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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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Sitaula must be sacked!
Kathmandu : Deriding at others while not in power is one thing and managing the affairs of the State effectively while being in power is altogether a different matter.
The entire Terai belt of the country saw an unprecedented chaos and may hem. For all along a week or so the people in the Terai had to undergo a traumatic experience that was in itself an unparalleled one in the history of this country.
While the Terai was burning, the powers-that-be in Kathmandu mostly dominated by the Brahmins and the Chettris, were busy in securing lucrative posts in the newly formed parliament or were at best found demanding money for keeping their cadres in good stead at the cantonments.
The fact is that the ruling elites in Kathmandu did not care to listen to the genuine demands of the Terai front on time and hence the degree of violence and terror got multiplied.
Had the government been sensitive and responsible for the issues raised by the Terai leaders, the colossal damage that has already been done in terms of the loss of material wealth and communal harmony would have been minimized.
The government’s lack luster posture exhibited during the peak time of the Terai violence does hint that the ruling elites in Kathmandu were not in a mood to see a tranquil Terai and hence perhaps let the agitators create havoc and panic in the entire country.
Peace now stands disturbed in Terai. Communal harmony and the brotherly relations that had been the hallmark of this country appear now to have gone to the dogs. It appears that a sort of hatred for the hill people now for some time to come will remain in the minds of the inhabitants of Terai and vice versa.
This is dangerous. This trend must be done away with, sooner the better.
The man handling the law and order situation in the country, minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, must resign immediately from his post for having been unable to bring under control the deteriorating situation there.
Either he should resign or if he expresses his unwillingness to do so, he should be sacked.
He should be sacked because he is the one whose faulty and delayed actions pushed the country to this stage wherein the hill people now possess hatred for their brethren in the Terai and vice versa.
He must be sacked for his sheer neglect that pushed the country to this precipice.
Minister Sitaula stands as a culprit now in the eyes of the national population who failed miserably in discharging his duties honestly.
He must be sacked for his erratic utterances wherein he alleges that the reactionary forces caused this sad event to occur at the first place.
Minister Sitaula must understand that the two Madhesi fronts which created havoc in the entire Terai belt last week were not reactionary forces but were forces that championed the case of the Teraians. This they did because certain genuine demands were pending for its redressal by the state. The two fronts finally resorted to arms and weapons when the ruling elite in Kathmandu did not listen to their pressing issues and demands.
Reports say that the Madhesi fronts had some sort of attachment with the Maoists until some time back.
In minister Sitaula’s views, those who differ with his line of thinking should be branded as reactionaries.
This is just unfair and a flimsy remark. Any one in a Loktantra possess the right to come to the streets hoping that his or her demands would be provided due attention by the ruling circle.
Analysts here express their condolence over the sad demise of some precious lives in the Terai and conclude that for all these sad events that rocked the Terai for a week or so minister Sitaula should be held responsible and accountable too.
He must be out rightly sacked and penalized. Or else if one fine morning the other ethnic tribes like the Limbus, Khmbuwans, and the likes come to the streets demanding separate identities then it would be no wonder.
The fact is that some ethnic groups in the eastern part of the country, mostly in the hills, have begun demanding the same. If Sitaula is allowed to function for some more time to come then it would be no wonder that the Kathmandu Newars would also go on in for a separate state.
The ruling elites must now begin thinking as to which one would be suitable for this fragile country: continuation of Sitaula as defunct and incapable minister or agreeing to the demands of the ethnic tribes for a separate state?
Insiders in the congress say that the removal of Sitaula is round the corner. Prime Minister Koirala is considering bringing in either Gobinda Raj Joshi or Arjun Narsingh K.C in order to replace Mr. Sitaula who is considered to be more closer to the Maoists than the party he belongs to.
Love for India and hatred for China ?
Kathmandu: One of the prominent Maoist leaders, Chandra Prakash Gajurel, has hinted that his party’s policy towards India has changed of late.
Not only Gajurel, but a host of Maoists top-hats including Prachanda have begun talking on the same line.
But how come this change of attitude towards India in their scheme of things when the Himalayan fact is that India continues to be the same country vis-à-vis Nepal whether it be in the early 50s or even today at the beginning of the new millennium?
No! Gajurel sees India to have changed a lot in the mean time.
His contention has been that since India has begun seeing his party in a different light and mood and hence one should comply by what Gajurel says of India . This is absurd. India has not changed, confirm analysts.
Is India a changed country because India recently released him from the Chennai jail?
Is India a changed country since it managed the 12 point agreement in between the SPA and the Maoists on November 22, 2005?
Is India a changed country in his eyes only because she elevated the ranks of the Maoists to come to power?
Many more such questions could be raised vis-à-vis India and her so-called changed attitude towards this country.
The party which came into existence basically with hatred against India and a party that primarily hinted that if in power they would do away with all the past unequal treaties that had been signed in between Nepal and India in the past has taken this surprising stance.
Gajurel now sees India as a country not to be an expansionist. This is a dangerous paradigm shift in the Maoists policy towards India whose political ramifications would come heavily down against the party that ignores the hard realities and talks absurd.
The fact is that India continues to grab our lands. The fact is that almost thousand of hectares of Nepali land continue to have been assimilated into their territories.
These hard facts Gajurel, the Maoist leader, wants to hide. But why he is hiding these facts and to please who is a mystery.
Analysts would want to suggest Gajurel to meet some geographers of international repute and ask them as to where and which places India in the recent months have encroached upon our lands.
India ceases to be an expansionist nation simply because the cases of land encroachments by India have not come to the notice of Gajurel? Don’t be bias! You are betraying your own motherland when you speak so, analysts caution Gajurel.
A cursory glance to what the Maoist leader C.P.Gajurel has said to a fortnightly, what is for sure is that the Maoists party as such would not mind to give a new twist to Nepal-India relations albeit that would in more ways than one benefit India but not Nepal, their own country.
This is so because for them India is a changed country. And that India extended all overt and covert support to bring them to power and thus it would be incorrect to dub India as an expansionist country.
Analysts wish to alert Gajurel and his colleagues in the party to remain vigilant and cautious while dealing with India .
The Maoists leader in the said interview not only applauds the Indian establishment for their support but adds insult to injury when in the same interview he says, “ China is a communist country only in a name's sake”. This is not all. In the eyes of Gajurel and by extension those in the entire Maoists paraphernalia, China is a distant friend comparatively speaking.
Look what he says, “But, obviously since China is 1600 kilometers further away than India we do not have as much to do with China as with India ”.
Thus, adds the party veteran “closeness to India is the need of the hour for the country today."
This perhaps explains in abundance what India meant in the current scheme of things to his party.
Not surprising then the South Block found yet another political heavy weight who could time permitting champion the case of India in Nepal as and when the former needed the latter’s support. But is this by default?
Who knows?
Interestingly, the Maoist leader Gajurel too has no sweet words for America . According to him, America stands as a typical imperialist country which would want to increase its influence in India and China by being in a strategically important place which is Nepal .
How the Chinese and the American diplomats react to Mr. Gajurel’s political expressions wherein he has while on the one hand not hidden his “highest regards” for India then on the other he has hit hard China, India’s number one rival in the region, will have to be watched.
Moriarty’s fresh salvo against Maoists
Kathmandu: The Americans are chasing the Maoists or it is just the otherwise continues to boggle even the intelligent brains housed in the Nepal ’s academic sector.
If it is Ambassador Moriarty making comments against the Maoists at one place, then concurrently the other camp hurls scathing criticisms against the first one.
The practice has become almost a routine affair which is undoubtedly entertaining the population.
If one were to believe what American Ambassador James F. Moriarty said to a select group of media men last weekend as regards the Maoists, one is forced to conclude that the Maoists still possess immense love for the guns and the weapons which they are supposed to deposit as per the agreements with the government in cantonments under the supervision of the UN monitors.
Their preference for the branded guns to be in their possession ad infinitum does speak that the Maoists perhaps conclude that without guns and weaponries the party will cease to exist. This also hints that the Maoists leaders’ and cadres feel that the CA polls could only be tilted in their party’s favor if they were equipped with guns.
However, the Maoists claim that they were sincere to their commitments made in the recent past and had been depositing the arms whatever they had with them in the cantonments.
But here is one tough gentleman from the US who appears to take some more time to buy the Maoists words.
Ambassador Moriarty has made a fresh salvo against the Maoists and has accused the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) of trying to acquire “tacky weapons” from the adjoining Indian state of Bihar for locking up in cantonments.
According to Ambassador Moriarty, the Maoists have retained a sizeable chunk of the “modern weapons” they already have. “…and been depositing the old and outdated weapons at the cantonments”.
“They (Maoists) are - even as we speak - trying to buy primitive, hand-made weapons down in Bihar so that they can put crummy weapons into the containers instead of the modern weapons,” said Moriarty at a roundtable interview to a select group of journalists, at the American Center Friday.
Moriarty asked the UN team to make sure that real weapons and real Maoist combatants are in the cantonments.
“If you [UN] don’t need to run a count, you do need, at some point, to say we are coming close to that goal. You don’t need media people sitting around containers recording what is going on…but you do need the Maoists to really hand over the bulk of their weapons”, Moriarty added.
During the course of the conversation with the media men Ambassador Moriarty made it clear that “he has no communication whatsoever with the palace these days”.
Moriarty claimed that, during his and his officers’ extensive visits to the countryside recently, they found that the conditions there are “so horrible that extortions and intimidation continue, the parties are not allowed to act freely, internally displaced persons are not allowed to return freely by the Maoists”.
Moriarty’s statement is some what very much similar to what Sher Bahadur Deuba is airing these days.
While agreeing that the Maoists make up a political force “in this country” and the goal here is to bring them into mainstream politics, he said, “But they ultimately will decide [through their action] whether they come into the genuine political mainstream.
However, Ambassador Moriarty is yet to divulge the source that provided him with the tantalizing revelations that the Maoists were depositing junk weapons at the cantonments while retaining the modern weapons with them.
The Maoists too have so far not challenged Ambassador Moriarty’s blunt accusations made last Friday.
Below is the opening statement of Ambassador Moriarty which he made last Friday in front of a select group of Nepali media men: “This has been an historic week for Nepal and its people. A new Interim Constitution is in effect, which the United States welcomes. A new Interim Parliament, the product of November's historic peace agreement, also has been formed. And the Security Council is expected to pass a resolution committing the United Nations to help ensure free and fair elections in Nepal through arms and election monitoring.
The United States supports a robust and effective role for the UN in the peace process. The commitment of UN personnel and funds guarantees increased scrutiny from the Security Council and the General Assembly. Not only will Nepal benefit from the assistance of the world body, but all the Nepali parties and leaders involved in the peace process, including the Maoists, must take responsibility for their actions in front of 192 member states.
The United States welcomes the announcement that the Maoists will dissolve their “parallel government” structures and participate in joint local governments. Since promises have proven hollow in the past, to be credible, this commitment must be fully and immediately implemented.
The parties and the Maoists have signed on to the strict cantonment of Maoist fighters and weapons, placed limits on the Nepal Army, and committed themselves to holding a free and fair election to a Constituent Assembly later this year. The United States believes the arms management process must be completed in an effective and transparent manner before the Maoists enter an interim Nepali Government. No partner in a coalition government should expect to retain a private army. Destabilization, mistrust, and insecurity invariably would result.
Democracy comes from the consent of the people, not the barrel of a gun. As the Maoists are now represented in a democratic Interim Legislature, it is time they finally and completely renounce violence, intimidation, and extortion. The Nepali people deserve nothing less.
Maoists cornered
Kathmandu : The Maoists are being cornered from all possible political quarters. This much is visible.
Prime Minister Koirala though agreed to bring the Maoists in the interim legislature but he concurrently distanced the possibility of the Maoists coming to the government power structure citing the need that for him the arms management was a top priority than bringing in the Maoists to power.
Thus Koirala has some more weeks with him for political maneuverings if he so desires.
After Koirala, it was American Ambassador Moriarty who bluntly accused the Maoists that they were playing foul with the state and the entire international bodies currently in Kathmandu in order to monitor the arms management process.
In effect the American envoy emphatically said last week that the Maoists were depositing the outdated guns at the cantonments which they bought from the adjoining Indian state of Bihar while retaining the modern weapons with them.
Koirala’s postponement of the formation of an interim government with the inclusion of the Maoists coincides with the tantalizing observations made by the American envoy.
Should this mean that Koirala and Ambassador Moriarty have been exchanging their “findings” with each other?
Perhaps yes! Or else how could have it become possible that the two separate political personalities practically talking on the same lines?
This is not all.
The Maoists are being cornered even by the UML leaders.
Madhav Nepal who was in favor of the formation of the interim government with the Maoists in the cabinet at the earliest now has begun talking different.
Mr. Nepal now sees the urgent need for the Maoists to deposit their arms first and then enter into the government structure. To recall, it was this UML leader who used to tell every one that the formation of the interim government and the management of the arms could go side by side.
This means that Madhav Nepal too has understood the underneath meaning contained therein the message recently aired by Ambassador Moriarty.
The third one is the indomitable Sher Bahadur Deuba who has been point blank telling his party cadres that the Maoists must act in accordance to what they commit while making lectures.
In effect, it is Deuba who has been making scathing criticisms against the Maoists. Deuba even told a party gathering in the western region recently that the Maoist’s words and deeds differ.
“If the CA polls could not be held on schedule, the Maoists will be held responsible for the delay for they have yet to abandon their old habits of extortion, terror and intimidation which continues unabated in the villages and remote districts”, said Deuba last weekend in Butwal.
Putting all the available pieces of information together, what comes to the fore is that a sort of “convergence of ideas and similarity in views” is taking a formal shape which would definitely push further the dates for the formation of the interim government with the Maoists.
It then forces one to arrive at this conclusion: unless the Maoists assure all the stakeholders of the country that they would abide by the commitments they have made in the past with the State and that too verbatim, their entrance into the scheme of government would remain a distant proposition.
How the Maoists would initiate measures in order to convince the countrymen and the international community of their changed hearts will have to be watched.
For the Maoists this would be a sort of challenge.
NA adds new battalions
Kathmandu: At a time when the country is facing renewed threats of violence on the Madhesi-Pahade issue and simultaneously when voices are being raised from various indigenous groups for proportional representation in the main stream, the Nepal Army has added two new battalions targeting recruitment from only the Madhesi and Kirat Community.
The Naya Sabui battalion has been added at Jaleshwore in Dhanusa District to recruit only the Madhesi community, whereas, the Ripumardini battalion has been set-up targeting only the Kirat Community in Hile, Dhankuta District.
The Nepal Army spokesperson, brigadier General Ananta Thebe, disclosed amid a press-meet that the addition of two new battalions has been executed as per the decision of the government made in July last year. He added that both the battalions are already in operation.
Currently there are more than 7000 army personnel belonging to the Madhesi community, 6000 belonging to dalit community and 50 indigenous communities are also represented in the Nepal army, brigadier Thebe added.
Enbref:
Parliamentarian troubled over Citizenship issue: India
Kathmandu: At a time when the issue of appointing an Indian citizen in the Interim Parliament by the Nepali Congress is making headlines in Nepal, an Indian citizen of Nepalese descent Mr. Mani Kumar Subba, who is also a congress Member of Parliament from Assam’s Tezpur constituency in India, is being troubled by the Indian authorities over his Indian citizenship issue.
Off the record sources in Assam claim that the region where people of Nepalese descent also make their home are being discriminated by the Indian authorities since long time.
Nepal leaps forward in Freedom House report
Kathmandu: "Freedom in the World 2007," a Freedom House annual survey of worldwide political rights and civil liberties for the year 2006 reports little change in the state of freedom in the world and the emergence of a series of worrisome trends that present potentially serious threats to the expansion of freedom in the future.
According to the report, two countries experienced negative status changes: both Thailand and Congo ( Brazzaville) moved from Partly Free to Not Free.
In Asia most important positive development was Nepal’s climb from Not Free to Partly Free due to the end of direct rule by the king and the return of parliament, report points out. (Read Freedom House Rates Tibet Worst in Political Rights and Civil Liberties for 2006)
Nepal Telecom to launch GPRS, W-CDMA
Kathmandu: The NT has awarded a GSM 900/1800 license to a Cypriot-Moldovan company Eventis Mobile.
Reports claim that the Eventis’s licence came at a price of USD8 million, half of which has already been paid, with the balance due within two years. The company is required to deploy a network that covers 40% of the population with one year of launch, and 90% by the end of 2009.
86 explosion, 146 casualties: 2006
Kathmandu: According to the UNICEF, in 2006 there were about 86 explosions, causing 146 casualties, from landmines laid by government forces, and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by the Maoists. This was an 80 percent increase on incidents in 2005, according to the UNICEF.
The end of the armed conflict does not mean there is safety," said mine and bomb risk specialist Hagues Laurenge from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Katmandu.
Reports claim that according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Nepal is among the top 10 countries for civilian casualties from mine and IED explosions.
South Asians vulnerable to Cardiac Arrest
Kathmandu: A Canadian study center on cardiovascular disease citing their recent study states that South Asians living abroad experience heart attacks at a younger age compared to other ethnic groups as they are exposed to greater risk factors such as smoking from an early stage, according to a study.
The study also states that deaths from heart attack occur among people native to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka five to 10 years earlier than among those from other populations.
