Setting Date For CA Polls

CHIEF Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel is back again on the centre stage of political and constitutional discussion as the onus of holding the polls to the Constituent Assembly is shifting to the mantle of the constitutional organ, following the 23-point agreement formalised by the Seven-party Alliance recently. It is in line with the responsibility and mandate of the Election Commission to demand that the political parties accelerate the process of finalising the constitutional and legal modus operandi according to the new agreement.

Needless to repeat, the alliance has agreed to increase the number of seats in the proportional representation mode of polling, which does naturally require adjustments and changes both in the interim constitution and law relating to the election of the members of the Constituent Assembly. If the experience from the past is anything to go by, it had taken months for the parties to devise and ratify the Constituent Assembly election law. The law makers had taken most of their time in discussing and finalising the criteria for distribution and reservation of seats to the different marginalised and disadvantaged groups, including the women. However, as a framework has already been laid down in the statute, not much time should be spent by the lawmakers to arrive at a conclusion for appropriating the reserved seats to the marginalised and disadvantaged groups that have been already identified by the law.

However, should the political stakeholders repeat the previous tendencies of raking up one issue after another, it might take more time than anticipated to finalise the relevant legal instruments. This will affect the entire process of setting schedules for the polls to the Constituent Assembly. As said by the Election Commissioner, the constitutional body needs at least 90 days to complete all the procedures in the run up to the election to the Constituent Assembly. Though several other corollary instruments and guidelines have been in place, the most important law setting forth the process of electing the members of the Constituent Assembly needs to be revised, taking the new changes and amendments into account. As emphasised by the Chief Election Commissioner, the government should waste no time in ensuring that the date for the Constituent Assembly polls is announced soon and the necessary legislative instruments are ratified.

Source: The Rising Nepal, December 27, 2007

Maoist trouble at border

India might have had its own share of problems due to border disputes with China and Pakistan for decades, but Nepal could well prove to be an additional concern, with Maoists joining the Girija Prasad Koirala government recently.
India, on Tuesday woke up to an attempt by around 200 Maoist ultras from Nepal trying to stake a claim on a stretch of the “no man's land" after crossing the porous international border touching Uttarakhand. They tried hoisting red flags in the area, close to Banbasa town in the border district of Champavat, before they were accosted. “Previously, border pillars with numbers 3 and 3-A used to mark the border with Nepal. However, they were uprooted due to various reasons. Of late, there have been efforts to conduct a joint survey by the two countries of the nearly 300-km stretch of the Indo-Nepal border to identify areas where the border pillars are missing and to restore them," said superintendent of police of Champavat MS Bangyal.

Bangyal said the Nepali Maoist ultras, who tried to hoist the flag belonged to the Young Communist League, a wing of the Nepal Communist Party. "Although the Nepali Maoist ultras' bid to hoist their red flag was foiled by the security forces they had a design behind that," the official said. "They tried their best to provoke the security forces to open fire on them, as any casualty on their side could become an international issue," he added.

Stating that the security forces showed restraint and pushed the Maoist ultras back to Nepal, the SSP said. "They tried to enter the 'no man's land' from Gadda Chowki area near Banbasa town. We had information from Nepali authorities that they would try to enter through Brahamadev town of Nepal," he added.

Source: Hindustan Times, December 27, 2007

Nepal: India’s “Design Next”

Niraj Aryal

Kathmandu, Niraj Aryal: It’s hardly been two weeks Nepal’s Army Chief, Rukmangad Katuwal returned home from the Indian pilgrimage wherein he was reported to have been offered a “red carpet welcome” by the Indian establishment. Reportedly, Nepal’s Army Chief met the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Defense Minister and India’s national security advisor, to name a few in the list of the movers and shakers of India’s politics whom he met during his short stint there, though he was also reported to have traveled to South to get a glimpse of the living Indian deity Sai Baba- whose followers could well be found here in Nepal. More importantly, Katuwal, unsubstantiated though reports, met the outgoing chief of India’s notorious intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), Ashok Chaturvedi, two times in merely fifteen days, first in New Delhi and the next meet took place right here in Kathmandu, when the later had sneaked into Kathmandu for a four day stint, last week. The RAW chief reportedly, stayed at the Hyatt regency Hotel in Kathmandu.

It could be a mere conjecture only but Katuwal’s return home coincided with the Nepal Army refuting claims made by some newspapers in Nepal. The newspaper reports quoting the Maoists’ leadership had it that talks were on in between the Maoists leadership and the Nepal Army’s high ranking officials to initiate steps towards integrating the Maoists’ militias within its domain. However, to the dismay of the Maoists’ leadership, the NA in its refusal statement held that, “…it was merely a ploy to malign the credentials of the National army”. The question is thus as to whom from the two camps were lying? Obviously, the Maoists who have the habit of making false revelations now and then would be adjudged making fool of the people more so, the media. “But there are proofs of such meets taking place at least three times in the past between the two rivals of by gone era”, said Padma Ratna Tuladhar-the leftist rights activist, talking to a local FM radio station here in Kathmandu, Monday, December 24, 2005.

Now, the point is that if the statement coming form the Army camp is not just a mere conjecture and according to Mr. Tuladhar a false claim, then there must be something underneath. The point here is that such views were being aired by the Maoists’ leadership since long, at least from over a month or so, but the NA statement came only after Katuwal returned home from Delhi trip, obviously a delayed statement. What does this indicate then, perhaps only that India does not want the National Army to unite with the Maoists’ Militias- makes no difference that agreements were made in between the real stakeholders of Nepali politics in the past in regard to the integration of Militias into the National Army? Which, say analysts, the Indian leadership might have aired Katuwal when they met him in India. Obviously, they needed that as well, only because they might have started feeling the brunt of elevating the ranks of the Maoists in Nepali politics and that too at a time when the Militias were possibly, though only limited in theory, being integrated into the Nepal Army. The Militias who have been indoctrinated of the anti-India sentiments by their leadership throughout the rebellion period and even asked to build trenches to fight the real enemy-India (sic Maoists’ leadership), India does not want that to happen either.

Back to Katuwal again, if Indian leadership can talk differently to different Nepali political leadership, it is anybody’s guess that Katuwal too was told something completely different. What the leadership there told Katuwal verbatim is difficult to comprehend but it is for sure that strong “NO” signal to the possible NA-Maoist Militia merger was whispered into Katuwal’s ear. If not, why the NA was claiming that their much publicized meeting with the Maoists’ leadership was false?

To add to the point as to why India does not want NA-Maoist Militias merger, it might also be because India in the past had submitted proposals to then rulers to minimize the size of the security personnel here only to hand over Nepal’s security stakes to India. Such Indian designs only became public after such successive regimes failed to prevail in Nepali politics. Take for instance, what the then Prime Minister Marich Man Singh had told during a mass meet in Kathmandu. Mr. Singh had claimed that India had submitted a proposal to King Birendra for handing over Nepal’s security matters to India, be it the security issues, internal one or external both, if the system of Panchayat was to continue. After few years as Gyanendra-most probably Nepal’s last monarch, took over after King Birendra got killed in an inner family feud, he too was forwarded with a similar proposal which were only but rejected on both the occasions. Gyanendra toeing his brother Birendra’s footstep rejected such an offer, which could have otherwise ensured longer life for his unpopular regime in the country.

The point here is that with the possible integration of the Maoists Militias with the National Army, the strength of the National Army will be enhanced numerically. This, in essence, is what India does not want in any pretext or the other. And that is also against India’s age old doctrine outlined by none other than Jawahar Lal Nehru- India’s first Prime Minister.

Then, all of a sudden and that too close on the heels of Katuwal’s India visit, the outburst of India’s PM Man Mohan Singh against the Maoist rebels operating in India comes. Mr. Singh, otherwise, a lame duck prime minister, making sharp comments against the Maoists even called their movement as the single biggest security threat to his country and also dubbed the Maoist as a "virus".

Singh was addressing a conference on internal security attended by the chief ministers’ of the Maoists affected States in India last week wherein he vowed to take stringent measures against those involved in Naxal activities. However, only few years’ back, Mr. Singh while addressing a similar conference had said the same thing but in the mean time the Naxal movement there only got amplified with the working class exploited more as a result the development indices rose sharply and also unexpectedly.

Now that there are concrete proofs that the Nepal Maoists are indulged in activities aiding their Indian counterparts (so claim Indian media reports), it is only but natural that India would love to see a quick downfall of the Maoists in Nepal. But to the utter dismay of the analysts here, how India proceeds in its “Design Next” in Nepal is difficult to comprehend at least for the moment…however, it is simple to say that as the return of Kingship in Nepal is becoming more and more difficult, the NA might be lured instead in the future to counter the Maoists.

Source: Telegraph Nepal, December 26, 2007

Unstable Nepal poses security threat to India

Centre feels feuding parties in the Himalayan kingdom will precipitate crisis along border

Seema Guha

NEW DELHI: India has officially welcomed Nepal’s decision to hold national elections by April next year, but privately there is serious concern that the Himalayan kingdom’s feuding political parties may not be able to sustain the current arrangement leading to a fresh crisis in its vulnerable eastern border.
Nepal has been a constant cause for worry for India’s policy planners ever since the strain within the political parties surfaced earlier this year. New Delhi realises that an unstable Kathmandu is a major security concern for this country which shares a long and unguarded border with Nepal.

Apart from security, India is not happy with the growing presence of the United Nations in the region and wants the international agency to wind up its mission as soon as possible. Prime Minister GP Koirala has for the moment been able to cobble together a 23-point agreement among the seven warring political parties. In the process, he had to give in to the Maoist demand for the abolition of monarchy by the parliament.
The prime minister and his party had wanted to play by the book and had plans to bring in constitutional changes only after fresh election gave a democratic mandate to Parliament. But the Maoists had walked out of the government and refused to yield ground, leading to the prime minister finally caving in to the Maoists.

Source: DNA, December 26, 2007

Madhes unity

Last week saw an unprecedented consolidation of forces in Madhes. First, it was the declaration of unification by three armed rebel groups—the two factions of Jwala Singh and Bisphot Singh of the Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha and the Tarai Tigers. Then came the announcement of the establishment of the Madhes Liberation Front formed by the merger of the Rajendra Mahato faction of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi) and Upendra Mahato's Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF). A ground-breaking development took place on Monday with the announcement of a new political front in the tarai. Mahanta Thakur, a senior Madhesi leader of the Nepali Congress, resigned his ministerial position and parliamentary membership to lead the front. One lawmaker each from the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi), CPN-UML and RPP quit their parties to join hands with Thakur. Many more senior Madhesi leaders from other political fronts are expected to jump on the bandwagon.

The obvious questions are this: How did such a sudden consolidation of forces happen in the tarai? What will its ramifications be? The consolidation of power will definitely augment their influence in the tarai. However, the formation of a front of armed groups is definitely not going to help the taraibasis. It will only make things worse for them. In fact, the political leaders, who were until now associated with different parties, were compelled to do something in order to offset the ever-increasing threat and influence of gun-slinging bands in the tarai. They who have been demanding autonomy and vowing to attain their goals through a peaceful movement will hopefully help the government improve the pathetic law and order situation in the tarai. We hope that both the Tarai Liberation Front and the new front announced by Thakur and others will at least make the tarai livable for people from all regions and castes. However, if these groups get tempted to establish working relations with any armed group, then the tarai situation will turn from bad to worse.

The emergence of new groups is also revenge of the Madhesi leaders against the parties they were associated with. Had the seven-party government acted promptly and addressed the law and order situation and other valid demands, the leaders would not have been forced to form new political fronts. The formation of these new fronts will probably also convince the Maoists that the Madhesi movement was not waged by the NC and the UML just to minimize their influence in the tarai. However, it is yet to be seen if the Maoists can stop their Madhesi leaders from joining one or the other front. The Post believes that the armed groups should be dealt with sternly by the government, but the unarmed and peaceful groups should be allowed to grow as political parties. We hope the peaceful political groups will dissociate themselves from anti-social elements and de-escalate the ethnic acrimony in the tarai.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, December 12, 2007