is something that we continue to hear happens in your cities because of the values you have, because you are so interlinked with material pursuits......... I insist on having a meal with my family daily. ...... when you enlarge a family, the social structure becomes civil society and enlarge that and it becomes a nation ..... My family is a fortress of strength, and I think each member realizes his of her responsibility and understands very well the changed context demands more responsibility, not irresponsibility....... ..... TIME: On the responsibility and irresponsibility of members of the royal family, some have had concerns on that score regarding the Crown Prince. Gyanendra: That's something you should ask him, it's not for me. But that new understanding and approach is already bearing fruit. I would have thought you would ask me about what it's like being in power. TIME: Well, sure, what is it like? Gyanendra: Look, we all know that absolute power corrupts absolutely....... There are three origins of power: wealth, strength and talent. ..... A little law is required. ...... We have chosen a path now, and it's strewn with many, many thorns, but we intend to go over those thorns when it comes to the question of terrorism. Those who help us get rid of these thorns so that we can achieve our objective will be more than welcome and will identified as friends in times of need.
• Gunning For Nepal Time Asia As with everything in this war, it's impossible to know where the truth lies. But the bloodshed is all too real. At an estimated 10 killings a day, Nepal's is the deadliest conflict in Asia. At times—such as when 1,023 died in a single month in 2002—this beautiful mountain kingdom briefly becomes the single most dangerous place on earth. Massacres have become commonplace: a favored Maoist technique is the "wave" attack, in which up to 5,000 rebels head into battle with the objective of leaving no enemy alive. ....... He vows that the 85,000-member Nepalese army will do "whatever is required" to restore order: "Those who do not abide by the law will feel pain." ..... principal effect of Gyanendra's crackdown has been to gut Nepal's civil society ...... extrajudicial killings by Nepal's security forces have risen "exponentially" to an average of eight a day. Meanwhile, the rebels continue to besiege the cities and to bomb markets, prisons and police stations. ..... thousands of rebels attacked an army base in Rukum district on April 7...... Maoists are waging a deadly bombing campaign against government buildings nationwide, making a particular target of jails where their comrades are held..... In a country where the average person scrapes by on an income of $240 a year, many have fled to brothels in Bombay, sweatshops in Southeast Asia and servants' quarters in the Gulf: trade unions say 7 million out of 27 million Nepalis now live abroad....... an influx of gunrunners, drug barons and terrorists who, as in other failing states, find a home amid chaos ........ "it could get so much worse. Warlords. Poppies. The gun becoming entrenched as a way of life. It's almost impossible to fathom what a poorer Nepal would be like, [but] I guess you move from disease to epidemic, and malnutrition to starvation. The best possible scenario is that one of the world's poorest countries just gets poorer." ..... Kathmandu's main tourist drag is called "Freak Street," a leading city newspaper is the Space Time Today, and the government uses a calendar by whose reckoning this is the year 2062. ..... whole swaths of the country exist in an ungoverned vacuum. ..... By the time he graduated from high school, he was a communist. ...... while revolution swept the world from China to Cuba, it missed Nepal ...... new democracy was consumed by infighting, corruption and venal ambition. By last summer, the country had endured 14 governments in 14 years and the parties had split so many times that Prachanda's Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) was one of 40 left-wing groups, including 10 Communist Parties of Nepal....... By February 1996, Prachanda had had enough. ...... At first, Prachanda commanded only a few hundred men, who were armed with axes, hoes and World War II rifles. In the ensuing conflict, casualties were light and the Maoists themselves accounted for two-thirds of all deaths ....... ahistorical curios ..... Nov. 23, 2001, when the Maoists launched 48 simultaneous attacks on the police and army, killing hundreds. In the months that followed, the Maoists staged a series of massive assaults ..... decapitated their own fallen comrades rather than leave them identifiable. ...... they are now able to attack anywhere ...... While the Maoists portray themselves as saviors of the common folk, many people have fled from them in terror. ..... possibility of a rebel takeover looms ..... .. Despite the carnage in Kharikot, spirits are high, almost giddy. ..... ... One female fighter wears a Britney Spears T shirt under an ammunition belt, another dons a Jurassic Park shirt, and several wrap themselves in towels decorated with images of Spider-Man or Winnie the Pooh. The men joke and play-fight, the women giggle and hug, and everyone plays volleyball and swaps the latest Bollywood tapes......... First Brigade's vice political commissar, Atal, says enlisting children is the norm: "According to Lenin, once they are 15, they can join up." ....... the Khmer Rouge proved that children could be imaginatively murderous .......... Few seem to have working knowledge of their weapons: some carry them slung backward over their shoulder, safety catch off and pointed at their comrades' waists; others stuff the barrels with cloth and mud to keep out the damp. Ammunition is also a problem. Only a handful of fighters have a spare clip. The sheer variety of weapons—from American M-16s to Belgian guns captured from the R.N.A. to AK-47s bought from gun smugglers—makes it impossible for the rebel army to keep them all loaded. But the Maoists have one world-class weapon: the Himalayas. Their territory, a maze of giant ravines so remote that many maps of Nepal contain large tracts of blank space, is the perfect launching pad for guerrilla warfare........ His hierarchy is traditional Stalinist: he serves as Party chairman and commander-in-chief ..... "model" villages that embody his vision of a Maoist Nepal. ....... Maoist capital Thabang ..... hammer-and-sickle flags fly from the roofs and a mural in the main street depicts Prachanda alongside Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao....... Thabang's chief, Raktim, says religion is discouraged and will eventually be "eliminated." A new Marxist school curriculum will teach Party history to children from age 5. ....... veto or approve marriages, and bestow revolutionary names ...... press-ganged some 1,000 villagers to build a road east from Thabang, but that's the extent of their development work. ...... "If we build clinics or irrigation channels, the army just comes here and destroys it. We do the same to them." ...... "If his offense is serious, we give him hard labor... But if he doesn't change, we shoot him. Or use a kukri [knife] if we don't have the bullets." ...... suffering at the hands of the Maoists takes many forms ...... "They take people to the hills for days, weeks, even months. They call it 'camping.' They tell you everyone must be proletariat, that we are too materialistic, too middle-class, that it doesn't matter how people think, only how the Party thinks, that nothing can happen without their permission. They want our heads empty and our eyes sightless so that we follow them blindly. That's why they like children." ........ insists the sessions are educational, not coercive. "We feel that if people understand us, they'll support us." ....... Asked how she squares this with forcing impoverished villagers to feed and house them while doing nothing to improve their lives, she is adamant: "We are fighting for the people. So we eat in their houses. How can people say we are doing bad things?" Her certainty knows no bounds. "Not only will we be in Kathmandu in months," she says, "we'll spread all over the world." ...... the teacher complains that the rebels assume rather than earn support: "People hate them. They're vicious and they take and give nothing back. They think power and the gun are everything. Sadly, they have a point—what can we do if they've got the guns?" ........ If Monarchs are born into isolation and dictators make their own ...... While other royals never strayed far from the palace, he became a businessman and participated little in public life. It was typical that on June 1, 2001, as the royal family met for dinner at Narayanhity Palace in Kathmandu, he was away on business in western Nepal. ....... In an instant, Gyanendra had lost most of his family and went from businessman to King. Dipendra also killed off much of the royal family's popularity. Gyanendra became the subject of bizarre, unfounded conspiracy theories, which Prachanda perpetuates, referring to him as "the infamous fratricidal and regicidal King Gyanendra." ....... An assassination target, he ventures no farther than his palace offices for weeks at a time........ Among the few commoners he does see are his generals. A longtime friend of the King says the top brass "surrounded him and cut him off." And as people "who tend to see things in black and white," by last November they had persuaded him to seize power. Even then, the King didn't leave home: he announced his takeover from a television studio he had built for the purpose inside the palace........ Most disturbing are army reports of spontaneous "uprisings" against the Maoists. ...... "This mob moved to 21 villages—killing people, torturing them, raping, looting and setting fire to the houses" ....... "far more effective at terrorizing their own citizens than fighting the Maoists." ... "They effectively own the country." ....... it's doubtful that the King fully controls Nepal's army, which is poorly trained, spread across the Himalayas and linked only by patchy communications. A Western diplomat observes: "We think he's still in charge, but it's becoming a legitimate question." ....... Gyanendra acknowledges that he has chosen "a path strewn with many, many thorns." Prachanda agrees that "sacrifice is inevitable." In Gairigaon, First Brigade's vice political commissar Atal smiles at his teenage soldiers as he exhorts them to risk their lives for the revolution. Many of these young fighters have already lost family members in the war, says Atal: "It changed their thoughts. It gave them great thoughts. They're ready to die." No doubt, they will.