Maoists launch campaign for declaring Nepal a republic

Kathmandu, Apr 29 : The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) on Sunday launched a campaign to push for declaring Nepal a republic.The party said that it would take the message through the street, the Parliament and the government.The party formally announced the commencement of its campaign at a press meet in Dhankuta.The "third people's movement" has begun for a republic Nepal, said Gopal Kiranti, the CPN-M central member and Koshi Regional Bureau in-charge.The ruling coalition of eight-political parties had earlier decided that the Constituent Assembly in its first sitting would decide the fate of the monarchy.Since the Election Commission has expressed its inability to hold Constituent Assembly polls on the scheduled date of June 20, the parties have been undecided on new date for holding the elections.The Maoists and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) have been demanding the interim Parliament to declare Nepal a republic.Earlier, Maoist leader Ram Bahadur Thapa had said since the Parliament does not seem inclined to declare Nepal a Republic, they will be launching an agitation on the streets.

Source: Malaysia Sun, April 30, 2007

Cloud of doubt hangs over the new Nepal

SOMINI SENGUPTA

THE country’s socially marginalised minorities are taking an aggressive tone in seeking proper representation and politicians find these demands coming too soon after the restoration of democracy, writes SOMINI SENGUPTA.

A YEAR after the return of democratic rule to Nepal, the scene in parliament went something like this:No sooner had it officially opened for business on Monday afternoon, nearly six hours past schedule and with the benches barely filled to quorum, than some parliamentarians rushed the dais, raising fists and shouting slogans to protest a police crackdown in the southeast early this year.The speaker’s pleas for them to return to their seats were ignored. Within 10 minutes, unable to do any legislative work, parliament was adjourned. It was the third such useless session in less than two weeks.The scene represented much more than the routine fracas of democracy. It was a snapshot of the new, though not entirely unexpected, fissures that have cut through Nepal’s body politic, as it struggles to recover from more than a decade of Maoist insurgency and redefine the very ground rules of its nationhood.The divisions stem from old grievances over how Nepal’s many ethnic groups, castes and language minorities will be treated by the state, long dominated by members of the upper-caste elite from the hills. The parliamentarians who raised the ruckus represented the people of the southeastern plains, known here as Madhesis, who had staged an uprising that the police quashed.

The politicians, who now include the Maoists, who have joined the cabinet, have been caught off guard by the ferocity of the complaints."We are in an awkward position," said Ram Chandra Poudel, the beleaguered Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, on Monday, adding that he had not expected to face so many grievances from so many quarters, so soon after the restoration of democracy. "These demands may be genuine, but they should not come out so aggressively."As if on cue, the next day, a particularly aggressive show of frustration against the government occurred. When Poudel tried to speak at a rally to commemorate the anniversary of democratic rule in a public square in Kathmandu, he was hit by empty bottles and booed.Ambling through the public square were members of the Maoists’ latest subsidiary, a pack of young men and women known as the Young Communist League and led by former guerillas. They said they had been assigned to provide security. Among their duties these days is the demolition of illegal structures, traffic management, capturing people accused of being gangsters and acting against what they call "regressive forces". At times, that includes disrupting other political party meetings or thrashing political opponents.

The new uncertainties have come in a country transforming itself remarkably fast. A year ago, King Gyanendra, who had seized absolute control of the state, was forced by a swell of street protests to return the government to an elected parliament. The government signed a peace deal with the Maoists, ending a 11-year war. The Maoists then sequestered their fighters and put weapons into cantonments, monitored by the United Nations.An interim constitution was put in place. A coalition government took over, including even the Maoists. Over the last year, symbols of the old Nepal were scrapped: A new national anthem was drafted, "Royal" was dropped from the name of the Nepalese army and state-owned Nepal Airlines, and the government promised to tax the king’s property.A critical issue remains unresolved in the new Nepal, and it is the root of widespread public frustration: Whether and how Nepal will become a federal state with some degree of autonomy for its ethnic groups and regions.It is a question that has sparked a sometimes violent uprising over the last three months by the Madhesis, who say people from the hills have long discriminated against them. Demands for representation have come from other socially marginalised groups, too, like low-caste Dalits and indigenous people, called Janjatis.

Nepal seems to be in no immediate danger of sliding into prolonged ethnic conflict. But the questions that confront Nepal are nothing short of existential. "What is the new Nepal? What does it mean to be a Nepalese? That’s absolutely what’s being debated," said Manjushree Thapa, a writer.That debate has made the peace process miss a crucial deadline. June elections to choose a national assembly to rewrite the constitution have been indefinitely postponed. A new constitution will determine many vital issues, including whether Nepal will retain its monarchy.Abolishing the constitution is the Maoists’ principal demand, and they now want the government to declare Nepal a republic rather than wait for the voters’ verdict.The Maoists have vowed to resume what they call "the people’s movement", fearful that the palace may try to stage a comeback. Last week, two cabinet members suggested that elections could be organised by November, when there is a tiny window in Nepal’s difficult social and climatic calendar — after the rains and autumn festival season and before the harvest. The UN urged the government to act to hold elections quickly.

Representation was the fuel that fired the Madhesi revolt in the plains early this year. They were particularly aggrieved by the interim constitution, which, when promulgated in January, included no mention of regional or ethnic autonomy."They are not honest, they are not sincere, they talk about republic but they are not ready to share political rights with marginalised people," Jeetendra Dev said. He included the United Marxist-Leninist, his party, whose Madhesi wing he heads.Poudel noted that the government had since agreed to the demand for federalism, though it had yet to resolve the details."They’re the same as before," said Laxmi Dahal, 29, a trade union advocate who attended the commemoration on Tuesday of the return to democracy. Last year, she said, she marched in the pro-democracy demonstrations and was beaten by the police during one. On Tuesday, she said she had come to "warn" the political leaders to keep their word to those who had marched for freedom.In the crowd, Bijay Paudel, a graduate student, echoed Dahal’s misgivings. "Everyone wants a change, but the political parties which have been leading the nation are not listening to the voice of the people." — NYT

Source: NSTONLINE, April 30, 2007

INDIA: MAOISTS’ MOLE IN THE INDIAN CABINET

The Indian government is feeling the heat. The growing and the ever increasing penetration of the Maoists’ guerillas in the scheme of the Indian cabinet itself are ailing the Indian establishment of late. According to Indian media reports the Maoists moles have infiltrated the highest level of the Indian Government, gaining access to documents from top-level cabinet meetings in a major security breach. The Indian magazine Outlook says that the documents that the Maoists have collected for themselves are what have been termed as “the success of the Maoists”, in penetrating the in accessible Government secret matters.

According to reports the Maoists moles have infiltrated the highest level of the Indian Government, gaining access to documents from top-level cabinet meeting.
The guerillas, who are waging an armed insurrection across 16 of India's 28 states, obtained minutes of a meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that discussed tactics to deal with the insurgents. Those at the meeting, the Outlook magazine said, included the chief ministers of all states affected by the Maoist insurgency, along with senior intelligence and security officials. With intelligence and security officials expressing alarm at "a serious security lapse", the disclosures are galling for Dr Singh, adds Outlook magazine. The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Man Mohan Singh has expressed concern about the challenge posed by the Maoist insurrection, describing it as the "biggest threat to the country's internal security".

The Naxalites it is believed are well-armed and disciplined, who operate in a scores of Indian states whose connections are well deep inside Nepal as well.The magazine quotes a senior intelligence officer as saying: "It's clear the Maoists have access to secret information and plans ... no wonder there hasn't been much success in our operations against them." With the Maoists in Nepal government the Indian naxals are sure to exploit the benefits their way.

Source: Telegraph Nepal, April 30, 2007

NEPAL:SITAULA SEEKS DELHI'S ADVICE ON CEREMONIAL MONARCHY

Look the tryst of destiny and the fate of the Nepalese. A Nepali sitting minister has been advised by the medical practitioners attending on him to “visit” Delhi for further and advanced check-up. Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula who has recently developed a hearing disorder is to soon land in Delhi.

The climax is here:
Sitaula talking to reporters today said that while being in Delhi, he would have tête-à-tête with several Indian leaders on whether or not a ceremonial monarchy in Nepal is needed?
The Nepali Congress has empowered him to gather views from the Indian leaders, reports say.
This should perhaps explain what New Delhi means to Nepal and her “able and capable” leaders.
Home Minister Sitaula is considered even by his congress party colleagues to have been closer to the Maoists than his own party.

Source: Telegraph Nepal, April 30, 2007

Grandfather clock

After the postponement of the elections to the constituency assembly (CA) slated for June, the eight political parties will need to demonstrate a high degree of wisdom to keep the alliance intact and to implement the mandate given them by Jana Andolan II. The relationship between the Nepali Congress, which heads the alliance government, and the two other big alliance partners, the CPN-Maoist and the CPN-UML, have soured to a certain extent. These two communist parties are insisting on settling the question of the monarchy — either through a two-thirds parliamentary majority or by the direct verdict of the people in a referendum — before setting a new poll date, whereas some senior NC leaders like minister and party general secretary Ram Chandra Poudel, NC-D president Sher Bahadur Deuba, and RJP chief Surya Bahadur Thapa want to stick to the provision of the Interim Constitution (IC) that says the first meeting of the CA will clinch the issue.

Prime Minister Koirala seems to be in a tight spot at a time when major alliance partners such as the CPN-UML are raising serious questions about his leadership after the deferral of the polls. Koirala has been non-committal so far on the demands of the Maoists and the CPN-UML. Maoist politburo member Dr Baburam Bhattarai warned in the capital on Saturday that his party would launch a “peaceful agitation” if the interim parliament did not declare Nepal a republic by the third week of May. He has said a Left unity will be forged for the purpose if the eight parties cannot agree on the republican demand. On such a highly sensitive and polarising issue, any national party worth its salt cannot remain a prisoner of indecision even a full year since Jana Andolan II, all the more so a party that led the SPA alliance.

It is for the eight parties to decide whether they want the CA alone, the parliament, or a referendum to settle the issue of monarchy. But it would not behove the leaders who voted for the historic Declaration of Parliament and other epoch-making decisions, including the establishment of the parliament’s supremacy, the demise of the restored parliament and the 1990 Constitution, the adoption of the IC and formation of the interim parliament, now to say that the CA alone, and not Parliament, has the authority to decide the fate of the monarchy. While the country is polarised along the monarchy v republic lines, no party that has not arrayed itself in either camp so far should claim high moral ground to stay in power. Everybody is free to make his choice, but one wonders if the vacillating NC and NC-D should not make their positions absolutely clear, otherwise on what basis will they ask for the people’s votes? If it so desired, the NC may even choose to ally itself with the parties of former Panchas, though it is another question whether the NC would be willing to pay the price for this tricky option. It may also reflect poorly on them if they continue to sit on the fence.

Source: The Himalayan Times, April 30, 2007