By Krishna Poudel
At this moment of time, I wish I were in Nepal being part of those thousands of people on the street defying the curfew orders of the royal government, asking the military to open fire if they could, and caring nothing but the absolute democracy. The puppets of Royal regime have warned of heavier crackdown on the peace demonstration but they are oblivious of the fact that this time people have taken to the street because the atrocities of the royal regime have taken their toll and the Nepalis have it enough living in fear and deadlocks. Thanks to the ‘Giris and Thapas”, absolute democracy is not at distance now!
Bullets may work against hundreds of, even thousands, party cadres, but it never works when millions of common people with nothing but their open arms decide to march. History is witness, in Nepal, and elsewhere in the world, when such a mass of everyday people decides, authoritarian regimes reigning centuries have fallen apart in days, fences, however big they are, are brought down and the will of these common people prevails. Nepalis, it’s evident, have already made up their mind when they defied the ‘shoot at sight’ curfew orders.
Please try to control the ones who might be tempted for some vandalism and watch out for those infiltrators trying to taint the movement giving it a violent turn. Non violence is the ultimate weapon of the freedom fighters.
Ironically, for better or worse, when the nation is burning in fire, the peaceful demonstrators are being gunned down, and the blood of democracy fighters is marking the roads and crossroads, King Gyanendra is taking a pleasure trip, offering “sacred water” in temples. I recall here one lesson that my grandpa often reminded me. There are three types of people in this world, those who see the fire and its potential strength and take care of it in time, others who realize the power of the fire when they feel the heat and the others who don’t get it until they are engulfed by the fire and turned to ashes.
Street vendors from Terai, eminent personalities of the civil society (like renowned doctors, lawyers, journalists, professors) college students from Palpa, housewives of Mangalbazaar, Tharus of Bardia, farmers of Chitwan and the likes are taking to street in the valley and all over the nation. Yes, they are the new faces, yes they are the weakest of the weak, yes they have only open arms, but now they make up this fire for democracy. It’s up to King Gyanendra and his sycophants to gauge the strength of this fire. Rest history itself will tell.
In the mean time, we would like to appeal the international community, as you did support the people’s movement in 1990, Nepalis are seeking it one more time. They are in decisive mood now; the moral support of all the ‘democracy and freedom loving people around the globe’ will give them the vigor they need more than ever. It may not be ruled out that royal regime might opt for the mass murder of the peaceful demonstrators, so it’s also the responsibility of the international community to warn against any such action and of its consequences.
Also, there is a request for those front runners and other democracy fighters, please try to control the ones who might be tempted for some vandalism and watch out for those infiltrators trying to taint the movement giving it a violent turn. Non violence is the ultimate weapon of the freedom fighters.
On the part of all Nepalis around the world who care for democracy, “Hats off to democracy fighters, you are writing a history of new Nepal now”
(The author is a fellow at Cornell University, New York Please send your comments/suggestions to [email protected] or [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])
The process of metamorphosis of Nepali society will continue until freedom is assured and protected
By Yurendra Basnett
Tocqueville once remarked, ‘I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it.’ And so does the sentiment reverberate in Nepal beyond the physical boundaries, forming a human chain, if you may, across the globe. But how does one comprehend such a phenomena? Do we, existing in our own petty follies, place it under the carpets (as we seem to do so often) and tuck ourselves to the comforts of our rugs? Or do we make peace with our own contradictions? What one does is predicated by how one places oneself in the larger scheme of things. But prior to probing into such contentions, we must first comprehend the phenomenon that engulfs the nation.
The cliché, so apt in the contemporary affairs of Nepal – ‘there can be no smoke without the fire’ – begs acknowledgement. While the fire (metaphorically speaking), flickers and seeks expression, it, nonetheless, has managed to rekindle the hearts of many; and hence, a force to be contended with. In a more mundane parlance, we are witnessing the ‘politics of anti-politics’. Though this concept carries with it a whole range of explanatory power, here, it is specifically used to describe the participation of ‘civil society’ in the recent movement for democracy ushered by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and backed by the political consent of the Maoist. But seldom do common men, in the history of a nation, put down their tools with which they earn their daily bread and take part in something much larger than life. So, what fuels the fire that intoxicate the heart and numb the mind, arousing the courage and passion, of these humble souls, to undertake a journey that of the hero’s and martyr’s?
Regrettably, those that forget history are cursed to repeat it. Empires
and armies that attempted to usurp freedom have inevitably succumbed to it.
Standing at the crossroads, the ancient and not-so-ancient political martyrs of this nation twist in their grave with the formidable echo of freedom, which once more drum the psyche of the nation. It is not ideology, power or structure that has had the profound affect of uniting mankind. They may have, but only gained a fleeting existence. The quintessential yearning for freedom continues to be the indefatigable force nurtured by mankind. So basic it is and so natural it is that one need only turn the pages of history to find a plethora of its testimony. And yet, regrettably, those that forget history are cursed to repeat it. Empires and armies that attempted to usurp freedom have inevitably succumbed to it. And civilization emerged to its glorious forms, through the course of history, only on the basis of assuring a greater degree of freedom and liberty to the one it replaced. Our nation is no different to any other and this ‘law of mankind’ that forms the very basis of any nation applies here too.
The common man takes part in this movement not merely for ideology, power or structure. The quest is to protect freedom, both tangible and intangible: freedom from hunger to freedom from oppression. When such freedoms are curbed, and when one is denied the opportunity to seek such forms of freedom, it necessitates utilization of one’s agency to assuage one’s deprivation. Humans in general have the ability to cope with adverse situations, but this coping mechanism has its limitation beyond which it is left with no alternative other than to ‘fight for its basic rights’. And hence, we see and observe, under the smoke, the ‘whispers of freedom’, expressed with passion and fraternity.
The political movement initiated by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) has moved beyond being merely political. The political parties have gained, in the course, a new legitimacy, which had been lost or had waned depending on one’s political orientation. However, what is important to underscore is that the political parties (the SPA) are themselves in the course of being re-baptized. They may retain their names, but the movement will have a profound effect on their own political orientation. How they will be oriented or what its outcome will be is difficult to predict. But to retain the new found legitimacy it must listen to the masses. And the masses have a message in the form of a whisper that the political parties must listen hard in order to hear. Moreover, the recent movement, more than mere political objectives, must foster the middle ground and pacify the extreme forces in order to remain significant and legitimate.
Undermining these whispers, in the conundrum of noise that the recent movement has created, will not allow the nation to be in peace. And, therefore, as we get overwhelmed by recent development, a cautionary note must be struck. Failure to listen to these whispers posits grave consequences to the nation and the state, beyond the achievement of the objectives of the political movement. Revolutions of different forms, as observed through history, have at times achieved its political objectives. But failure to assure and protect freedoms to its people has inevitably succumbed to counterrevolutions.
Therefore, to the torch bearers of democracy that stand on the shoulders of the nation – while you gaze with one eye on the future of the nation with hope and optimism, let the other eye not lose sight of the shoulders that you stand on. They are of none other than that of the commons, who have put down their tools and forgotten about their bread today so that you could be supported. You have once in the past forgotten the shoulders that you stood on. Failure to do so again will render you to the abyss of political graveyard.
Finally, as the nation goes through a Hegelian metamorphosis, it is once again placed in a critical juncture. What will be the outcome of this particular metamorphosis is difficult to caricature. However, what can be said with certainty is that the process of metamorphosis will continue not till the establishment of communism as Marx elucidated in his seminal works, but till freedom is assured and protected. Nation and States exist uncontested only when freedoms to its people is guaranteed and protected. It is, therefore, imperative that the present movement led by SPA does not lose sight of this – to do so will only push the nation into deeper chaos. And, to all those concerned – listen to the whispers of the nation under the conundrum of noise and smoke. The secret of the fire that burns and the fuel that fuels the fire lies in these whispers.
(Basnett is a post-graduate student at the London School of Economics.Please send your comments to [email protected] or [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])
The Nepalese football team beat the Indian rookies to reach the semi finals of the AFC Challenge Cup 2006 at MA Aziz Stadium, Chittagong, Bangladesh today.
It was Pradeep Maharjan, suffering from knee-problem, who lit the hopes of the Nepalese team reaching the semifinals in an international tournament since the 1999 SAFF Championship in Goa, India. The win against India came after 13 years when they had defeated India in 1993 in the final of the SAF Games in Dhaka.
The match started in blistering pace with many attacks from the start. The Indian rookies were not good enough to handle the “Gorkhalis” and conceded a goal in the 15th minute. Pradeep Maharjan, who had scored twice against Bhutan and one against Sri Lanka, fired an excellent goal when Surendra Tamang’s shot on a Bijaya Gurung corner was half cleared by Indian defender N Pradeep.
Nepal’s relentless attacks paid off again when Maharjan doubled the advantage in the 26th minute after his shot on a Raju Tamang corner was deflected by an Indian defender and hit the left post before sailing into the net.
Skipper Basanta Thapa extended the goal tally two minutes later when his 20-yard-shot found the back of the net. Then, on the opposite end, Nepal’s promising goalie Bikash Malla denied Vimal Pariyar’s shot in the next minute.
In the second half, the play was the same with Nepal dominating. Nepal wasted as many as four clear goal scoring chances. Surendra Tamang almost scored in the 66th minute, squandering a beautiful chance on a cross from Bijaya Gurung; shooting wide. Raju Tamang missed another in the 83rd minute while Skipper Thapa couldn’t cash in the 84th minute.
Nepal coach Shyam Thapa was elated with aftermath saying, “My boys played a brilliant game in the first half that ensured an easy and comfortable win.” “There is still good football to come from our boys in the next match and hopefully, we can surprise anyone here in Bangladesh,” Thapa added.
India’s Uzbek coach Islam Akhmedov said his team collapsed within ten minutes of the game. “We conceded goals early into the match and it was all over,” he said.
Nepal will face Sri Lanka in the semi-final on April 12. nepalnews.com bt Apr 09 06
India must learn a firm lesson from the increasing Maoist threat to Nepal and to its own vulnerable population in its northern states
By Dr. Pravin Rajbahak
The Maoists have executed another horrible attack- killing people, adducting civil servants and setting government offices ablaze. This time the attack was not in the mid-west or a “remote village far-flung from Kathmandu” but in Malangawa of Sarlahi district in the Terai. The three districts of Mahottari, Sarlahi and Rautahat districts in eastern Nepal, border Sitamadi district of Bihar, the poorest Indian state. Sarlahi is also near to major Bihari towns such as Madhubani, Muzzaffarpur and Darbhanga-all of which have witnessed considerable increase in Naxal violence in the last few years. This is the area that independent and democratic India is at its weakest and poorest and human life hasn’t changed much in this place in the last 100 years. Among the 37 districts in Bihar, 30 of them are already infected with Naxal violence and Sitamadi town which is the administrative headquarter of Tirhaut division is one of the heavily infested Naxal area in the full of India.
The Bihar para military force just last year busted several Maoist training camps in Piparimath village in Bairgania near to Sitamadi. In June last year, more than 300 Maoist guerrillas attacked Madhuban bazaar in east champaran district, looted cash from various banks, set the police posts and block office ablaze and fled well before reinforcements could reach there. IG of Police R.R Verma had said that a large number of Maoists from Nepal had participated in the attack. Even Bihar Police Chief Ashish Ranjan Sinha was reported as saying that he knows of increasing number of criss-cross flows of Indian and Nepali Naxalites for coordinated attacks in the area. But by the time these reports from senior police officers reached Delhi, they were already tampered to tell to the audience “there was little proof of actual involvement of Nepali Maoists.”
Growing linkage of the Naxalites in India with Maoist insurgents in Nepal had been responsible, for unification of Maoist parties and resultant expansion of their activities in Bihar.. The linkage between these two groups has been largely seen as a pre-requisite for further unification, consolidation and expansion of Maoism in different parts of the country stretching across Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar, to Nepal. Expansion of Naxal activity in Bihar is an important part of this strategy and the prevailing situation in Bihar and Nepal helps these outfits. The porous Bihar-Nepal border, the general breakdown of rule of law, poor governance and incapacity of the security forces provides a context for these left extremist groups to operate with ease. They attack in Bihar and cross to Nepal and vice versa.
This is where sanity is tricked by reality and assessment betrayed by experience. Why is India insensible to mounting Naxal activity and violence even though Naxalites today control about 30 percent of the Indian territory? More than 15 percent of Indian forests are totally under the grips of the Maoists. The Indian Army in its annual report has stated that “Naxal violence could get out of hand like in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast,” but the report has gone into the dustbins. The Bihar state government has requested New Delhi to beef up security along its 735 km stretch of border with Nepal, but nothing much has been done. The Union Home Ministry of India has asked the Intelligence Bureau (I&B) to open an operations wing for anti-Naxal operations. This was about a year ago. Not the well-trained BSF but the ill-equipped SSB guards the Indo-Nepal border.
It is not surprising therefore that well-coordinated attacks have been rising in the Terai. In spite of all these, India is engrossed with the idea of bringing the Maoists into the political mainstream through a 12-point understanding reached at its command a few months ago in Delhi. Its own Prime Minister says that “talks with the Naxalites is not possible before they lay down their arms” yet his policy towards the Nepali rebels is governed with empathy, unstated approval and guardianship. That the Baburam Bhattarai faction of the Nepali Maoists has special relations with India is an open secret, made public through the voice of Prachanda himself. But the entire Maoist movement somehow being the creation of India is now a dead hypothesis. It could have been true yesterday but has clearly gone out of the Indian grips today. This is exactly what happened to the Akali Takht, which was Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s creation coming around and assassinating Mrs. Gandhi herself or the LTTE which was primarily financed, equipped and trained by the Indian security agencies eventually assassinating Mr. Rajiv Gandhi.
The same stupidity has been repeated in Nepal by providing the Maoists a safe haven in New Delhi, allowing clandestine flows of armory into the Maoist hands and facilitating talks with the mainstream political parties. Not even a single Maoist cadre of some status has been arrested by India since Feb. 1st last year. Instead, what all this has done is that states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Andra are now under the Maoist mercy. They can strike anywhere at will. For the governments of Nepal and India, there is a long international border and sovereignty is at question. For the Maoists, it is essentially a seamless world.
This is exactly what happened to the Akali Takht, which was Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s creation coming around and assassinating Mrs. Gandhi herself or the LTTE which was primarily financed, equipped and trained by the Indian security agencies eventually assassinating Mr. Rajiv Gandhi.
India must learn a firm lesson from the increasing Maoist threat to Nepal and to its own vulnerable population in its northern states, as it is a rising power of this century. It must realize, shoving aside its sharp ego, that stopping lethal arms to the Royal Nepal Army; on the contrary gifting some ambulances to a few NGOs in Sarlahi by its ambassador in Nepal was an unfortunate decision for which it will have to regret for a long time to come. None but Mrs. Indira Gandhi herself smashed the Naxalbari movement in the ‘70s with an iron fist; what type of “democracy” is it talking about while dealing with the same brand of ideological whims in Nepal?
A Maoist takeover of Nepal will switch even the pro-Indian faction inside the Maoists to a fiercely nationalistic radical group that will in no time invite their comrades from all the Indian states for a similar revolution in India. Only then will the government of India realize the importance of the RNA and the monarchy that have been giving an assertive and uncompromising resistance to those elements that are inimical not only to Nepal but also to India. It is indeed a sad story to relate that the arms and ammunition now being brought from Beijing is being used to punish those that have been termed as “terrorists” by India.
Transit Treaty Renewal:
After three months of nail-biting suspense, India agreed to renew the transit treaty for a period of seven years. The high hopes of seven agitating parties that New Delhi would shoulder them once again so as to ease them to come back to power has been harshly shattered. Furthermore, Delhi’s expectation from the parties too have become more “realistic” given their poor track record of the last 14 years during which the Maoist insurgency began and anti-Indianism became the order of the day. A retired Indian diplomat was reported as saying, “the political leaders forgot what we had done to usher democracy in Nepal as soon as they sat on the chair in Singha Durbar and India bashing became the gong–ho from day one. Nepali political leaders are the most ungrateful race that I have ever seen in my life.”
India could have messed up the already troubled waters of Kathmandu had it not renewed the treaty and the current government should be grateful for that. At least the royal palace and the RNA are not akin to political party leaders and are by culture appreciative of the good things done which are reciprocated in deeds if not in words. A week before, the UTL was allowed to operate its wireless local loop and the Indian joint venture company has already taken the Nepali telecom market by storm. On the very first day of sale, there were thousands of applicants to purchase the new UTL phone connections.
Indo-Nepal relations marred by frequent upheavals and snagged by Delhi’s absurd policy of promoting democracy in Nepal while simultaneously backing absolute monarchy in Bhutan will heed towards a positive direction once its fallacy of mainstreaming the Maoists meets a dead end. Its emotional weakness towards the political leaders has left it betrayed, shattered and hapless not once or twice but three times without a miss since 1950.
All other gambles have failed. While Kathmandu must abandon unnecessary and ill-timed anti-Indian rhetoric; Delhi needs to fully support the current dispensation in Kathmandu, which by any analysis is the best bet for the long-term security of India.
(Dr. Rajbahak is a pediatrician and can be reached at [email protected] Whether you agree with the views expressed by the author or not, please send your comments to [email protected]–Ed.)
(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])
Reconciliation is the means to establish peace and justice, which are inter-connected in several ways
By Dipendra Jha
Before going in demonstration every Nepali has to consider, why is he going, would his sacrifice bring any change in the country? The people must not act as the myth of Sisyphus, who pulls the rock every-time at the top of the mountain but it rolls back at the bottom. Why should the people do futile struggle for another Sher Bahadur Deuba to roll it back?
The present complicated issue is whether the sacrifice and struggle of Nepali people will be able to establish peace and democracy or not. The fighting against authoritarian king is not only sufficient to break to the whole undemocratic structure. If the struggle is targeted only against King Gyanendra, it will be futile. It is true that his actions are an attempt to bring back authoritarian rule in Nepal. But he is not only responsible for it; there are lot of invisible faces behind it including those who empowered him such authority. Even during the period of so called democracy for 12 years, the whole sphere of social, economy and political laws and practices were based on the power relations, hierarchy and domination, where the discrimination was deeply rooted at all level. The recent history has already shown us that every politician, who reached at the power position, used the undemocratic methodology to rule the country. The king has given only continuity of the system in a wider way.
Nepalis have not forgotten the ‘buying and selling’ of the members of parliament on the name of democracy. The representative democracy in Nepal has already shown us that only the elites were in power position, where the voice of the people was unheard. During those periods, election was free but not fair as a large amount of money had been used to buy the votes. Again if we are fighting for the same democracy, than it is useless to fight.
Nepali people have to reform “undemocratic” laws, practices and structure as a whole, which gives legitimacy to authoritarianism. As the undemocratic structures have been already institutionalized, it requires greater popular participation and community mobilization to overcome them. To break these types of traditional undemocratic structure from all level, it is necessary to educate those who are at the power position like judges, politicians, high-ranking governmental officials and military about equality, justice and non-discrimination. These are the power holding groups in hierarchical relationship. Institutional reform is necessary to strengthen democratic control over the legislature, judiciary, the bureaucracy and military. But the reform of this undemocratic structure of power is a big challenge for the whole nation. It is a big challenge for us to fight against the vicious cycle of elitism. Unless we reform the existing undemocratic structure from the grassroots level to the top, the realization of democratic environment seems impossible.
Unless we reform the existing undemocratic structure from the grassroots level to the top, the realization of democratic environment seems impossible.
The agreement between the seven political parties and the Maoists is really a good sign, which can start a new move. But the question is whether both the parties are honest or not. They have to consider about sacrificing their power position. Until they develop sacrificial and democratic views; nothing will change except a step down of the king, which does not keep much importance. If the Maoists have agreed with the views of the seven political parties, why should they fight when the parties were ruling the country making the king easier to grab the power?
If their agreement is for peace, peace does not mean only ending violence. It is more than the mere absence of war or even the absence of inter-state violence. It refers to a social condition in which exploitation is minimized or eliminated, and in which there is full realization of justice, which is impossible until the Maoists are ready to be accountable to their past human rights violations. Are they ready to be accountable for the crime they have committed over the last ten years? We have to ask this question before supporting the alliance between the political parties and the Maoists. What about the survival of the victims who lost their husbands and children, are they ready to accept those as their leaders who killed their family members? It is futile to fight for negative peace by surrendering justice.
The past experience under so- called democratic regime and present crisis under authoritarian regime all provide compelling reasons as to why another Nepal must be made possible. No single politician can be expected to provide leadership for change. Change must start from them by ending their undemocratic thoughts, which still exist in their minds and behaviours. The Chinese proverb is very much true in this context: the person who says it can not be done should not interrupt the person doing it.
Most of the politicians, diplomats including US, UK and present regime are emphasizing on reconciliation. But they are not clarifying what type of reconciliation, because it requires accountability on the part of both the state and non-state actors. On the one hand, the US ambassador in Nepal James F. Moriarty called for reconciliation, on the other hand he emphasized on sidelining the Maoists as part of the US’ ‘anti-communist’ foreign policy. But the Nepalis people have to think that sidelining the Maoists from the whole process will be a great mistake. In fact, reconciliation is the means to establish peace and justice, which are inter-connected in several ways. Denial of justice in itself is a denial of real peace and it is a place where all parties and things must come together.
Jha is a student of M. A. (Human Rights) at the Mahidol University, Thailand. Please send your comments to [email protected] or [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])
A Japanese journalist, Kiyoko Ogura has beautifully chronicled the People’s Movement of 1990 that ushered in the multi-party democracy in Nepal. Nepalnews brings to you selected chapters from the book “Kathmandu Spring: The People’s Movement of 1990” by Ms. Ogura published by Himal Books in 2001 and reprinted in 2004.
King forecasts democracy; Communist upsurge in Kirtipur
By Kiyoko Ogura
Late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shahdev
Late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shahdev (File Photo)
After the national referendum of 1980 to be decided whether the Panchayat system was to be continued or the multiparty system restored, the king had talked with Lokendra Bahadur Chand (reappointed prime minister later) at length. Chand remembered the conversation with the king (late King Birendra), who had then said, “Some day, this country will have a multiparty system. I can’t say if it takes ten years or twenty years to realise this, but you need to be ready for that.”
There was another time when they had talked about something similar. At the end of a monsoon season, Chand had gone to the royal villa on Nagarjun hill for a regular audience with the king. After their official business was over, he got a chance to talk with the king alone. “Your Majesty, the people of Nepali Congress want to work more freely,” Chand had said. “Thankfully, we have no serious problem other than that these days. I think if we could talk to them to solve this political problem, it would be good.”
Former Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand
Former Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand (File Photo)
There were two sofas in the room; the king was on one and Chand on the other. The king told Chand to come sit next to him. Sitting next to each other, the king and his prime minister talked about the demand of Nepali Congress. Finally, the king said, “If the leaders of Nepali Congress have clear ideas about political reform, you should start a dialogue with them.”
Unfortunately, soon after this, Chand was forced to resign from his post due to a conflict among panchas, and Marich Man Singh Shrestha became prime minister. Talks between the Panchayat side and the Nepali Congress could not take place then. It was indeed an historical irony that when the time for a dialogue with the political parties did come around, Shrestha had to go and replaced by Chand. But the situation now was radically different. The demands for political change had become uncompromising and this time it was the people themselves demanding it on the streets.
The small village of Nagaun, to the south of Kirtipur, and its eastern neighbour, Panga, have long been known to be politically active. During the 1950 movement to overthrow the Rana autocracy, the activists who had founded the Communist Party of Nepal, such as Pushpa Lal Shrestha, Shambhu Ram Shrestha, and later, Nirmal Lama, had taken shelter there for some time. The story of how each of the villagers had brought food for them is still fondly remembered. It is said that the farmers from these two villages had become communist supporters since then. After the ban on political parties in 1960, communist activists seldom visited the village, as most of them had taken refuge in India or were in jail. And the villagers resumed their lives, firmly shutting themselves off from politics.
That had changed after the mid-70swhen communist party workers once again started frequenting the villages. Dil Bahadur Shrestha, peasant activist Sanu Maharjan, and Man Mohan Adhikari, one of the founding members of the Communist Party of Nepal, were among those who began visiting Nagaun and Panga. It did not take long time for the villagers, already influenced by communist ideology, to become active members of the illegal communist parties once again. Twenty years later, it was a new generation leading the communist movement in the villages.
The split on the communist party had had an impact on the villages as well and the small communities were divided into three factions: the Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Congress), the Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) and Ma-Le. In the 1987 elections, the candidates from leftist groups had won the chairmanships of Bairagaun Village Panchayat, which include Nagaun and Chitubihar Village Panchayat, within which lay Kirtipur. Because of this, the authorities had marked out Kirtipur, Nagaun and Panga as ‘Red Areas’. But apart from an incident involving students and youths attacking the police station at Khasi Bazaar on 19 February, the movement had not really taken off there and the local leftists were feeling that Patan had over taken them. But now with the stirrings having begun, they jumped in readily as if that was just what they had been waiting for all long.
Police have taken into custody over two dozen professionals including journalists, lawyers and professors on Wednesday morning as they were taking out a peaceful rally in defiance of prohibitory orders from New Baneshwore of Kathmandu.
Those arrested include president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists Bishnu Nisthuri, general secretary Mahendra Bista, Chairman of Nepal Bar Association Sambhu Thapa among others.
They were arrested one day before the general strike of seven political parties.
Local authorities in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts on Tuesday issued prohibitory orders, barring public assemblies and rallies within Ring Road area from Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in a bid to foil the general strike of seven political parties the government has started to arrest leaders of major political parties.
Police arrested leaders of various political parties this morning.
Those arrested include central committee members of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Bimalendra Nidhi, Minendra Rijal and Man Mohan Bhattrai.
Police also arrested leaders of CPN-UML and Nepali Congress after carrying out search operation at the residence of leaders.
Details to follow. nepalnews.com pb/by Apr 05 06
Police have taken into custody over two dozen professionals including journalists, lawyers and professors on Wednesday morning as they were taking out a peaceful rally in defiance of prohibitory orders from New Baneshwore of Kathmandu.
Those arrested include president of Federation of Nepalese Journalists Bishnu Nisthuri, general secretary Mahendra Bista, Chairman of Nepal Bar Association Sambhu Thapa among others.
They were arrested one day before the general strike of seven political parties.
Local authorities in Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts on Tuesday issued prohibitory orders, barring public assemblies and rallies within Ring Road area from Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in a bid to foil the general strike of seven political parties the government has started to arrest leaders of major political parties.
Police arrested leaders of various political parties this morning.
Those arrested include central committee members of Nepali Congress (Democratic) Bimalendra Nidhi, Minendra Rijal and Man Mohan Bhattrai.
Police also arrested leaders of CPN-UML and Nepali Congress after carrying out search operation at the residence of leaders.
Details to follow. nepalnews.com pb/by Apr 05 06
India welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire by the Maoists in the Kathmandu Valley ahead of the general strike of the seven agitating political parties.
“We welcome the ceasefire, as you know India has always taken the position that violence is not the answer to the problems facing Nepal and that the Maoists should abandon violence as a political instrument,” Navtej Sarna, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, told media.
Issuing a statement on Monday, Maoist supreme Prachanda said his party had taken the decision “to cease all of its military activities” in the capital valley until further notice ahead of the general strike called by the seven-party alliance slated for April 6-9.
India also urged the constitutional forces to work together to find a lasting solution to end the conflict of Nepal.
“We trust that this ceasefire will be of a permanent nature and we continue to believe that the constitutional forces in Nepal should work together and find a lasting solution to the problems being faced by the country,” Sarna added.
He also informed that the US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, who heads the newly re-constituted State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asia would be visiting Delhi for consultations from April 6-8.
Boucher is also expected to discuss Nepal during his visit to India.
India and the US have been stalling military assistance to Nepal following the February 1 royal takeover of last year terming it as setback to democracy. nepalnews.com pb Apr 05 06
In a bid to make the telecommunication service more competitive and provide customers with more amenities, Nepal Telecom (NT) announced various services to its customers.
Holding a press conference on Tuesday, the NT informed that the new services would come into effect from April 14, the Nepali New Year.
Post-paid subscribers of NT would now make free calls worth Rs 500, which is equivalent to the minimum monthly payment. Earlier NT was providing free calls worth Rs 250 only.
Likewise, NT would also be beginning ‘e-mail alert’ service for its post-paid subscribers from April 14. After the new service is introduced, NT will start notifying post-paid users about new e-mails that have arrived in customers’ inboxes.
“These services being introduced in trial basis and will initially be made free of cost to customers who have subscribed Internet and e-mail services from NT,” said Surendra Thike, spokesperson of NT.
Other services that the state owned NT would be launching from April 14 would be pre-paid recharge card worth Rs 200. Untill now NT have been issuing recharge cards of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 only.
Besides, from now onwards, pre-paid users of NT can query their balance amount and recharge accounts without dialing 1414. Customers will have to dial *400# for balance query and the system would automatically send an SMS with balance details and due date. Likewise for recharging pre-paid mobiles, users can dial *411* and then the number encrypted in the recharge card.
Another service that NT has introduced is balance transfer through which NT pre-paid subscribers can exchange their balance amount of maximum Rs 50.
It was also informed at the press meet that NT is working to launch its limited mobility service soon.
In the run of six years of NT’s service, it has distributed 110,000 post-paid mobile phones and 398,000 pre-paid mobile phones so far. nepalnews.com pb Apr 05 06