Loktantra: A Magazine In The Offing

There has been talk in Delhi that a new magazine in Nepali dedicated to the democratic movement and to be circulated all over Nepal is to be launched. I already wrote and sent off my article for the first issue.

This is more like Lenin's Iskra.

It might have to be smuggled into many parts of the country. It will also be a vehicle for the new generation to assert itself more within the democratic movement. The formal seven party alliance has so far not put up an impressive show. There are major shortcomings in terms of vision, tactics, organization and energy.

I will publish my article at this blog after it first comes out in Loktantra. I will try to publish the entire magazine infact. The goal is maximum dissemination. We are also trying to get other sites to participate.

The idea also is to use the term loktantra, and not prajatantra no more. Praja mean's king's subjects. That image has to be washed away.

In The News

• Nepal Govt blocks two websites of independent media network Afternoon Dispatch & Courier, India The International Nepal Solidarity Network (INSN) said the government has blocked its websites www.insn.org and www.samudaya.org from being accessed in Nepal.
• The echo chamber next door Indian Express a gagged media perfectly symbolises a hijacked nation .... Long live the emergency. ... Nepal’s media professionals, in contrast, are being tested every day and a considerable number of them have continued to defy the royal writ in some of the most innovative, radical and imaginative ways ever devised by the media anywhere in the world.... stirred the Nepal Supreme Court recently into issuing notice to the royal government on its order banning private FM channels from airing news. ..... the state-owned Nepal TV was joined by four private channels and some 25 new radio channels became part of the media scene. Together they helped to create a public sphere out of largely illiterate, impoverished and scattered communities living in inhospitable terrains and at a time when democracy was still a fragile, nebulous thing..... He set in place a regime of zero tolerance for media freedom through the expedient of ratcheting up the Maoist threat. ... As news mutated into propaganda, the shadows over the kingdom darkened. The damage perpetrated during the earlier period of emergency and its role in encouraging violence, palace impunity and Maoist coercion has never been properly assessed. In the growing anarchy, information became a caricature of itself. The military’s claims that they were on the verge of decimating the Maoists were as much an exercise in mendacity as Maoist claims that the fall of Kathmandu was imminent. It was the ordinary citizen, at the centre of this vast echo chamber, who was the biggest loser since it became increasingly difficult to report even on issues of ordinary social concern and quite impossible to expose the innumerable violations of human and democratic rights..... the palace’s coercive apparatus remains on overdrive..... Gyanendra has a fine array of intimidating legal instruments to use against the media. They include the Offence Against the State and Punishment Act of 1989, the National Security Act, 1989, which prohibits the spread of terror and the Terrorist and Disruptive Acts (Control and Punishment) Act, which was brought in as an ordinance in 2001 and is now the law of the land.....Gyanendra has gone one step ahead by labelling as “terror” general public anger against his regime.... A gagged media is synonymous with Nepal’s fractured public sphere.
  
• Nepal's triangular conflict Kathmandu Post, Nepal a fourth element .. the international community, donors and neighboring countries ...... Monarchists, Maoists and the parliamentary forces ..... until the conflict is transformed into bipartite one, finding a possible solution to the conflict is very remote ..... Nepal's unique topography, geo-political reality, poor economy, use of indigenous war technology, home-grown nature of the conflict and the absence of a neutral, altruistic, thirty party mediator/negotiator ..... Given the stubborn stand taken by the parties, there is a little possibility of converging the three-party conflict into two..... in contrast to one-dimensional move in bipartite conflict, there could be many possible permutations and combinations of solutions ..... the monarchists have an interest in peace, which may also imply status quo. They are also concerned with nationality and which is unfortunately often (mis) interpreted as anti-India. Parliamentary forces are concerned with democracy, freedom and respect for human rights while the Maoists are concerned with social justice, social inclusion and doing away with all form of structural discriminatory practices...... Monarchists like to have active and constructive monarchy. Maoists want to abolish it though they have also stated that they are ready to give a "respectful space" provided there is "enough sacrifice" from the monarch. The parliamentary forces want to restrict the role to a constitutional one though the idea is now slowly waning. ....... Monarchists are concerned with the past. That is why they like to churn out past glory and tradition, history and religion as the unifying force. Maoists are concerned with the future. And so they talk of change and revolution. In spite of geriatric leadership, the parliamentary forces are preoccupied with the present....... the upper class would support monarchy, the middle class would go for the parliamentary forces and lower class will side with the Maoists .... the Maoists draw their power from the rural poor while monarchists from the urban rich .... The parliamentary forces emphasize attitudinal aspects, they talk of mutual distrust and loss of confidence; monarchists talk of behavioral aspects, they talk of killing and violence while the Maoists talk of structural conditions and contradictions as the root-cause of the conflict...... The Maoists prefer interest-based resolution, monarchists desire power-based solution while the parliamentary forces like to have rights-based resolutions..... There are various shades of monarchists ranging from hard-liners, moderate to soft-liners. Recently, Nepali media carried stories of possible differences within the Maoist camp. No need to mention the differences within the seven-party alliance - they are united for the moment simply because they were divided too much in the past.
• The Chronic Poverty Report 2004-05 Disabilities.AFreePress.com, UK Between 300 and 420 million people globally are trapped in chronic poverty.... People in chronic poverty are likely to be poor for much or all of their lives. Many will pass on their poverty to their children..... multidimensional deprivation - being hungry and poorly nourished, having access only to dirty drinking water, not being literate, having no access to health services, and being socially isolated and often economically exploited.... in a world that now has the knowledge and the resources to eradicate it...... opportunity is not enough.... they need targeted support, social assistance and social protection, and political action that confronts exclusion..... The largest numbers of chronically poor people live in South Asia, somewhere between 135 and 190 million people..... In Tamil Nadu, India, over a million destitute older people now receive $5 a month.... All the economic growth, all the improvements in governance and all of the improved public policies have not reached the chronic poor or helped them escape poverty
• Students upset at removing Nepali from grade XI Himalayan Times, Nepal decision to shift compulsory Nepali subject to Grade XII from Grade XI.
• Thapa calls on Indian PM, Sonia Himalayan Times, Nepal
• India finally sends non-lethal aid: Reports Kantipur Online, Nepal
• King should give up post of chairman: Thapa Kantipur Online, Nepal
• Incoming call free in mobiles Kantipur Online, Nepal . There are over 55,000 post-paid subscribers in the Valley alone....The NT has nearly 175,000 pre-paid mobile phone users but the service hasn’t resumed since Feb. 1.
• NT cuts tariff on outgoing calls Kathmandu Post, Nepal
• Professional organizations demand House restoration Kathmandu Post, Nepal Himalaya Shumsher Rana, member of Citizens' Peace Committee (CPC), said restoration of the dissolved House of Representatives would settle the current political imbroglio. "House restoration by the Supreme Court was the best process for reinstating parliament" ..... peace and security have not been restored even five months after the king's direct rule. "The nation has further deteriorated. The king is responsible for the entire political instability in our country".... Thapa said the present constitution has not envisioned a ban on political parties.
  
• Total foreign trade down by 3pc Kathmandu Post, Nepal
• 'Legalizing flesh trade can improve adolescent health' Kathmandu Post, Nepal Chief specialist at the Ministry of Health, Nirakar Man Shrestha, said..... 50 percent of young people in Nepal experience sex by the age of 16, with only 50 percent of them using condoms. And 16 percent of these youngsters have had sex either with strangers or sex workers.... 60 percent of pregnant women are adolescent .... 100 percent of suicide cases recorded in those districts are due to pre-marital pregnancy.... adolescents constitute 32 percent of the country's population.
• Teenagers Long and winding road ahead Kathmandu Post, Nepal
  
• Nepal: Miasma Of Maoist-Mainstream Alliance Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala and Unified Marxist-Leninist leader Bamdev Gautam held talks in New Delhi with senior Maoist leaders ..... Gautam, in several interviews after returning to Kathmandu, has stated that Maoist supremo Prachanda and one-time chief ideologue Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had voiced their firm commitment to the establishment of a democratic republic..... Until recently as last year, Koirala maintained that a constituent assembly would open a “Pandora’s box.” He sidelined voices, especially among younger leaders and activists, that pleaded for opening candid discussions on the continued relevance of the monarchy. Koirala has now asserted that the Nepali Congress would be in favor of a constituent assembly if the Maoists abandoned violence and agreed to hold a dialogue...... The Nepali Congress has not determined that the monarchy in any form is now unnecessary for the country..... The Unified Marxist-Leninists, although ideologically wedded to a republican agenda, have not come out in full opposition to the monarchy, either..... Demands for leadership changes are growing ..... rifts between Prachanda and Bhattarai have complicated matters ...... Bhattarai has reportedly spoken of threats to his life from Prachanda supporters. Moreover, doubts have been raised over Prachanda’s actual control over his army, which has been systematically violating his instructions not to target civilians...... The rebels have inflicted heavy casualties on the forces.... the buoyancy with which key government ministers and palace advisers are going about their business..... Given their mutual antipathy, reconciliation between the palace and parties would seem distant, if not entirely impossible.
• First lot after freeze: Bullet-proof jackets and jeeps for Nepal Indian Express, India
• Gurkhas send 659 letters to British House of Commons Kantipur Online, Nepal
• Tulsi Giri, Nepal’s royal deputy, is holding a semi-secret ... United We Blog, Nepal holding a semi secret meeting with “young” Nepali journalists hoping, probably, for a favorable coverage in future..... Mocking at T Giri’s inability to pay bank loan that he took some 20 years ago, people from around Nepal are collecting money, rupee after rupee, to help him pay back the loan..... As per Article 31(a) of the Corruption Control Act, Dr. Giri has not submitted his property statement. If not submitted within sixty days, all public authorities are liable to pay a fine of Rs5000..... it is because he does not own any property inside Nepal.
• Nepal's king fights a losing battle against corruption Monsters and Critics.com, UK In the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal corruption is said to be so rampant that if one has connections and resources, he or she can get away with almost anything...... "Political leaders who came to Kathmandu ten years ago with nothing on them now live in palatial buildings. Where did they get the money to build and own such houses?" ..... It is only the small fries that get convicted in corruption ..... Political leaders and top government officials regularly take commissions when awarding big contracts, ranging from eight per cent to as much as 30 percent ..... Donor-sponsored projects are the worst, he said. "For instance, the government estimate for an 11-kilometre Malekhu-Dhadhing road in central Nepal eight years ago was 30 million rupees (about 429,000 dollars), but the same project was constructed a few months later by the Germans at 390 million rupees (5.6 million dollars)." ...... almost 40 percent of development expenditure - whether funded by the government or donors - is wasted in corruption...... a World Bank report noting that Nepal's efforts to reduce corruption declined sharply in 2004 compared to 2002.
• Let’s talk about caste Manjushree Thapa Nepali Times, Nepal caste remains a strangely under-articulated topic ..... Many enlightened Nepalis abhor the caste system, though few have broken caste taboos in their personal lives..... the political parties remain the bastions of Bahun men.....the Chettri caste that had monopolised power before 1990 returned..... The heads of all the cabinets under King Gyanendra’s rule have been Chettris: Chand (a Thakuri sub-caste), Thapa, Deuba and Shah (also Thakuri)....... the king’s closest friends and advisers ..... Prabhu Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana, a childhood friend who accompanied the king to Indonesia and China. His nephew Prabhakar Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana heads the Soaltee Group and is also close to the king. Another trusted friend is Birendra Shah, better known by his nickname ‘Lava Raja.’ He was in Pokhara with then-Prince Gyanendra during the 2001 royal massacre. Sharad Chandra Shah is Lava Raja’s nephew. He heads the Information Technology Commission but his informal powers are extensive. Another adviser, DB Rana, used to work in the Soaltee Group. Mahendra Kumar Singh, married to King Tribhuban’s daughter from out of wedlock, sustained a bullet wound at the 2001 royal massacre. Ravi Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana and Queen Komal’s brother Suraj Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana are also advisers to the king. Similarly close is Shanta Kumar Malla, former army chief, oversaw a five-person military inquisition into the 2001 royal massacre. Among other advisers are Sachit Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Bharat Keshar Simha and Kesharjung Rayamajhi. That’s 11 Chettri men, all but one a Thakuri...... tempting to reduce the struggle between absolute monarchists and democrats to a struggle between Chettris and Bahuns ..... the non-political sectors that embody the present democratic movement—the media, the legal profession—are also overwhelmingly composed of Bahun men......
  
• LTTE, JVP and the Maoists Nepali Times, Nepal The rise, fall and conversion of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Sri Lanka’s Marxist radicals of the 1970s and 1980s turned Buddhist-nationalist parliamentarians has parallels with Nepal’s Maoists...... The nationalism and anti-Indianism of the JVP is akin to the chauvinism of Nepal’s Maoists ..... the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) led an identity-led war, which makes their battle that much more heartfelt, longlasting and angry ..... The LTTE has total command of the area that it would like to liberate ..... the Maoists .. do not control any part of the country in the sense that they can prevent the state security apparatus from entering ...... the Maoists do not have the ability to combat the Royal Nepali Army in conventional warfare, which should give pause to those Kathmandu-based ambassadors who panic at the prospect of a Maoist takeover of Kathmandu Valley and the state..... The full economic cost of the Sri Lankan civil war, including military expenditure, damage of physical assets, tourism and commercial losses, and expenditure on displaced persons, is estimated at $4.7 billion. The total including the cost of foregone economic possibilities comes to $14 billion.......
  
• Things are a lot better: govt Nepali Times, Nepal
• 'Maoist victims still neglected by state' Kathmandu Post, Nepal the Association of the Sufferers from Maoists in Nepal (ASMN).... Maoists have not stopped targeting common civilians and political cadres despite repeated commitments by Prachanda... the victims have not received a single penny though the government has already disbursed about Rs 540 million for Maoist victims
• INSN denounces govt for blocking sites Kathmandu Post, Nepal Usha Titikshu of INSN.org ....
  
• 'Exact repetition' baffles Panchayat-era journo Kathmandu Post, Nepal What is happening there today is a repetition of what was happening when I was there
• Parties smell rat in Rana's remarks Kathmandu Post, Nepal political parties have charged that a pre-planned conspiracy could be in the offing to take the country toward an autocratic partyless system..... Narayan Man Bijukchhe, chairman of Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party (NWPP), said that some feudals always hurt the king and the entire monarchy to achieve their petty interests.
• Maoists ambush bus again Kantipur incident is a part of a series of Maoist attacks on passenger buses, CPN (Maoist) chairman Prachanda's statement that civilians would not be attacked, notwithstanding
• Security forces thwart second Maoist assault on Diktel Kantipur Online, Nepal the second Maoist offensive on Diktel town, after they had attacked it on June 19 earlier
• Shrestha leaves for India tomorrow Himalayan Times, Nepal Nepali Congress (Democratic) Acting President Gopalman Shrestha will discuss with Indian leaders the political situation in his country, including the Maoist problem, during his week-long visit from tomorrow.
• NC local polls over in 70 districts Himalayan Times, Nepal "We have received final reports from 70 districts while we are yet to come in contact with party leadership in Mugu, Mustang, Jhapa and Dolakha." ...... the team which is overseeing the entire process, which is marked by rivalry and acrimony over claims and counter-claims of anomalies in the way organisational elections were held, said, "We will be looking into complaints from 15 to 16 districts from tomorrow."
• UML puts off central committee meeting Himalayan Times, Nepal to find out ways which can be instrumental in enhancing mass mobilisation at a time when the movement for the restoration of the constitutional process is not very impressive
• Parties, Maoists talks soon: Koirala Himalayan Times, Nepal he would lead the political parties in that effort.... as the "King does not want to talk to the Maoists"...... Commenting on Ashok Koirala's defeat in yesterday's election for the party's leadership in Morang district, Koirala said the results of the election have given a message that the party leadership should now be transferred to the younger generation.
• Aryal prevails, setback for Koirala camp Himalayan Times, Nepal defeated Ashok Koirala who had been holding the post for the past four terms ..... the first time in NC history that a non-Koirala family member has been elected to the top post in Morang ..... “A healthy trend of electing old party cadres has started in the party”

Nepali Congress Slumber Party

The Nepali Congress looks like headed towards a convention. The reports are not all that encouraging. If the party that fancies itself the soul of Nepali democracy is about to inch towards internal democracy and internal reforms, it has not shown any signs yet. Massive irregularities have been reported as members gear towards renewing their memberships and electing representatives to their district committees.

The price the NC will pay is of ending up a shrunk party. I think its days as the largest party in the country are permanently over. The glory days are behind it. Primarily because it messed up the 1990s.

But despite its defects, and despite its arrogance on the issue of a respectful, sustained dialogue with the Maoists, and despite its continued chauvinism towards the smaller parties, the NC continues to be a major element of the seven-party coalition. The NC cadres are energized, most actually have turned republican, leading to a major disconnect between the leadership and the bases.

Girija Koirala has the inflexibility of a freedom fighter who has recently tried his hands at the flexibility of a political operative, not with much success. Old habits die hard. He is a mixed bag for the party by now. He continues to be the most visible person among the democrats. On the other hand, he has not kept with changes in ground realities. The "market" is fast shifting away from the large "company."

What do I mean by flexibility? Finally coming around to the idea of a Constituent Assembly, that is flexibility. You have to remember, for weeks after 2/1, the NC was still against the idea of a Constituent Assembly. If the NC had gone for the Assembly idea back in 2000, the country would have been spared much turmoil.

So what do I mean? Well, flexibility towards the king. Girija has turned the parliament revival issue into a prestige issue. He is going to rub the king's nose in the dust. That is not statesmanship. That is warlord mentality. Another issue is of the existence of the monarchy. No matter what, the king is nowhere close to what the apartheid whites were in South Africa. But look at how Mandela negotiated a peaceful transition with them. He did not try to rub their nose in the ground.

At the risk of sounding egotist, I keep coming back to my Proposed Constitution. The seven parties are in this erroneous mentality that once the country has a Constituent Assembly, suddenly all will be okay. All will not be okay. There will be major political action within that Assembly. Major dialogue, major give and take. Major heartburn, disagreements, dissent, squabbles. That is how it will work when it will work.

There was a JFK quote I bumped into a long time ago that I have tried to locate again but without success. But let me paraphrase that. It goes something like this: Always put yourself in your opponent's shoes, look at the world through his or her eyes, always assist to save face.

JFK tried this approach on Khruschev. It might have saved the world a nuclear war. The warlord approach would have been to not realize that Khruschev is not this all poweful head of a monolithic state, but someone who fell to an internal coup.

And the Girija-Gyanendra dynamic is not exactly the proportion of a JFK-Khruschev dynamic.

Think a few steps ahead. I don't think the king sees himself as someone trying to take over. He sees himself as someone trying to survive, trying to save the monarchy from extinction. He feels like a cornered cat.

He gets blamed for the October 2002 dissolution of the parliament. That was Deuba. More accurately, that was where the country was at the time. Even if the parliament had not been dissolved, once it expired, the Maoists would not have allowed another elections for another parliament under the existing constitution. Progress depends on realizing the 1990 document is dead.

These are the kinds of innovations you see if you are engaged in dialogue with your opponents. I think the king and the leaders should talk. I think the Maoists and the leaders should talk. On a sustained basis. Never end the conversation. Pick up the phone and talk whenever you feel like it. The telephone has been around over a hundred years.

Speed things up: talk!

In The News

• Nepal's king hit by fallout from royal coup World Peace Herald, DC Gyanendra is facing consequences he did not expect when he carried out a royal coup Feb. 1 ..... Gyanendra had been flexing his muscles against the democratic parties since becoming the king in June 2001..... Riding on the bandwagon of the Bush administration's "war on terror" ... his own fight against Maoist "terrorists." ..... Gyanendra went on a political-diplomatic tour to Indonesia and China in April and to the Persian Gulf countries in June seeking legitimacy for his regime....... support from major donors -- Washington, London, Brussels and New Delhi -- is still on hold ..... Support from the seven-party alliance for the Maoist agenda of a Constituent Assembly, however, is not unconditional: They want the rebels to lay down their arms and join the mainstream....... Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as "Prachanda," described the alliance proposal as "double-edged and seeking credit without collateral." But he also welcomed it as a "step forward," and urged his cadres to support any struggles by the alliance against the monarchy...... Baburam Bhattarai and Krishna Bahadur Mahara -- to New Delhi, where they reportedly assured Nepali parliamentary leaders that the Maoists are also committed to multiparty democracy...... met Indian leaders secretly to tell them of their commitment to multiparty democracy ...... the country has clearly tilted toward the idea of a Constituent Assembly as proposed by the Maoists, which had been unacceptable for the parliamentary parties before the Feb. 1 royal coup ...... Gyanendra is digging his own grave. ..... the country is heading toward abolishing the monarchy ..... part of the Indian intelligentsia increasingly discounts the threat of a Maoist takeover in Nepal to India's security ..... "Should [the Maoists] come to power as a result of our denial of arms to the king, they are unlikely to be unfriendly to us." ..... the idea that a king-party alliance can defeat the Maoists..... the Maoists had disabled the government even when the king and parties got along before the October 2002 dissolution of parliament ..... Gyanendra, who does not see monarchy's future in a constitution drafted by a Constituent Assembly, remains uncompromising..... how private companies could supply arms to landlocked Nepal without India granting them use of its air space...... "soldiers who were suspected of involvement in extrajudicial executions have subsequently benefited by being deployed on U.N. peacekeeping duties." ...... Since the RNA began to "fight the guerrilla like a guerrilla," armed soldiers travel in civilian buses in contravention of the laws of war, and the PLA has begun blowing up civilian buses that might hold troops....... In the five months of Gyanendra's direct rule, the violence has taken the lives of more than 1,100 people, mostly civilians killed as "suspected Maoists" ...... Despite government propaganda claiming that the Maoists are weakening and that the RNA is gradually re-establishing its position, press reports say the guerrillas, despite losing some battles, have become bolder. In June alone, PLA battalions inflicted heavy casualties on the RNA in seven armed encounters around the country and captured several dozen automatic weapons...... in post-monarchy Nepal, the Maoists will have no choice but to respect multiparty democracy and participate in politics.
• Nepal: The True Obstacle To Reconciliation Scoop.co.nz (press release) Camp clearly suggested that the real priority for Nepal was to ensure that the Maoists lay down arms and return to the peace talks..... a delay in a shipment of 4,000 M-16 rifles pending further moves toward democracy by King Gyanendra ..... U.S. military assistance to Nepal – in place since 2002 -- has included training in such areas as the rules of engagement, investigating alleged human rights abuses and battlefield medical skills...... conflicts and contradictions within the political establishment. The king’s three-year roadmap begins with elections to municipal bodies within a year culminating in parliamentary elections....... Clearly, the monarch is seeking a greater political role for himself. ..... between 1990 and 2002 ... The people had the right to complain, but their leaders seemed to exercise a greater right not to listen...... The monarchy was expected to bear silent witness to the political class’s self-serving machinations....... Nepalese leaders began believing in Indian “blessings” more than in their own constituents’ trust.With the entire political class making a beeline to New Delhi, the Indian Embassy became a major power center. Through rampant politicization of the bureaucracy and police, the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist-Leninists monopolizing maintained a stranglehold on the system....... Advocates of a “constructive” monarchy, like this writer ....... Chinese officials have repeatedly stated that the open Nepal-India border represents a threat to their country’s security by among other things, exposing China to drug traffickers and the worst forms of criminals. ...... an unstable Nepal could become a base for Islamic separatists active in China’s north-western Xinjiang region...... the principal obstacles to reconciliation come from the seven-party alliance, which has Nepal’s priorities wrong..... The mainstream alliance demands the revival of the last House of Representatives, dissolved by the last elected prime minister exercising his constitutional prerogatives. The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of the dissolution. A political class whose endless bickering prevented a single House of Representatives since 1991 to complete its full five-year term is struggling to define how reviving the legislature would help end the conflict......
  
• Nepal army to get assistance: US official:- Webindia123 Camp said Gyanendra's takeover Feb 1 was a "bad move".... Democracy is the only idea powerful enough to overcome division, hatred and violence.
• Colgate-Palmolive pulling out of Nepal?:- Webindia123, India started operating in Nepal in 1997 and the next year commissioned a state-of-the-art factory, is planning to relocate the manufacturing facility to either Thailand or Himachal Pradesh in India .... the factory was likely to down shutters within a month..... Last year, an indefinite blockade called by the guerrillas resulted in the firm temporarily suspending operations due to the scarcity of raw materials..... The economic policies of subsequent governments, red tape and procedural problems have also added to the difficulties...... also been affected due to its leaning heavily on export activities. Unlike its competitor Unilever Nepal, it has not tried to integrate with the local market and cater to it...... With the company's factory ruling the landscape in the Hetauda industrial area, if it does make an exit, investor confidence in Nepal is going to take a further toss.
• Colgate Palmolive discontinues toothpaste production at Nepal India Infoline.com
• With Rebels Roaming Nepal, Tourism Plunges New York Times, NY Amber Manners got a practical tip. If you see guerillas on the road, she was warned, do as they say, even if they ask you to get off your bus. "If they burn your bus," she recalled being told, "they'll ask you to get off first." ..... When a man came walking up behind her, she mistook him for a local resident, peddling tourist kitsch. "Excuse me, excuse me," he said, as Ms. Manners recalled. She replied "No, no, we don't need anything." Then he said, "We are with the Maoist party." ...... In exchange for the requisite tax that the Maoists impose on trekkers - she paid $1.50, at 65 Nepali rupees to the dollar - Ms. Manners returned from her trek with a receipt from the rebels: it was stamped with portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and, of course, Mao...... If Nepal once marketed itself as a land out of time .... If a bandh is called, do not travel during it and keep an extra low profile until it is over ..... Small clashes continue, and the Maoists continue to deploy their key weapon - strikes that can shut down huge swaths of the country for tourists and locals alike..... The Maoist insurgents, who have been fighting the government since 1996, officially welcome foreign tourists..... A hotel chain owner reported to having paid close to $9,000 in 2003 as extortion money to the Maoists. In short, there is no question that local people are at far greater risk than any visible foreigner...... Peace Corps activities were suspended last September. Nonessential members of the United States Embassy's staff pulled out of Katmandu last September, but began returning the following month..... "It's not like going to Iraq." .... There are no front lines in the war between the Royal Nepalese Army and the Maoists, and there are few firefights anyway between the warring parties. Vast swaths of the countryside are effectively no man's land, where the rebels or government troops may be present..... "We went to the hotel, and they said, 'Pick a room.' Every room was open." .... "It was like being in a western." ..... "It's hard to convince people that the system that works in their country doesn't necessarily work in this country."
• UN makes grim projections for 14 Asian countries Daily Times, Pakistan Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and East Timor .....Better access to international markets could prevent this .... these countries are often ignored amid spotlights on African poverty and the image of a new prosperity sweeping Asian nations like China and India. ...... explode a certain myth — that Asia is a happening place ..... I’m not saying: ‘ignore Africa.’ I’m saying: ‘Do not ignore Asia...... suggested the removal of import duties and other trade restrictions against these countries to help them fight poverty. .... accounted for some 260 million people. . ..... China and India, together accounting for nearly 40 percent of the world’s population and ranking among the fastest-growing countries ...... Afghanistan’s forests are likely to be gone in 20 years, and in Bangladesh, about half of all citizens aged 15-24 will be illiterate in 2015...... “Global zero-tariff market access is a critically important issue,” the report said. In 2003, “import duties on apparel exported from Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal to the US amounted to $520 million, more than three times greater than net disbursed bilateral aid of $150 million received by those countries.”
• Humpty Dumpty in Kathmandu Samudaya.org, AZ ...... the professed bewilderment is nevertheless diverting because the predictions of Kathmandu street gossip were apparently more accurate than the acute calculations of so many seasoned diplomats .....a certain gentleman, recently surfaced from exile, who insisted that if anything constructive was to be undertaken there was time only till February ...... His analysis is also not the kind that will be entertained by pedestrian diplomats who lack the capacity to accommodate too many variables that demolish their petty theorems about the architecture of Nepali polity and society ..... compelling enough to motivate a loose group of individuals to form a systematic international information and advocacy network and set up a website that has, despite the current blockade of news, become one of the primary channels of non-official communication out of Nepal ..... An outcome that could not be precluded eventually transpired, and after the event the international community confesses that it did not know what even the fruit-vendor on the Kathmandu side-street knew...... According to the reigning formula, in force since May 2002, the palace and army control the country, cunningly masked by a front office manned by one or more of the political parties. This tripartite combine of real and nominal forces is to be the foil against the red menace in Nepal. Ordinary Nepalis were not expected to penetrate this tattered disguise...... a monarch restrained by few scruples in the exercise of his highly developed political skills. But since October 2002 there has, for all practical purposes, been no constitution in Nepal...... In the period that the king's three main international supporters increased the level of financial and military aid to him, he managed, simultaneously, through brute force and diplomatic assistance, to gain complete ascendancy over the parliamentary forces and lose half his kingdom to the Maoists...... The more territory passed from the kingdom to the republic the more a vindictive brutality was unleashed on the countryside, so that the loss of real power was compensated for by exponential increments in apparent power over a demoralised civilian populace, or "my subjects", as he is fond of calling them..... In this fictional narrative, the king as the lynchpin of the campaign against the Maoists requires the united obedience and support of the political parties, whose perpetual wrangling has been responsible for the reverses suffered by the army. In this fiction, too literal an interpretation of personal rights and too close an examination of the military's human rights record are also impediments to the efficient prosecution of the war. Periodically, the Chinese red herring, the ISI, the ULFA, the Naxalites and the insurgent corridor from Nepal to Andhra, were thrown in for good measure. Pol Pot, no less, has also shown up from time to time. Given time, Al Qaeeda too could join the party....... diminishes the possibilities of rolling back totalitarian monarchy...... The odds are that the coup will be legitimized in due course. South Block may fret, but all it takes is for the US to recognise the regime on grounds of 'counter-terrorist' expediency and everyone else will humbly follow suit...... The king cannot offer the Maoists more than what he was not willing to give the parliamentary parties..... the movement for the constituent assembly to decide, among other things, the king's own future, has been crushed with jackboots, stenguns and the hail of bullets from helicopters...... the plot is thicker than it looks ...... an incompetent army with a quasi-hereditary command structure ..... Fighting a non-conventional war requires skill, competence and morale of a very high order. ...... 12 January ... the military spokesman conceded that the war against the Maoists was unwinnable .... the scintillating intellects in charge of directing firepower against socio-economic grievances...... the defenseless Nepali citizen who will bear the brunt of this bleeding war
• Nepal parties lay down conditions for talks with govt, Maoists Press Trust of India, India Shrestha's remarks came after member of the Royal Council and former Army chief Sachit Shumsher Rana called for declariing political parties as anti-national elements accusing them of joining hands with Maoists. He also alleged the political parties' leaders were operating under the direction of "foreign elements", without naming any country.
• Parties set conditions for talks with king, Maoists Kathmandu Post Pari Thapa, leader of Peoples' Front Nepal, said reinstatement of parliament would be the beginning of the constitutional process.
  
• In its drive to eradicate democracy, royal Nepal regime has one ... United We Blog, Nepal In autocratic Panchayet days, parties were banned and were called Ata (Nepali acronym for non-nationalistic elements or Arastriya Tatto). Rana is not only a former chief of the Royal Nepalese Army but also a pro-king activist. This member of Rajparishad Standing Committee, the king’s advisory council, has been strongly advocating for the king-should-be-active-and-take-charge-of-everything campaign initially initiating by a small group of ultra-royalists..... the attack was started when the parliament was dissolved without the knowledge of the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in early 2002.... I will not be surprised if this regime formally banned the political parties within next few weeks.
• ‘Parties should be declared anti-national’ Kathmandu Post Sachit Shumsher Rana, member of Rajparishad Standing Committee and former Chief of Army Staff ...... "Why shouldn't political parties, who join [hands] with the Maoists and dance to the tunes of foreigners, be declared anti-national elements?" ..... "Though Deuba was cleared in the Dashain allowance case, I believe, he will be caught in the Melamchi scam" ....
  
• Maoists break legs of 2 civilians Kantipur after mercilessly beating two persons, including a 70-year-old, broke their legs..... elderly Harilal Dhakal of Kalimati village had his legs and rib broken in the incident.... The villages lie close to an army barrack in the district headquarters...... Attacks on civilians continue unabated despite the commitment expressed by CPN (Maoist) chairman "Prachanda" not to assault civilians under any circumstances ..... the Maoists have killed 24 civilians in as many days
• FMs submit appeal to King on restrictions Kantipur Save Independent Radio Movement (SIRM) appealed to King Gyanendra .... The movement has also condemned the propaganda of state-owned print and electronic media directed at curbing the rights of FM stations...... radio workers have expressed surprise over the restrictions, which are contradictory to the letter and spirit of the royal address of February 1. Since government orders explicitly state that the ban on news is to be in place during the state of emergency, the appeal has argued that it is inexplicable why the ban is still in force while the state of emergency is no longer in place..... appeal has also cited the constitution, National Transmission Act, Supreme Court Verdict of 2001 and licenses awarded to the FM stations as bases for the lifting of restrictions...... radio workers have urged Panchayat-era "media experts" to go through those documents before passing their expert comments on FM stations..... FM stations aired the news of their appeal at 8:00 pm Saturday.
• Law is the king of kings: Aryal Kantipur Former justice of Supreme Court Laxman Prasad Aryal on Saturday said that the state has been continuously imposing unconstitutional restrictions on the free press and civil liberties due to the absence of the rule of law...... "The law is the king of the kings; however, the king and his aides are defying this concept in the modern era," he added. Coming down heavily against ex-army generals for their definition of the constitution and the rule of law, he said, "They have been doing this for their petty interests."..... anyone from any level could take the initiative for a dialogue with the rebels to reach a peaceful solution.
• Top Maoist leader killed in Andhra Pradesh Kantipur The rebels were holding a meeting when the police team surrounded their hideout. "Despite repeated warnings by policemen, the ultras did not surrender. Instead, they opened fire at policemen who retaliated in self-defense" ..... With Riyaz's killing, the prospect of reviving peace talks has further dimmed. "It was a clear case of fake police encounter. Our comrades were killed in cold blood," the Press Trust of India quoted former Janashakti emissary Chandranna as saying.

INSN And Samudaya Blocked In Nepal

This is so ridiculous. I guess this is Nepal going the China route. Blocking websites and stuff. Trying to muzzle dialogue. When dialogue is the only way out.

Looks like it is that Information Minister guy again. That joker who routinely gets into the crosshairs with the Supreme Court.

Free speech is a sacred right. It has been violated.


My blog has not as wide a readership. And it has not gained the Minister's attention, looks like. But I personally know the people behind the two blocked sites. And I have felt a personal jolt. I am beginning to feel a small amount of what the FM Radio people and other journos must have been feeling on the ground in Nepal.

Both these sites have made tremendous contributions to the dialogue.

State repression in Nepal right now is like pushing the basketball to the bottom of a swimming pool. The deeper you push it, the stronger it comes back, greater the backlash. As they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I was reading about this RCCC guy active in Birgung. Even the CIAA officials find him offensive. Imagine that!

There Monarchists. They are not Monarchists. They are Anarchists, they are Chaos Theory people. They need to be exiled to Lake Baikal. I think.

INSN.org Blocked In Nepal INSN “No route to host: The remote host or network may be down. Please try the request again.” ..... a press conference in Kathmandu today, Army spokesperson Brigadier General Deepak Gurung answered, “Yes, they have been blocked. We might block all other web sites that encourage Maoists activities in Nepal.” ..... RNA Major Sushil Dahal .... “Don’t be confused: both sites have been blocked not by RNA but by Ministry of Information and Communication.” .... February 1st .... the official website of the CPN(M) - www.cpnm.org .... The Nepali Post (www.nepalipost.com) ... Several proxy web services have also been banned. Proxy web services allow people to access blocked sites, but if they are also blocked, then people cannot use them...... The INSN.org and Samudaya.org websites are both dedicated to expanding the civil space for dialogue toward human rights and a democratic peace. Neither site advocates for either of the armed parties in the conflict.

Samudaya.org Press Release: Samudaya.org concerned over the blocking of its website

According to United We Blog, the selective blocking of Samudaya.org and INSN.org was announced at an RNA press conference. We want to emphasize that in a time of crisis, it is every individual's right and need to stay informed for their own interest -- whether it be for safety concerns or matters that affect personal decisions. Therefore, Samudaya.org is deeply concerned with the current regime's overall authority over Nepali media, not just the recent blocking of our website.

While Samudaya.org has never taken a pro-Maoist stance as has been implied, it must be pointed out that making information available to the general public supports a culture of intellect and knowledge, whereas the suppression of it supports the opposite: a culture of
ignorance. If there is a reason -- other than the inaccurate interpretation of our content as "encouraging Maoist activities" -- we would like to request the Ministry of Information and Communication to kindly share the specifics. If the Ministry believes that we have supported the Maoists, we request the Ministry to point out where, when and how.

Samudaya.org would also like to clarify that although Nepal's current affairs has become a popular topic on the website, its main intention is to provide a platform for progressive values through discussions. As a result, our content has been critical of all parties responsible for
the downfall of Nepal, including ourselves -- the citizens. The difference between supporting the Maoists and having a progressive outlook on Nepal, therefore, seems to have been grossly misunderstood by the Ministry of Information and Communication. We are very concerned
about where Nepal as a country is headed without members of the government being able to make important distinctions such as this.

For the purpose of further clarification, Samudaya.org is not affiliated with any party nor does it have a unified political agenda among its members, and would like to express support to INSN.org for being a great educational resource.

In The News

• Clash In Arghakhanchi: Two Versions INSN Maoists and security forces clashed in Arghakhanchi district in Nepal’s western region on 25 June. According to the Royal Nepalese Army’s Western Divisional Headquarters, Pokhara, a fierce close-range gun battle between security forces and Maoists began at 11:45 a.m. and continued till 2:30 p.m. at Khandaha VDC in the district on Saturday. Army sources confirmed that six policemen and six soldiers were killed in the fighting........... According to the pro-Maoist website www.krishnasenonline.org, 19 security personnel including an officer-in-command have been killed and 30 injured in the battle. Commissar of Mangalsen first brigade, middle division Com. Sunil (he is also Central committee member) has given a statement that the Maoists have captured 18 weapons along with a two-inch mortar and thousands of bullets from the RNA. According to Sunil, two rebels among them brigade vice-commander Jwar and S.T.F. battalion vice-commander were killed in the clash, and seven cadre wounded. An STF Battalion of Mangalsen First Brigade was involved in the battle.
  
• Surprise Me Samudaya Whether or not I support the decisions made by our king on February 1st makes no dent to the disaster ..... You threw the bomb where civilians were around — outside a hospital, furthermore — and you are certainly not trained enough to rule out the possibilities of missing a target altogether! ..... But to be honest, until I hear a response from them, my faith in the army and dirty politics is so miniscule that I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone in the army truck itself that threw the bomb ...... what good is the army if it means that its presence — a mere passing by — poses a threat to the civilians as opposed to providing protection? ..... leave the civilians alone — do what you have to do, just don't go near them; don't ride the same bus with them..... the Maoists are as close from us as they choose to be, and that they continue to do whatever the hell they please...... I'd have to pinch myself numerous times if the army attacked Jamuna to rescue one journalist
• No Kidding Samudaya most of the Nepalis abroad in support of the king's "roadmap" are inconsequential to how events really unravel in Nepal...... whatever little beeps of pro-democracy movement we've witnessed thus far has come from within Nepal, where the common people, journalists, professors, other intellectuals, and politicians have to actually bear the consequences of the king's decisions....... the king's war against the Maoists is really a war of the elite — specifically from Kathmandu or abroad — against everyone else from Nepal...... if we are to assume that the king is serious about resolving the conflict — for ego's sake, for people's sake, or whatever the case may be — ...... His idea, it seems, is to shake and rattle the Maoists so that they finally understand their place, and then they realize there is no victory for them. Let me just make a quick point that this hasn't actually happened yet — all of the incidents so far have been attacks on the army or the police by Maoists and not the other way around. But let's assume that it happened — that the army was on full offense, out to kill the insurgents. This means old folks, normal folks, good folks, bad folks, young folks would be all equally subject to being what they call a casualty of war — a necessity for a larger good — if they happen to be in areas with a Maoist presence, which is 73 out of 75 districts. Almost all of Nepal......... it's easier for Nepalis to dismiss Maoists as useless bastards if they're away from it all (i.e. the Kathmandu region or abroad)...... they've not gone without shaking up deeply-carved notions of women and lower ethnicity people, or of the political parties and the monarch for that matter ...... One thing that we, the elite, don't want to find out is if the Maoists really mean something to a substantial number of rural Nepalis, despite the brutality...... even most of the soldiers and policemen out on the battleground are poor people. Here we have it — the best we've got to offer is poor Nepalis fighting poor Nepalis under the command and approval of the Nepali elite. Jai Nepal, indeed.
• Maoist Radio On The Rise Samudaya ... Gulmi, Arghakhanchi and Pyuthan.... London-based BBC Radio or the Maoists' Janaganatantra Nepal's broadcast ..... scouring for locations at a height in order to listen to the evening and morning news...... In addition to Gulmi, Arkhawang, Purkot, Dhurkot, Nayagaun, Arkhale and the district headquarter Tamghas, one is able to listen to Radio Janaganatantra in various locations of the eastern region....... Radio Janaganatantra has displaced the government's Radio Nepal...... On the topic of Radio Janaganatantra, a journalist from the Kathmandu-based newspaper Kantipur has said, "When an incident occurs, to obtain rightful information we have been listening to Radio Janaganatantra in Kathmandu over the phone." ...... When there is any incident, BBC Nepali service is also heard, and the people have taken it upon themselves to decide the truthfulness of any news...... India Radio or the Chinese broadcast; some watch BBC, and some CNN.