April 14, 2006

Beloved Countrymen,

On the occasion of the advent of the New Year 2063, we extend best wishes for peace, good health and prosperity of all Nepalese, living in the country and abroad. We appreciate the understanding and patience of the Nepalese people, conscientiousness of the civil servants and the perseverance, courage and discipline displayed by the security personnel during the past year.

Democracy demands restraint and consensus as all forms of extremism are incompatible with democracy. While facing the challenges confronting the nation, democracy also emphasises acceptance of the preeminence of the collective wisdom in charting a future course. Aware of our traditions and sensitivities, as well as the self-respect and self-confidence of the Nepalese people who have always remained independent throughout history, dialogue must form the basis for the resolution of all problems. We, therefore, call upon all political parties to join in a dialogue, which we have always advocated, to bear the responsibility of and contribute towards activating the multiparty democratic polity. We believe that there is no alternative to multiparty democracy in the 21st century and the verdict of the ballot alone is legitimate. It is our wish that in order to reenergize multiparty democracy, there should not be any delay in reactivating all representative bodies through elections. We are in favour of sustainable peace and the people?s right to vote. Democratic norms and values demand a commitment that the goals set forth by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990 can be achieved only through constitutional means. It is, therefore, our desire that with the active participation of all political parties committed to peace and democracy, a meaningful exercise in multiparty democracy be initiated through an exemplary democratic exercise like the general elections.

May the efforts at ensuring sustainable peace and meaningful democracy in the interest of the nation and people bear fruit during the New Year.

May Lord Pashupatinath bless us all!

Jaya Nepal!

Source: Rastriya Samachar Samiti

Two organisations of private schools have expressed solidarity with the ongoing people’s movement for the restoration of complete democracy and warned that all private schools would close down if the government did not try to solve the current crises through dialogue by April 28.

The two organizations also decided to provide scholarship to children of those killed during pro-democracy protests in the country.

Speaking at an interaction programme, Umesh Shrestha, president of the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation of Nepal (PABSON), said the King, political leaders and Maoists should give up their stubbornness and solve the crises through dialogue.

He further said “We have decided to provide scholarship for school education to the children of those killed during pro-democracy movement in the country.”

Stating that there are over 8,500 schools in different parts of the country under their umbrella, Shreshta said, “This will enable such children to receive school education in any part of the country.”

Stating that they could hardly remain silent when the entire country was burning, Shreshta added, “We will announce various protest programs to show solidarity with the ongoing movement for peace and democracy in the days come.”

Likewise speaking at the same programme, general secretary of National PABSON, Karna Bahadur Shahi, said that the solidarity they have expressed is for the people’s movement, not for the party’s movement.
The teachers demanded that schools be declared a zone of peace and that no warring activities be entertained in any school or educational institute.

Both organisations demanded the immediate release of Pankaj Rathour, vice-president of NPABSAN; Dr Shanta Dixit, principal of the Rato Bangla School and also of all detained students.

Likewise, Nepal-Japan Social Friendship Academy has offered scholarship for school education to the martyrs’ children. nepalnews.com pb Apr 14 06

Leaders of various political parties have dubbed the King’s message to the nation on the occasion of the New Year’s Day on Friday as conventional and failing to address the problems of the country.

We Wish all our viewers a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2063 Bikram Sambat. Nepalnews.com family.

Leaders of various political parties have dubbed the King’s message to the nation on the occasion of the New Year’s Day on Friday as conventional and failing to address the problems of the country.

His Majesty the King, in his message, called upon all political parties to join in a dialogue to bear the responsibility of activating the multiparty democratic polity and contribute towards the same, but leaders said the call did not keep any meaning as the establishment side (the government) had failed to address the demands of political parties that are protesting calling for restoration of “total democracy” in the country.

Talking to Nepalnews, a leader of Nepali Congress, one of the major constituents of the seven party alliance (SPA), Arjun Narsingh KC, said that the King’s message had failed to address the problems of the country.

“At a time when the country is in agitation and people are demanding early restoration of democracy the traditional message of the King is meaningless for the people,” he added.

“The message has failed to address problems of the country. So the agitation of the SPA for the restoration of complete democracy putting an end to autocracy will continue,” he further said.

He informed that the SPA will continue its programmes.

CP Mainali, general secretary of CPN-ML, said that though the King’s call for dialogue was broader than the previous message delivered on the Democracy day, the establishment side should do something more concrete in order to create a conducive environment for talks.

He alleged that the King’s message was insensitive towards the present situation of the country.

Though King’s call for dialogue is broad but it is fruitless until there is political environment for dialogue, he added.

“The government should restore people’s rights, revoke curfew and prohibitory orders, release all the political detainees and representatives of civil society leaders and form a government which can play the role of facilitator for talks to create conducive environment for talks to resolve present stalemate of the country,” Mainali added.

He also informed that the SPA will continue its agitation for the restoration of complete democracy until the government creates conducive environment for talks rather than verbal appeal.

Dhurba Bahadur Pradhan, senior leader of Rastriya Prajatantra Party said that the King’s call for dialogue is positive, adding, “We are in favour of dialogue between constitutional forces from the very beginning so His Majesty’s call will be a milestone in this regard.”

He further said that the government should create environment for talks and expressed the hope that the government will do so in the days ahead as the King made the appeal on the first day of the year.

He hoped that the message will be a positive to resolve political deadlock of the country.

In his message the King said that it is his desire that with the active participation of all political parties committed to peace and democracy, a meaningful exercise in multiparty democracy be initiated through the exemplary democratic exercise like the general elections.

The seven political parties are protesting against the direct rule of the King and demanding the King to return state power to people.

Five pro-democracy activists were killed and hundreds injured during the general strike called by the SPA from April 6.

International communities have been pressurizing the King and political parties to enter into meaningful dialogue to resolve current political crisis. The seven political parties have been demanding the government to create credible and conducive environment for talks. nepalnews.com Pratibedan Baidya Apr 14 06

Two foreign doctors providing treatment to the people injured during the ongoing anti-government demonstrations in Kathmandu have been deported by the authorities, news reports said.

According to reports, a German doctor known as “Angel” and an American expert on emergency medicine, Dr. Brain Cobb, have been deported on Thursday afternoon.

The government had cancelled their visa’s validity for the remaining period.

According to news reports, police arrested Dr Cobb from Gangabu on Wednesday and detained for six hours. He was not allowed to inform the American embassy while under detention. He was released on condition that he would present at the immigration department on Thursday. He told reporters that the police treated him like ‘criminal’.

He was severely beaten by Senior Superintendent of Armed Police Force Madhav Thapa on Tuesday while he was providing treatment to the injured demonstrators and police personnel in Gangabu. He had claimed that Thapa gouge out eye of one to the demonstrators with his baton on that day.

Parewa.com quoted the sources at the German Embassy confirming the cancellation of visa of Dr Angel. Much is not known about him.

When contacted for comments, officials at the APF headquarters denied speaking on the issue.

Dr Cobb had been providing first aid treatment on the spot to injured people since last week along with a dozen Nepali volunteers. nepalnews.com ia Apr 14 06

Not only pro-democracy activists, journalists and rights activists and lawyers have also become the victim of police atrocities in recent days in course of agitation of the seven political parties.

Kumar Shrestha, a photojournalist affiliated with Nepalnews.com also became the victim of police atrocity last Tuesday.

Shrestha, who was covering the pro-democracy movement in Gongabu area of the capital, received rubber bullet injuries fired by the security personnel.

Over 90 protestors were also injured during the incident.

A rubber bullet hit him when he was taking picture of the demonstration in Gongabu area. Shrestha, who had saved a policeman from further injury on Monday, become the victim of police firing a day later.

“I was taking photographs of protestors trying to set ablaze the residence of Additional Inspector General (AIG) of Nepal Police Rupsagar Moktan, suddenly I was hit by a bullet and became unconscious,” said Kumar.

Then Kumar was rushed to the TU Teaching Hospital for treatment. Doctors are yet to take out some parts of bullets from upper arm/shoulder of Shrestha. Doctors have recommended that the bullet be taken out only after the wound is healed.

Over 140 journalists were arrested and dozens injured when police attacked media personnel while they were covering the latest round of anti-government protests across the country over last week.

Police thrashed four journalists affiliated to Kantipur Publications, including assistant editor of Kantipur dainik, Balram Baniya, at Chuchepati in Kathmandu last week. They were there to cover how people were defying the curfew orders.

“Our job is to inform people on what is happening in the country. We are not political activists. So, attacks upon journalists is unnecessary,” added Kumar.

Widely traveled Shrestha, who has visited Maoist strongholds in the course of his duty, said he would continue his profession despite risks associated with it.

“We have been targeted by both the sides which is very unfortunate,” he added.

“Many protestors had been shot by the security forces before I received bullet injury. There was continuous firing in the demonstration,” he recalled.

Protestors vandalized nearly half dozen vehicles of different media during the protest programmes. Neither the government nor the protestors seemed bothered about the rights of the journalists.

Talking to Nepalnews, President of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), an umbrella organisation of the working journalists across the country, Bishnu Nisthuri, alleged that the government was treating independent press in the country as an enemy. “Recent incidents are testimony to the government’s behavior,” he added.

National and international media watchdogs have condemned the government’s atrocities against media and have raised voices to respect press freedom.

Meanwhile, talking to Nepalnews, Minister of state for Information and Communications and the government’s spokesperson Shrish Shumser Rana refuted claims that journalists were targeted.

He said that he did not have information about such attacks and that the government had no policy to attack journalists, adding, “Some journalists are becoming the part of the agitation which is against the professional ethics of journalism.” nepalnews.com pb Apr 14 06

Nepalis staying in the United Kingdom have organised a rally in Reading city in support of the ongoing pro-democracy movement of the seven-party alliance.

Nepali students and professionals living in different cities in the UK assembled at Berkshire, the city centre of Reading, on Thursday and expressed solidarity to the ongoing movement in Nepal.

They displayed banners and placards that read “End Autocracy: Support Democratic Movement in Nepal”.

The rally was organised by Nepali Alliance of Democratic Republic.

“At this moment we appeal to all peace-loving and democratic people to extend solidarity to the ongoing democratic movement in Nepal. We also appeal to the international community to exert pressure on the autocratic royal regime to return power to the people,” Rosy G.C, an MA student at Reading University, told Nepalnews, quoting the participants.

“Nepalis based in UK are very concerned about the deteriorating political scenario in Nepal. Unless democracy is restored peace will remain elusive,” she said, informing that more than 150 Nepalis based in UK participated in the rally. nepalnews.com mk Apr 14 06

Professionals and social activists continued their protests on the New Year day as well in support of the ongoing democratic movement of the seven opposition political parties.

There are reports of peaceful demonstrations in different parts of the country in which dozens of protesters have been taken into custody.

In Kathmandu, 14 social activists were arrested from a protest rally organised by NGO Federation Nepal at Baneshwor Friday morning, defying the prohibitory orders. Federation’s vice-chairperson Bhagwati Nepal is one of those arrested by the police, officials at the Federation said.

Similarly, police arrested 44 persons including 14 journalists from a protest rally organised in Baglung Bazaar, the district headquarters of Baglung. Members of Baglung Jaycees, journalists and human rights workers participated in the rally that marched around the town this morning, reports said.

Similarly, professional organisations associated with Professionals’ Alliance for Peace and Democracy (PAPAD) staged a rally in Pokhara today, demanding return of power to the people.

Meanwhile, all 150 members of the Association of International NGOs (AIN) who were arrested from a peace rally at Maitighar, Kathmandu, on Thursday were released today. Women participations taken into custody from the protest were released on Thursday evening, according to AIN officials. nepalnews.com mk Apr 14 06

Normal life has been badly hit with the partial halt in the delivery of services from government institutions since the start of the nationwide anti-government demonstrations carried out by seven opposition parties.

Talking to Nepalnews on Friday, Managing Director of Nepal Telecom (NT) Sugat Ratna Kanshakar admitted that some services at the NT have been disrupted due to ‘difficult situation’, even as the mobile phone services that were shut down on April 6 have resumed. “We have extended the duration for fines on late payment as the customers have not been able to pay their bills on time,” he said.

Officials in some NT outlets have stopped the distribution of new telephone lines while the maintenance service has been completely out of order and the inquiry section has been closed. NT officials at Chabahil exchange even went on to advise the customers to contact them only after the demonstrations are over.

Customers coming to pay their telephone bills have been forced to return as the revenue NT’s counters remain closed since a week.

Kanshakar explained that disturbances in services were due to the imposition of curfew, not because of the general strike called by the seven parties.

Spokesperson of the Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) Chandreshwor Shah said the corporation has been managing service delivery with limited officials while majority of the staffers are joining in the protest programmes. “Our focus is not to let our services stop despite the strikes by our staffers,” he claimed.

A number of staffers who have joined in the street demonstrations have been carrying out their duties regularly, he said.

Meanwhile, Kathmandu Metropolitan City officials said they were having difficulties in colleting garbage in the initial days but, for them, things are returning to normal. But garbage collectors started going to the households only after seven days on Wednesday when the curfew orders were ended.

Ironically, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has ended the daily load-shedding of five hours in the capital with the start of the seven-party movement.

Despite government warning, the staffers in these services stopped works to expresses their solidarity to the democratic movement.

Following a spate of protests by the employees in various offices, the government recently banned strikes in essential services like postal services, telecommunications, hospitals, transportation, airways, services related to the airports, supply, storage, cargos and government’s printing and publication offices. nepalnews.com Indra Adhikari Apr 14 06

At a time when major opposition political parties are protesting against the direct rule of the King, minister of State for Information and Communications and Government spokesperson Shrish Shumsher Rana has said the parliamentary election was the best option to bail the country out of the prevailing crisis.

Talking to representatives of foreign media in the capital Friday, Rana charged the political parties with trying to run away from the polls.

The government spokesperson also said that His Majesty wanted to resolve the problem through dialogue process.

He also claimed that though the agitating parties were trying to create unnatural situation in the country by joining hands with Maoists, the government has taken the situation under control, according to reports.

However leaders of the seven political parties said they join the hands with the Maoists to find peaceful outlet of Maoist insurgency and to restore complete democracy in the country. nepalnews.com pb Apr 14 06

By Dr. Thomas A. Marks

Even as I write, events in Nepal unfold as if a Broadway play – nary a miscue from the script passed out months ago in the Nepalese media.

Having declared a “ceasefire inside the Kathmandu Valley,” thus to gain the media “spin” that would necessarily come from “peaceful protestors” being “attacked,” the Maoists proceeded elsewhere in the country to attack positions. The Butwal attack is only the most recent example.

Open use of violence “outside” the urban centers has been accompanied by orchestrated rioting “inside.” That the foreign media (with the help of the anti-government sectors in the Nepali media) persist in calling such “peaceful protest” only demonstrates how thoroughly detached they are from the reality of the people’s war approach.

From the Maoist Playbook

To outline the Maoist strategy for those who were not present at the auditions for parts:

● Overload the security forces “inside” while attacking with main forces “outside.” Claim to be only supporting “peaceful” forces for change.

● Use government troop deployments to advantage. If the security forces must move more men inside, flow into the vacuums left behind. If they move outside, send urban partisans inside.

● Exploit every death and claim that any setback (e.g. failure to overthrow the government) proves that only the violent way is left to install “absolute democracy.”

● Break the RNA at all costs. RNA is the one real obstacle remaining in the quest for power. So caught up is the SPA in its short-term effort to remain relevant that it is oblivious to long-term peril. SPA can be counted upon to mindlessly perform on cue.

● Move now to exploit the opening provided by Indian perfidy. New Delhi senses an opportunity to at long last create of Nepal a dependency that will do as it is told.

From the Maoist perspective, they have adopted a “win/win” course of action: no matter what actually happens, they will benefit.

By declaring a “ceasefire outside Kathmandu Valley,” they seal off the battle area, declaring that it will be a fight between rival bodies of manpower. They feel that the SPA manpower on the streets can overwhelm whatever the police and APF (the backup) can put on the playing field.

When the authorities make mistakes, which ultimately they must if SPAM plans go off as scripted, the government is again “human rights abusers” — and the howls can already be heard from the usual suspects. Some elements of the Nepali media appear to be working deliberately to fan the anti-government flames.

Further, the violence allows the Maoists to claim they at least gave “peace” a chance.

The dream scenario, from the SPAM perspective, is to replay 1990, with masses rushing across the open boulevard leading to the main palace gate, the troops forced to open fire, bodies filmed by international media and beamed worldwide, India declaring it can no longer stand by “as democracy is crushed.”

Role of India

India’s role remains to be untangled, but no one who was in Sri Lanka in July 1987 – as I was – can overlook the startling similarities. The Indian invasion, conveniently disguised as the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force), was but the culmination of half a decade of support for Tamil insurgents/terrorists that New Delhi thought it could “manage.”

Then, as now, the shape of the international arena played a significant role. India, many have forgotten, had sided with the Evil Empire. There were some 6-7,000 Soviet advisors in the country. It was the first country outside the Warsaw Pact to receive the MIG-29 fighter, the first (and only) ever to be rented a nuclear submarine.

Beyond all else, in a relationship only now emerging from files of the KGB spirited out of the country prior to the resumption of the authoritarianism, the government of Indira Gandhi allowed itself to be fed Soviet disinformation that convinced it Sri Lanka was a threat.

Alleged “special intelligence” provided by Moscow purported to prove Colombo was on the verge of granting Washington basing and spying facilities, India became involved with the Tamil insurgents, eventually training, arming, and basing them. When an initial massing of forces to invade in early 1984 was warned off by the Reagan administration, Delhi simply waited for a more propitious moment. This came in July 1987, as the Sri Lankans moved to crush the trapped insurgents in Jaffna.

What that moment shares with the present is the astonishingly bad “intelligence” that drove Indian policymaking, as well as the claim that “foreign hands” support the monarch. Putting the word in quotation marks only highlights what Indian field commanders realized within days of landing in Jaffna – there was little they had been given in their briefing packets that was accurate.

That India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had produced “analysis” every bit as flawed as any in the annals of intelligence debacles has since been recognized by no less than India’s imperious Proconsul at the time, J.N. Dixit (now deceased) – though he continued to claim, even in his last writings, that India’s information on America’s intentions was completely reliable.

That India had completely botched its assessments of Sri Lankan ground realities would not surprise anyone who has followed what has emerged as the dominant government position in the present Nepali crisis. Indeed, Indian participants in panels held in Washington, DC, such as S.D. Muni, have distinguished themselves principally in what can only be characterized as willful ignorance of SPAM pronouncements and motives.

To cite but the most egregious example, the Indians continue to claim SPAM is willing to negotiate for itself a role in a parliamentary framework headed by a constitutional monarchy, even as the Maoists give press conferences claiming they will try the monarch in a people’s court.

There do seem to be analysts who have correctly identified the astonishingly strategic myopia involved in destabilizing Nepal further even as India itself grapples with its own growing Maoist challenge. In his recent “India, Maoism and Nepal,” former Finance Minister Madhukar S.J.B. Rana hit the nail squarely on the head when he wrote, “India is playing a dangerous game of pure real politic where it seeks to intervene in Nepal militarily by using the Maoist [as published] as proxy under the unbelievable propaganda ‘to secure peace and democracy for the Nepalese people and to arrest the impending refugee inflow into its own territory’.”

Change a word here and there, and the logic is identical to the debacle that became IPKF. It is further noteworthy that in the three bloody years that followed July 1987, IPKF acquitted itself well in “India’s Vietnam” (as it was called by the press), even as Indian policymakers sought to cast blame for the blunder on anyone and everyone except themselves. (The most ludicrous position, of course, was the very one the Maoists advance now: it is all the fault of American imperialism.)

Where to From Here?

As irony would have it, it is the growing amicability of India and the US which has served as the strategic cover for New Delhi to bring Kathmandu to heel. Nepali sources have become increasingly blunt (and strident) in the same manner as the Sri Lankans all those years ago, as the Indian ties to Nepali violence become more clear.

One does not have to engage in plot mongering to posit that India is making a major policy error in steering its present course. Neither does one have to cast aspersions to point out the obvious: the SPA portion of SPAM has been willing to play the quisling for momentary political gain.

For it will be momentary, come what may. Let us suppose that the present government collapsed tomorrow. Where would that leave SPA? With two useless pieces of paper and a worthless sheath of promises.

What is tragic is that very little would seem to separate the sides at the moment save profound mistrust. The king agrees that parliamentary democracy should be restored with a constitutional monarch. The Maoists claim they will accept a democratic republic of whatever sort is decided by a constitutional convention. SPA claims the same. SPAM as a whole claims to desire a “ceremonial monarch” (but the “M” has been unwilling to desist from claiming a trial or exile is the only way out for the present monarch). RNA would become a true “national” army, which, not surprisingly, it already thinks it is.

It is important to interject RNA into the discussion, because the shape of any successor organization was a major sticking point in the previous 2003 round of ceasefire talks. SPAM seems to think this institution will simply agree to dissolve itself without discussions of what this entails.

That this will not happen was put to the Maoists directly in 2003, but they were as unwilling then to grapple with the complexities thus raised as they appear to be now. Yet the growing stratum of combat-tested, politically astute officers is not simply going to go as lambs to the slaughter.

Thus a great deal more thought is required upon the part of all sides. This will not take place as long as SPAM persists in its present course.

Dr. Thomas A. Marks is a political risk consultant based in Honolulu, Hawaii and a frequent visitor to Nepal. He has authored a number of benchmark works on Maoist insurgency. Please send your comments to [email protected].

(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected])