Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Kathmandu: The past one and a half decade of Nepal's practicing democratic system by and large has produced many a theoreticians and ideologues. The beauty of democracy indeed.

Different theories and ideologies are being pushed for the people's consumption regarding the solution of the current political mess in the country by various seen and unseen political actors.

For a Nepali home-grown problem, a good number of friendly countries too have come, directly or indirectly, with their favored prescriptions. Thanks that a good number of politicians subscribe to their views.

Albeit, some countries try to impose their own medications for Nepali ailments with full force in order to extract political gains after Nepal attained stability which appears remote till today.

The gist is that all have their own theories and ideologies for Nepal. But the crude reality is that none of them are working or have been allowed to work.

Let's begin with the current establishment's views or say theory through the use of which she wants to contain the crisis.

In effect, what could be extracted from the political overtures of the incumbent government is that she herself prefers to bring the Maoists to the negotiating table by weakening the rebels. This means that the government wants to crush the rebels or break their vertebral column in such a manner that the other side is forced to negotiate. The fact is that this strategy has so far not worked.

Now there is India, Nepal's namesake "most intimate neighbor" which would like to manage the conflict together with the Maoists which she believed were a must. Undoubtedly, India of late has developed a "friendly linkages" with the rebels to whom she for the first time labeled as terrorist.

Indian stance is full of designs that smack foul and would hit Nepal's sovereignty and integrity hard if Nepali establishment went India's way. Even Indian stance bodes ill for them if by chance they come to power. By this time the rebels must have understood what India wanted from them at a later stage.

Then come America and lately Japan and China. These countries prefer the constitutional and the legitimate forces first to unite and have dialogues and then only initiate talks with the rebels to make the latter a safe landing in the country's politics.

This means that these countries still recognize the insurgents as unconstitutional forces and believe that the rebels must match their words with deeds. And hence they see the need for the constitutional forces to unite first and later address the Maoists conflict. They give emphasis on unity in between the legitimate forces.

America, for example, is finding it very hard to digest the Maoists declaration that they wish to abide by the norms and the values of "competitive politics".

The Americans have their own theories and have been sticking to that since long.

Now is the turn of the European Union members. This community possesses soft corner for the rebels in so far as they have yet to brand the rebels as terrorists.

This group of nations would wish very much that the rebels too had a say in country's politics at times of the settlement of the conflict. This grouping favors the UN facilitations for the resolution of the Nepali conflict and also hints that they would love to support Nepal if she sought their help and support at time of negotiation of the triangular conflict. Interestingly, this grouping, which has remained as a major donor for Nepal, prefers that civil society too be included at time of the negotiations with the Maoists.

But then yet this grouping remains at pain as and when the Maoists belie their hopes and feelings by creating panic and terror among the population. This makes it clear that if the Maoists abandoned violence and terror, it would first the members of the European community to shower words of praise to the rebels.

Similar sentiments apparently come to light about the feelings of the Nordic countries. This group of highly developed nations who continue to be kind-hearted donors to this Kingdom too would wish that their preferred members of the civil society took part at time of the negotiations with the Maoists. They see good reasons for the civil societies to get involved in the matter for a variety of seen and unseen political reasons.

What could be safely said upon analyzing from these available trends and feelings is that all are interested in seeing a prosperous and peaceful Nepal? Though some have "ulterior motives and nasty designs" and some possess real peace in Nepal.

Theories and ideologies galore indeed.

President Koirala riding two boats at a time

Kathmandu: The Nepali Congress President, Shri Girija Prasad Koirala, has acquired a two-pronged policy to deal with the King and to steer the impending agitation that is to begin from tomorrow.

The two policies visibly appear diametrically opposing to each other but then yet he is "successfully" moving ahead with those self-defeating strategies.

Girija Prasad Koirala who is better known as a "failed politician" has if on the one hand been praising the Maoists with full force then on the other, he has "delegated" powers and "deputed" his "illustrious" daughter, Sujata Koirala-Jost to denounce the recent violent activities of the Maoists with full vigor.

He is a failed political man for he has yet to "democratize" the party currently he heads. His party, to recall, is best known for having been run for decades and decades on Koirala clan whims and dictates.

Sujata the other day narrated a story of Gandaki zone where she made a trip last week that she found the entire cadres of the zone trembling with Maoists fear.

"Unless they abandoned violence there was no reason to believe their credentials", is what Sujata angrily told at a meeting with the Kathmandu media men.

This means that he is riding on two boats concurrently and is in the high deep blue sea, politically speaking.

He has empowered his daughter to speak so, it appears.

The Maoists must have been watching this phenomenon with keen interest.

Analysts say that Koirala has good reasons to highlight or applaud the Maoists for what he sees "changed behavior" of late as regards joining of the mainstream competitive politics.

He is so impressed with the high command of the rebel camp that he beamingly declared recently that as " NC being a democratic party, it becomes my duty to bring the forces outside the constitution within the ambit of the mainstream politics" and for that, added Koirala, he would go to any extent come what may.

A cursory glance at what Koirala so forcefully says reveal that in effect the top-hats of the rebel camp have assured Koirala that if they be provided a smooth landing they would abide by the norms and the practices of competitive politics and more so would honor Koirala as their patron.

If this is so then let's presume for a moment that the Maoists were tired of waging a meaningless war and that they too wanted smooth entry into the system.

However, Koirala is yet to read the inner intentions of the Maoists: whether they have been riding on his back to destabilize the entire establishment later only to unilaterally capture Sigh Durbar, as is being suspected by many a countries in the globe; or the Maoists mean it when they have been voicing that they would join the mainstream politics of every thing went smoothly for them.

For Koirala as well, the Maoists card too has become a handy and effective tool in order to terrorize the establishment and more so the King. This he knows that unless he associated himself with a much violent force, neither the King nor his establishment would yield to his demands.

Analysts presume that both Koirala and the Maoists have managed a temporary relation in order to satisfy their respective egos through the kind courtesies of each other at least for the moment.

Question is that how long this friendship will continue? How long it will take for Koirala to bring the rebels to the mainstream? Equally important is that how long the Maoists' use Koirala as an effective tool as Koirala for them is at the moment the best indomitable and doughty political personality who could be relied upon. It would be more than interesting to watch how long a democratic force and a violent one can go together or vice versa? Or is it that a sort of "fusion" would take place in between the two at an appropriate time? Which force would prefer, in such an eventuality, (albeit still premature to predict) to get itself fused with the other, and what would be its modus operandi?

It is not for nothing that Shailaja Acharya, a prominent Congress personality now sidelined by Koirala and his coterie has said that her party have had already embraced the Maoists agenda. Her partymen, however, reject her newly advanced theory.

Still, analysts give benefit of doubts to both Koirala and the rebels. If they really mean what is being given to understand then what is the harm in watching the events carefully.

Let's hope that Koirala succeeds in bringing the rebels in the periphery of the constitution and likewise let's believe that the Maoists mean when they say that they were now interested in joining the mainstream politics.

But how to console the population when the acts of violence and terror remains intact?

No less important is his appeal to the US Ambassador Moriarty to convince the King for a sort of reconciliation.

Should this mean that he is still awaiting formal invitation from the monarch? Perhaps yes!

However, how the Maoists would take this clandestine Koirala overture will have to be watched.

Finland urges conflicting parties to end hostilities

Kathmandu: Hardly a few hours had passed of Pauli Mustonen's modest and fervent appeal to the Maoists made Monday afternoon to bring about a dramatic change in their violent activities and act as per their fresh assurances to the Nepalese political parties and the international community, the Maoists, to the surprise of many a super brains in the capital district, announced a ceasefire of hostilities at least in the Kathmandu valley for an indefinite period effective Monday late evening.

Mr. Pauli Mustonen is at the moment the Charge de' Affaires of the Finland Embassy in Nepal who is concurrently holding the current Chair of EU Presidency in Kathmandu.

By and large the Finnish appeal and the Maoists gesture announcing an indefinite ceasefire could be a mere conjecture and hence this sheer incidence demanded no further debate in this regard.

But then yet Pauli's statement made Monday at a press meet does hint at three things simultaneously.

Firstly, the Finnish diplomat in no uncertain terms hails the political parties' initiatives in order to bring the rebellion camp to the country's mainstream politics.

Secondly, the Finnish envoy also makes it abundantly clear that what has been appearing on the ground from the side of the Maoists could in no way be accepted as a positive overture. Clearly he was hinting at the continued acts of violence being perpetrated by the Maoists who otherwise have been hinting that they too prefer now to join the mainstream politics.

This means that Pauli Mustonen is of the view that the Maoists words do not match with their deeds.

More candidly, he has to say of the Maoists as a sort of warning- if it were to put in his own words, " the Maoists should demonstrate in a far more convincing way than they have hitherto, that they recognize that their arms have to be put permanently beyond use if a political settlement is to be achieved".

If the diplomat's views were to be the combined saying of the EU then what could be safely said that the EU would love to see the rebels laying down the arms permanently in order to reach out to a long awaited political settlement.

Thirdly, the Finland's dignitary also appeals "both the conflicting parties" to work sincerely toward a properly monitored cease-fire agreement followed by a well structured peace process".

Clearly, he is urging the current establishment to proceed in this regard and would appreciate if both the parties in conflict announced a ceasefire concurrently.

Visibly, the current EU presidency is bit milder in tone in attacking the establishment than what it used to be at time of the UK Presidency. But then yet, he has urged the government to release the political detainees and remove restrictions on media and freedom of expression.

Be that as it may, the Maoists have exhibited their tacit support to the agitating parties by announcing a ceasefire, which would embolden the parties in the streets to claim that their movement is a peaceful one and that the Maoists will not in any way be a part of it.

This sudden announcement must have shaken the earth from under the feet of the authorities in the establishment and engage in themselves in devising fresh mechanisms to deal with the new situation that they simply even not dreamt of.

Mother Nepal is the ultimate loser; avoid confrontation

Kathmandu: As if bad were not enough, the combined (mis) guided wisdom of the agitating seven and the establishment is sure to invite the worst.

The stage has already been set for meeting each other in the Kathmandu streets come Thursday and onwards.

Neither the establishment side nor the agitating ones have so far indicated that they would prefer a sort of reconciliation prior to testing their political acumen in the already hot streets.

This is very dangerous which bodes definitely ill for the stability of the nation and is sure to embolden those friends, near and far, to laugh at our follies.

The agitating parties have suddenly got some sort of encouragement from the Maoists who all of a sudden announced a ceasefire in the Kathmandu in order to encourage the people to side with the movement wallahs so that the movement turns into a resounding success.

The Maoists by distancing themselves from the possible chance of their penetration into the mass demonstrations sponsored by the agitating seven have done so, let's admit the fact, to embarrass the establishment.

The government was all set to impose curfew orders and even thinking of the imposition of a state of "emergency" in the country to deal with the emerging situation.

Now that the rebels have made a unilateral ceasefire at time of the said movement, the government appears to be in a catch-22 situation.

Now that the pretext of the possibility of the Maoists infiltration in the demonstrations has come to an end ( if one were to believe in their words), the government has no reasons to impose even minimum strength in order to contain the threat of what has been called as a "peaceful" agitation.

But what is the guarantee that the movement would be a peaceful one as declared by the agitating political parties?

What will happen if the peaceful demonstrations go suddenly on the rampage and turn itself into a violent one?

The possibilities remain of such an eventuality indeed. The likelihood also remains that it would be a peaceful one as announced.

In sum, the government neither can take stringent measures to handle the situation nor can it afford to go the situation out of its hand all in the name of maintaining law and order in the valley.

Analysts say that not all is lost yet if both the sides possess a will to sort out their "fundamental" political differences before it is too late.

After all, demonstrations are phenomenon that is related with the show of strength psyche, which might create panic and havoc in the country if not handled with "proper care".

In both case, Nepal and the Nepalese are the losers.

Analysts hope wisdom prevailed on both the sides and the agitation goes peacefully without hurting mother Nepal if she really existed at all?

Civic Education for Youth highlighted

By A Staff Reporter

BANEPA, Kavre, April 2: Teachers of schools, colleges and students of Kathmandu University in this town on Saturday converged to discuss the importance of civic education for youth in making them contribute positively to the society and the nation.

Many of the participants at this seminar, organized by Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, stressed the need for improving the curriculum to transform the people into conscious citizens.
Chandra Dev Bhatta, a Ph. D. student at the London School of Economics presenting a paper on how civil society can contribute to civic education said that Nepal needs a politically secular civil society in urban areas and charity-oriented civil society in rural areas. The rural civil society groups which are involved in productive business and providing service to the needy people are asking what is going on with civil society in Kathmandu. The urban-based civil society groups have grounded their one leg in politics and another leg in civil society. Such groups cannot make youth responsive to social needs and contribute to peace building.

Shiv Raj Dahal had kicked off the discussion with his presentation in which he blamed the political leaders of ignoring the need of the society to turn "people into citizens", so that they can responsibly contribute positively to the society. It is this ignorance, he said, was giving politics a bad name, a sector that came last in the priority list of students pursuing higher education. The consensus among participants was that political awareness in students is not the problem, but making the schools a ground for playing partisan politics is.

Earlier, the seminar began with NEFAS Executive Director Ananda Srestha asking the participants to unearth the problems in the civic education curriculum they were teaching and ways to deal with them. The suggestions, he said, would be included in a book being compiled for the new civic education curriculum in schools.

FES representative in Nepal, Dev Raj Dahal, highlighted the theme of the discussion saying that students badly needed to know the roles that different social actors play for them to find a suitable place in society. Mere saying that people are sovereign is not enough, he said and added that the Constitution must be understood by students to be able to act in that manner, Dahal added.

 Participants lamented over the general tendency in schools and colleges to emphasize rote learning over practical knowledge and theoretical brainstorming over vocational skills. The society, participants said, was in a mess because youth lacking in the urge to do something for the society were leaving the country in hordes and leaving the rural areas a lack of change agents. Their lack of disciplined approach in everything they do, the school teachers said, meant that the void in civic education was stark.

Other participants had grosser problems at hand to deal with, for example their inability to run their classes smoothly because of the general security situation in the country. Still some others saw gross interference by the political sector in the periodic modification of the school curriculum to suit their partisan interests.

Professor of political science, Ram Kumar Dahal of Tribhuvan University had chaired the discussions.

Israel considers Nepalese can handle homegrown conflict themselves

Kathmandu: At a time when Nepal is being told by some powerful countries to go in search of some neutral third countries' or even bring in the facilitator's role of the United Nations system, Israel-a long time friend of this country, has made it abundantly clear that since "Nepalese were themselves the men of wisdom and hence they could themselves be left to sort out the homegrown conflict.

The incumbent Israeli Ambassador to Nepal, Dan Stav, stated this during an interview with the state owned Television last week.

The fresh Israeli stance as regards the Nepali conflict and its resolution process must have surprised many a political brains both within and without.

For some it must have come as a shock. Similarly, for some in Nepal more so the establishment sectors the Israeli explanation might have provided solace for a variety of political reasons.

This means that the number of countries who favor internal endeavors for sorting out domestic politics is increasing slowly but steadily.

Take China, America and Japan lately who have been advocating that first the estranged constitutional forces must come together and later address the Maoists issue.

Israel has freshly joined in the list of the countries who favor Nepali issues to be left to the mercy of Nepali wise men who, according to the Israeli envoy, were not only competent enough but capable of handling the domestic affirs with proper finesse.

ENBREF:

India to use Military against Maoist

Kathmandu: The Indian government citing lack of intelligence gathering by local police, poor training and many vacancies in the police and the state government inability to control the Maoist in the remote areas has decided for deploying military knowledge to counter the insurgency.

"The national or the broad impression is that this violent Maoist movement is by and large under control and is being contained, but it has the potential to grow unless continuous effective steps are taken to contain them " Home Secretary V.K. Duggal said after a meeting of top officials and police chiefs from 13 affected states.

India lobbies for Nepali rebels in Europe

Kathmandu: A Delhi based pro-government/leftist journalist, Anand Swaroop Verma, on request of the leftist members in the current Indian central government toured Europe for 30 days to voice the Maoist cause, it is learnt.

The Hindustan Times reports, "Revolution in Nepal: A New World is Possible" was the theme of the tour organized by a London-based leftist group, World People's Resistance Movement.

According to the "other side of the story" presented by Verma, the Maoists, supported by "masses in their millions", were waging a "great revolutionary movement" against King Gyanendra's government, supported by foreign powers, "most especially the US, Britain and India".

AIDS: 15,000 annually orphaned due to AIDS

Kathmandu: About 15,000 children are orphaned every year in Nepal as their parents die of HIV/AIDS, an official from National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Center under Health Ministry, said in a workshop.

"The latest record states that till the end of 2005, the number of HIV positive was already 70,000 in which 22 percent were women in Nepal," he indicated.

Women infected by this epidemic in the rural parts of Nepal are highly discriminated by their families, counter parts and society, he noted.

HIV/AIDS in the rural areas are mostly spread because of migrant workers who go to the neighboring country to work, according to local reports.

Maoist ban NGO activities in the Eastern Nepal

Kathmandu: The Maoist rebels blaming various NGOs, for not acting in tandem with the directions issued by the People’s Government banned NGO activities in Sankhuwasabha district in the Eastern Nepal. 

A rebel statement indicated that the NGOs in the area have a non-cooperative tendency thus stopped for carrying out their job until next directive is issued.

HHI Won its Largest Monthly New building Orders in March

- US$2.6 billion Ordered in March
-24 ships including fourteen 318,000 dwt VLCC
-Consisted of high value-added ships such as VLCC, large-size LPG and LNG Carriers
-A total of 35 ships worth US% 3.5 billion ordered this year
 Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the world's largest shipbuilder, has announced that it has won a number of large orders worth US$2.6 billion for 24 vessels in March. The orders consist of fourteen (14) 318,000 dwt Very Large Crude Oil Carriers (VLCCs), five (5) 82,000m3 LPG carriers, four (4) 105,000 dwt product carriers and one 150,000m3 LNG carrier. The orders include eight (8) vessels worth US$900million for its affiliate Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI).

 In just a month, HHI won these orders from world's major ship owners in the Middle East, Greece, Belgium and Asia, owing to the company's focused marketing activities to win value-added ships.

 Notably, the scale of 24 vessels worth US$2.6 billion, is the largest monthly order value in history. “In spite of all the worries about weakening new shipbuilding market, some ship owners have expedited placing their orders to avoid the new Common Structure Rules (CSR), which will be implemented from April 1,” said HHI.

 According to CSR, vessels contracted after April 1 will need to increase steel plate consumption considerably, which will in turn increase shipbuilding price accordingly.

 Meanwhile, HHI won twelve (12) LPG carriers (including two LPG carriers for HSHI) this year. HHI currently has 25 LPG carriers of over 75,000 cubic meters capacity on its order backlog, taking up 60% share of the large LPG carrier newbuilding market in the world.

Press release issued by The Hyndai, Ulsan, Korea.