The US President George W. Bush arrived in Delhi, via Kabul, late Wednesday and held talks with the Indian premier, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Thursday. Follow some of the responses that our readers have sent to Nepalnews regarding the on-going visit of the American president and its possible implications for Nepal.—Ed.

Bush is taking a break from all the mess
Shree Shrestha

President Bush’s visit should be welcomed
P. Poudyal

Bush’s visit can have a greater impact on Nepal
Suwarn Vajracharya

US is concerned about Nepali insurgency
Pankaj Raj Karmacharya

Mr. Bush should pressurize the king
Kiran Khadka
Bush is taking a break from all the mess
President George Bush is doing very badly in all opinion polls in USA. Iraq war is turning into a full blown civil war by day, Dubai Port deal is looking fishy, Secret Wire Tapping scandal is reminding Americans of Nixon Days, Iran and North Korea are raising their fists higher than before. On top of that, the US budget is redder than ever before. So, President Bush is taking a break from it all this week.

During his trip to India he will not be able to get India’s support in UN for Iran Nuclear Resolution and in turn Mr Bush will not sign Nuclear Pact with India. But he will have fun in signing a declaration proclaiming mutual understanding declaration. President Bush will definitely mention the need of democracy in Nepal. He will ask India to take lead in the same manner British and French asked Hitler of Germany to take care of Czechoslovakia.

You know it’s a regional matter. So democracy-minded Nepalis wake up and smell the rats. Our future lies in our hands. Get off the streets! Stop ‘narabaji’ (sloganeering). Participate in the election and choose your representatives.

Maoists need to rejoin Communist Party. Deuba and Koirala Congress should be reunited and elect a new leader. Fighting for democracy means to earn the trust of the Nepali people, not the foreign leaders.

Shree Shrestha
4926 Tokay Blvd
Madison, WI 53711
Mar. 01, 2006
[ Top ]
US is concerned about Nepali insurgency
The visit of the US President to New Delhi will speak volumes about US concern over the fate of the increasingly troubled Nepal nestled up against high Himalayas north of India.

In my opinion, he just can’t help us until we take steps to establish participatory democracy. Over the past year, Nepal has experienced a three-way struggle for power. Maoist insurgents seek to take over the country. The king has sought to consolidate authority in his own hands to fight the insurgents. An alliance of seven parties demands that parliamentary government be restored and has dallied with the Maoists in an attempt to gain political leverage.

US officials say unless a turn-around is engineered in six to eight months, Nepal will collapse into Maoist hands. Besides bringing more instability to South Asia, which would enhance ties between the Maoists in Nepal and anti-government insurgents in northern India and possibly provide a new haven for terrorists.

The US has berated the quarreling king and politicians equally and has asserted that “so long as there is no coherent strategy in place to roll back the massive gains the Maoists have made over the past decade, the Maoists will rightfully conclude that they are winning”.

Its time we heed the US concerns.

Pankaj Raj Karmacharya
3025 Main street
Bridgeport, CT 06606
Mar. 01, 2006
[ Top ]
President Bush’s visit should be welcomed
Visit to South Asian nations by president Bush should be welcomed. This should be continued in the sense that South Asia is club of people under poverty. Therefore, US and other powerful nations should take some effective measures to overcome this problem. It is most welcomed by a Nepali citizen like me. Nepal is facing very difficult time these days. There are three basic issues, which needs to be answered:

Maoist Insurgency: Self-declared democratic parties do not have clear view over this problem nor have strategic planning to encounter insurgency. They are fighting with the King without realising the fact that they will be powerful while making consensus with the King. They are making alliance with the Maoists through 12-point pact against the King. This will in latter dates marginalize democratic voices and parties. Nepalis cannot think a country without King. They want both the King and democracy in the country.

Poverty: Rampant poverty across the country always destabilises the government. The government in power always gave priority to political issues, thereby giving low priority to economic and trade issues.

Indian Interest: We cannot change our geography and neighbours. Earlier, British destabilized Nepal and now it is the turn of Indian government in power. India is destabilizing Nepal through Maoists as they are providing every support to Prachanda, Baburam and company.

They are playing chess with all the political players in Nepal. In this context, president Bush should once visit Nepal to see two things:

1. The rapid growth of Maoist insurgency: Only the monarchy is a legitimate institution to fight against it. So, all military, logistic and moral support should be in place to fight against terrorism.

2. Nepalis expect cooperation for victims of insurgency including, those who have been made disabled, terrorised and looted by insurgents. The government alone cannot afford to recover this so all should extend their cooperation. All assistance extended should be based on the principle of mutual understanding and co-existence.

P. Poudyal
[email protected]
Mar. 01, 2006
[ Top ]
Mr. Bush should pressurize the king
We all are aware of the fact that the rise of the US after World War II is because of the capitalism. Being a capitalist, USA is always in the hunt of making fortune out of everything it does and acts.

Everyone knew there was nothing like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But, Mr. Bush thought otherwise and assumed Saddam Hussein was a big threat. And, here we see the mess!! Iraq is turning out to be another Vietnam. The sole reason behind attacking Iraq was the OIL. It’s an evidence that a capitalist always acts for its benefit. India has never been a good ally of the US before. But, things have changed. The cold war is over. China has moved a long way and become the largest importer to the US market. USA can not afford China to be the key player in world economy.

For USA, India has turned around as a good strategic partner so that it can neutralize China and in the meantime take advantage of growing Indian economy. Because of the Japanese car makers, big three US companies like Ford, GM, and Chrysler are in the brink of bankruptcy. India can be reviving market for these fading US companies. In order to compete with China in the process of being the largest economy in the world, India can not ignore the fact of having new ties with the US. The recent nuclear deal between these two largest democracies tells the extent a capitalist can move forward for its benefits.

Why not Nepal?

There answer is: We do not have anything to offer US.

Then, why Afghanistan? This country is no different than Nepal in terms of resources and economic conditions.

The answer is:

Because, Bin Laden is hiding there.

That is why Mr. Bush made an emergency landing in Afghanistan on his way to New Delhi.

Being the most powerful leader in the world, instead of offering few words for the democracy in Nepal and asking the king to give up absolute power, I expect Mr. Bush to show concern to our devastated country, pressure the king, and let Nepalese people live in complete democracy.

Kiran Khadka
Candidate, Masters in Business Administration.
Missouri State University
630 E. Madison
Springfield, MO.
[ Top ]
Bush’s visit can have a greater impact on Nepal
President Bush’s visit to South Asia can have a greater impact on Nepal and I envision a better hope for resolving Nepal’s political stalemate with his visit. His improved relations with both India and Pakistan will at least create an environment or open a door for talks between the two South Asian nuclear rivals. The two will learn that rivalry can be replaced with competition to help make a better South Asia. But it still depends on both President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh whether they are serious about making good use of President Bush’s diplomacy.

South Asia is watching.

On the other hand, whatever result the US President’s visit may have come out of talks with the two rivals, Nepal can have a greater impact though he avoided visiting Nepal in person this time.

Pakistan may have an agenda of its own to deal with problems being created by al Qaeda and Pervez’s uneasy alliance with the West. But India is sure to put Nepal on the agenda in Singh- Bush talk to break the stalemate in Nepal and thus the visit can create a stronger pressure upon Nepal’s king and the seven agitating parties for reconciliation, which is, of course, the only way out for Nepal’s ill.

It is difficult to think President Bush will ever give a nod to any suggestion of applying his Iraq and Afghanistan strategy in Nepal as it is not going to work in this land. The more force used the more deadlock for peace. The usage of force will only put innocent citizens’ life in jeopardy. What is significant in President Bush’s visit this time to South Asia is that he will force Nepal not by inciting violence arming the powerful party but by forcing the warring parties for reconciliation through his South Asian allies, particularly India.

Therefore, the visit has a better hope for Nepal as it causes no escalation of violence by the meddling of the US in Nepal’s problem. Some may be disappointed with this mild stance of President Bush. But this is going to help Nepal to trust in nothing but talks, negotiations and reconciliation than ever. Bush’s mild stance will remind us the message of Lord Buddha, whose native land is in trouble now for not heeding his message– “Hatred begets hatred. Kindness begets kindness. Nothing but kindness ceases the hatred” (Dhammapada).

President Bush’s visit can also be an untold reminder for all involved in the self-centred deadlock that it is time to learn from their past mistakes. Ironically, it is only the Maoists, who have publicly apologised and shown their remorse over their wrongful killings in the past. Innocent people victimized in the name of national security, party politics and even religion are yet to receive apologies from the perpetrators. President Bush’s visit to South Asia avoiding Nepal can be a great success if his visit awakens these perpetrators that they are not above the law of the land.

Suwarn Vajracharya
2-15-25 Saiwai, Ichikawa City 272-0123

Voting is underway in the colleges affiliated with Tribhuvan and Mahendra Sanskrit universities for the elections of the Free Student Union (FSU) on Tuesday.

Over two hundred thousand students are casting their votes in the FSU election to elect their representatives.

Elections are being held in 61 constituent campuses and in over 200 affiliated campuses of Tribhuvan University, as well as 12 constituent campuses of Mahendra Sanskrit University across the country.

In Kathmandu Valley, elections is being held in 28 campuses.

Students affiliated to seven agitating political parties filed joint candidacy in some campuses, and are vying against each other in other campuses.

A tough competition is expected between the Nepal Students’ Union (NSU) and the All-Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU), especially in major campuses of the valley including TU Central Campus, Shankar Dev Campus, Ratna Rajya Campus, Nepal Commerce Campus, Padma Kanya Campus and Patan Multiple Campus.

Students are taking the election as part of their ongoing agitation for the restoration of complete democracy in the country.

Elections have been stalled at Saraswati Campus and Tri Chandra campuses following disputes among student unions.

NSU and NSU (Democratic) have forged an alliance at Patan Multiple, Nepal Law, Mahendra Ratna, Nepal Engineering, Nepal Commerce campuses and TU central campuses.

Similarly, ANNFSU has forged an alliance with NSU (Democratic) in Vishwa Bhasha, Sankardev and Pashupati campuses.

Till date, candidates have been elected unopposed in 22 campuses.

Outside Kathmandu Valley, NSU and NSU (Democratic) have forged an alliance at Prithivi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, which has over 10,000 voters and is the largest campus of the country in terms of the number of voters.

Maoists released 150 students and teachers, abducted from different places in Dhading a week ago.

Separate groups of Maoists had abducted a teacher of the Khalte-based Mahendrodaya lower secondary school, Ram Hari Nepali, and teachers and students of schools based in Dhuwakot, Katunje, Baseri, Budhadhun and Mulpani, according to reports.

Maoists released them following requests from rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and representatives of professional organizations.

KP Sharma Oli (File Photo)
At a time when international communities are pressuring the agitating political parties and the King to find consensus to resolve the present political crisis, one of the senior leaders in the seven-party alliance has said that the parties were not against holding talks with the king.

KP Sharma Oli, an influential leader of CPN-UML, said that the parties were not against talks with the King if the talks were genuinely intended towards resolving present problems, according to reports.

“Parties engaged in peaceful democratic movement cannot refuse talks, but they are against making any compromise in the basic stance for loktantra (democracy),” said Oli.

Defending the 12-point pact between political parties and Maoists, Oli said the pact was for the restoration of peace in the country and to bring the Maoists to the mainstream of politics. “Our 12-point understanding with the rebels was an initial stage – the stage for commitment in principle – towards peace,” said Oli. “It was for the first time the rebels have agreed to enter politics of competition. It is a significant development.”

Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani

Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani (File Photo)
Co-chairman of Rastriya Janashakti Party Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, however, claimed the parties-Maoist understanding can’t yield any results until the rebels make clear their stance on multi-party parliamentary democracy, desired economic model and socio-economic transformation of the society.

“The 12-point pact cannot be expected to go far and the alliance needs to be wary of the remarks coming from Dr Baburam Bhattarai that Maoists cannot take consolation from bourgeois democracy,” Lohani added.

CK Lal (File Photo)
Political analyst CK Lal said what US Ambassador James Moriarty commented about the parties-rebel 12-point understanding was made in an elitist perspective.

Moriarty had cautioned the alliance about the consequences of not cooperating with the monarch and making alliance with the Maoists.

Lal also claimed that the US attitude towards the seven-party alliance in general and the Maoists in particular can be analysed against the backdrop of the professed need reinforced by Moriarty to the effect that the 12-point understanding be sabotaged.

He further said that the visit of US president George W Bush to India could affect Nepal in either way depending on the outcome of interaction between the US and India.

Police have seized nine kilograms of hashish and arrested two persons from Gongabu Buspark, Balaju on Tuesday morning.

Sub Inspector Sanu Babu Bhandari told Nepalnews that a team of policemen from Sorakhutte Ward Police Office arrested Surya Bahadur Lama, 65, a permanent resident of Rani Pauwa VDC of Nuwakot, and Bahadur Tamang, 25, of Lapa VDC of Dhading district. Tamang is presently residing in Gairigaon and Lama in Dillibazar, Kathmandu.

“We successfully seized the hashish due to a tip off,” he added. It was brought from Dhading, police said.

According to police, the narcotics was wrapped in buffalo flesh and then dried in the sun. The dried flesh was then wrapped in plastic bags.

The narcotics was seized from a bus numbered Lu 1 Kha 1970 of Danphe Travels set to go to Butwal.

Their Majesties King Gyanendra and Queen Komal (File Photo)

Their Majesties King Gyanendra and Queen Komal (File Photo)
Their Majesties King Gyanendra and Queen Komal arrived in Pokhara on Monday for an informal visit of the western region.

Their Majesties arrived in Pokhara via a special helicopter and are staying at Ratna Mandir Palace.

Their Majesties, on a three week long visit of Pokhara, had returned back to the capital on February 23 to grace the Shivaratri festival.

Their Majesties are scheduled to Myagdhi and Palpa districts during the second part of their visit. The Maoists had launched a massive attack and destroyed various historical monuments in Palpa on January 31. Earlier, before returning to the capital, Their Majesties had visited Sarangakot and offered worship at Rastriya Birat Gyan Maha Yagya on Feb 22.

His Majesty the King will receive information about the security situation and status of service delivery in the region.

Prior to Their Majesty’s visit to Pokhara, His Majesty the King observed various activities displayed by the fourth contingent of the Singhanath Battalion (Peace Keeping Force) of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) at the King Birendra Peace Training Centre, Paanchkhal.

The contingent is leaving for Burundi on a peacekeeping mission at the call of the United Nations.

On the occasion, His Majesty also observed the personal items to be carried by army personnel taking part in the mission, the disarmament and rehabilitation activities and the language resource centre.

In a message to the Battalion leaving for Burundi, His Majesty said there would be continuous commitment on behalf of Nepal in all the efforts made by the United Nations for world peace.

Chief of the Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Kuber Thapa and Chief of the King Birendra Peace Training Centre Lieutenant Colonel Dhiren Gurung briefed His Majesty about the activities related to the Peace Keeping Force.

The team leaving for Burundi will replace the Gorakhnath Battalion. It comprises a total of 850 personnel including 26 officers, 108 JCOs and 736 of other ranks. The Royal Nepalese Army has been deployed in Burundi since 2004.

Currently, 5,650 army personnel from 47 countries are mobilized in the African nation at the call of the United Nations, according to RNA.

The Special Court (SC) has sentenced Hem Bahadur Rai, peon of Biratnagar Sub Metropolitan city, to a two-and-a-half-year jail term together with a fine equal to the misappropriated funds.

The Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed a case at the Special Court charging Rai of embezzling Rs 1.6 million of the Sub-Metropolitan City.

The verdict said, “It was proved that Rai had misappropriated the amount taken from the office to deposit at a bank.”

At least 444 children have lost their lives in the decade-long Maoist conflict, a report published by a child rights group has said.

Out of the total 444 children killed during the insurgency, 218 lost their lives at the hands of the security forces while the Maoists were responsible for 196 deaths, 12 children died in crossfire and the condition of three minors remains unknown, a report released by Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN) said.

More than 44,000 children have been displaced due to the war, according to the report. “On an average, 41 children are killed in the ongoing conflict in Nepal every year,” it revealed.

In the past 10 years, the mid-western district of Rolpa saw the highest number of causalities of minors with 47 deaths reported there. Of them, 36 lost were killed by the security forces while 10 were killed by the Maoists whereas the cause of death of one child could not been ascertained.

Similarly, the conflict has cost the lives of 22 children in far-western Kailali district, 20 in Dang and 15 children in Rukum district. The insurgency toll on children was highest in 2001 with 144 children losing their lives that year, a number far higher than the toll than in 1997, one year after the onset of Maoist war, when while only one child was killed.

In 2005, 63 children died in conflict while 10 children were killed in the month of January this year, according to the report.

A Nepali worker kidnapped in Kabul, Afghanistan two weeks ago has been released while the body of another was recovered after he apparently died of illness, the AFP quoted the interior ministry of Afghanistan as saying.

“A criminal gang that abducted the men on February 11 abandoned them late Monday as police were closing in on them,” AFP quoted Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malek Sidiqi as saying.

“The kidnappers, taking advantage of the cover of night, threw out the hostages. Unfortunately one of them who was suffering from a stomach problem was dead,” he told reporters.

The dead man, identified as Jeet Narayan, had been suffering from severe diarrhea.

The released man, Taman Singh Rana, said Narayan had been given medicine but it had not helped, spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said.

The two were employed in Afghanistan as guards with a London-based security group, Armour Security Services, and were guarding a British aid agency based in the capital, Sidiqi said.

The aid group will arrange for the body and the freed man to be transported to the Nepalese embassy in the capital of neighbouring Pakistan, he said. Nepal does not have a mission in Kabul.

Spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry here, Shankar Das Bairagi, said they are confirming the report.

Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey

Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey (File Photo)
Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey left for India Tuesday afternoon to attend an international seminar in the northern Indian city of Banaras.

Pandey is visiting India at the invitation of Banaras Hindu University to participate in a seminar “Problems and Prospect of Democracy in Nepal”, as a chief guest. He will return to the country on March 4.

Pandey’s visit is, however, said to have least diplomatic significance as he has no other agenda than to attend the seminar. “He has no program to meet any senior Indian official,” spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shankar Das Bairagi, told Nepalnews ahead the FM’s departure.

The visit has been set at a time when India has been constantly pressuring the royal government to restore democratic process and reach out to the mainstream political parties. Indian military assistance to Nepal remains suspended since the royal move of February 1, 2005.