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VOL. 27, NO. 40, June 20 , 2008 (Ashadh 06 2065 B.S.)
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Diplomacy Rules
Diplomacy is pushing politics to the backseat in shaping the course of events in the republican Nepal]
By SUSHIL SHARMA
When the Maoist chief Prachanda spoke about the right to self-determination in some of the areas in Nepal’s neighborhood, it went beyond headlines.
In an interview then, he defended the right to self-determination in Kashmir and the troubled North-East. But not in Tibet.
He told this correspondent later that the remarks created a hungama (stir) in Delhi. He did not regret it. Instead, he was happy.
Much water has flowed in Hwang Ho and Bramhaputra since then.
A recent interview to China Daily appeared to have re-created the hungama.
In the interview, the prime minister-in-the-waiting advocated “equi-distance” in relations with the two big neighbors. Eulogized Mao. Expressed interest in visiting the late thespian’s birthplace to “seek inspiration”.
He also vowed to crush pro-Tibetan demonstrations in Kathmandu. “We will be different and this situation will change,” he said on a question on the daily show of arresting the demonstrators in the morning and releasing them in the evening.
The comments have reportedly raised eyebrows in key power centers that the Maoists desperately need to please to, first, ride to power and, then, cling to it.
No surprise that the wait for the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly to set up a new government is getting longer by the day.
As of writing this, the marathon meetings of the big three parties on clearing the way for the Maoists had not ended.
On the sideline, diplomatic spats over Nepal affairs have continued.
First, the Indian ambassador called for a national unity government led by the Maoists and rejected a constitutional amendment. (This was long before Prachanda’s China Daily interview)
Then came the rejoinder from the Chinese envoy. “Nepalese are capable of resolving their problems themselves.”
As closed-door diplomacy increasingly overtook open-politics in shaping the course of events, a military coup veteran from the Pacific nation of Fiji came a visiting the Himalayan nation.
Though on a private visit at the invitation of a Nepal-based westerner friend, General Rabouka met all the major political actors. From the incumbent prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala to the prime minister-in-waiting, Prachanda.
A vernacular weekly on Wednesday even reported that Rabouka met former king Gyanendra at Nagarjun and held talks for an hour.
The ethnic general who ruled Fiji for several years before a leader of the Indian origin took over addressed the Nepalese reporters before ending the week-long visit.
The coup veteran cautioned against such a move in the present day Nepal. “It can not work here, because there are multiple political parties.”
Why did he see the need to issue such a warning is subject to speculation.
But, knowledgeable sources said, the warning reminded one of a similar advice by a senior US state department official in his meeting with the Nepalese generals last month.
The intriguing question is: what led him to give such an advice? Was it because there had been other diplomatic pressures on the army to the contrary?
Well, it’s anybody’s guess. And the guessing game goes on.
RAMARAJA PRASAD SINGH
Suit And Suite
By SUSHIL SHARMA
What is the first thing a presidential aspirant would do?
Get a new suit ready. That is what Ram Raja Prasad Singh did last week.
The Maoist candidate for the first citizen of the world’s youngest republic was spotted at a Srijani tailors at New Road, with two escorts. To order a new suit. Apparently confident that he would land up in the yet-to-be decided presidential suite.
With a stubborn Girija Prasad Koirala in no mood to give in to the Maoist favourite, Singh’s source of confidence must have puzzled a long-time lawyer friend who was also spotted at the same tailoring shop.
A visiting customer could not make out what went on in the conversation the ailing lawyer-turned firebrand leader of the Seventies had had with the soft-spoken lawyer-friend and a former attorney general.
He was just amazed at the excitement of the presidential aspirant who .
No less amazing, quipped an analyst, is the combination of a rightwing Madhesi rajput leader and the extreme leftwing party of the proletariat for the country’s top office in the post-monarchy era.
