Maoists signal breaking away from peace talks
Prime Minister stunned, urges Prachanda to reconsider

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov. 21 – After holding three rounds of peace negotiations with the government, the rebel Maoist leadership today dropped a bombshell: it announced that the justification for the talks and the four month-long cease-fire were both over.

Issuing the statement late Wednesday, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Prachanda, a.k.a. "Comrade Pushpa Kamal Dahal" said, "We make it clear with this statement that our bid to establish peace has been rendered unsuccessful by reactionary and fascist forces."

Ominously, he also warned that, "due to this situation, the justification for the cease-fire also does not exist." He emphasised that the doors are open for the talks under a "new process" without clarifying what the process meant.

Although Prachanda stopped short of explicitly saying that the rebels are pulling out of the talks, his statement is being interpreted in government circles as one which effectively puts an end to the peace talks.

Reacting to the statement, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba told The Kathmandu Post, "I am surprised and shocked at his statement. I honestly urge him to sit for the fourth round of dialogue and not to jeopardise it." He added it was also the Maoists’ duty to ensure that the bloodbath does not recur in the nation.

The Prime Minister, who has taken some bold moves to appease the Maoists in recent times, went a step further. "After agreeing for the fourth round of talks, it is irresponsible and dishonest on the part of the Maoists to pull out of the talks." He stressed that the talks are essential for the peaceful solution.

Some analysts believe that the Maoist strongman put out the statement under growing pressure from his military wing, especially from Ram Bahadur Thapa a.k.a Comrade Badal, the main military strategists of the Maoist. Badal and his men are reportedly sore with the top Maoist leadership for holding talks with the government.

Prachanda’s signed statement issued today makes it clear that the government’s refusal to hold elections to a constituent assembly, which the Maoists have been demanding of late, was the main reason for terming the talks "fruitless."

We want to make it clear that the imperialist and reactionary forces have made it impossible to find a political solution to the problem through the talks," he said in the statement. "This situation has ended the relevance of the cease-fire…We have no alternative but to continue our struggle against imperialist forces."

The Maoists, before the third round of dialogue with the government that was held on November 13, had put on hold their key demand of turning Nepal into a republic state. However, they have been insisting on the other two demands, namely the formation of an interim government and holding elections for constituent assembly. Many in the ruling and opposition parties believe that it was the Maoists’ ploy to achieve their goal of republic.

In his statement today, the NCP (Maoist) chairman lambasted the "reactionary forces" for terming their demand for constituent assembly "needless" and "irrelevant". "We believe that in today’s context, an election for constituent assembly will achieve a republican Constitution."

Meanwhile, some political parties are urging the government to gird up for the hard times ahead. Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Surya Bahadur Thapa said, "Prachanda has made one-sided allegations and decisions. The government must now gird up to face the coming situation."

Bhutanese refugees to launch joint agitation

Post Report

BIRTAMOD (Jhapa), Nov 21 - After the deadlock of Nepal-Bhutan secretary level talks held in Kathmandu two weeks ago over the future of 100,000-plus Bhutanese refugees, refugee leaders in exile have once again emphasised for a joint agitation for their repatriation.

Chairman of the Bhutanese Refugee Repatriation Committee (BRRC), S B Subba said the leaders recently met with senior democratic leader Teknath Rijal secretly and discussed possibilities of joint agitation. Subba said they had no other options left for them than to "internationalise" the issue.

"We asked him (Rijal) to lead the joint movement and he took it positively. We will soon reach an understanding among ourselves," he said, adding that all political parties and human rights organisations would stand by him.

During the secretary level meet, the Bhutanese authorities remained adamant to their earlier stance. The Nepali side had proposed that the refugees be classified only in two categories - Bhutanese and non-Bhutanese. Whereas the Bhutanese negotiating team stuck to the 1994 agreement that classified the refugees into four categories: genuine Bhutanese, Bhutanese who willingly left their country, Bhutanese with criminal records and non-Bhutanese. Sources in Sital Niwas said the largest number of refugees fall under the second category.

But the refugees were opposed to the categorisation conception, terming it as a Bhutan government’s diplomatic tactic of hoodwinking Nepal’s efforts to repatriate the Lhotsampas, languishing in seven camps in eastern Nepal over a decade.

As agreed during the 10th Ministerial Joint Committee Meeting between the two sides, a joint verification team (JVT) started its verification process at Khudunabari camp on March 26. According to the latest figure made available by Damak-based JVT office, 10,000 refugees out of 12,424 have been verified over the last seven months. Sixteen refugee families are verified each day except for the holidays.

International community has been raising its serious concern over the slow verification process and has pressed the Dragon Kingdom for speeding up the process time and again.

During the recently concluded secretary level meet, it was expected that the Bhutanese side would agree to take the refugees back home who are already verified. But it did not materialise.

General Secretary of People’s Forum for Human Rights of Bhutan, D P Kafle, said the international community has also asked them to maintain restraint until the on-going verification in Khudunabari camp is completed. "Then we will decide our future course of actions," he said.

The international communities, including the UN High Commission for Refugees, have been providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees since their forcible eviction from their homeland via Indian territory.

Bengal tigress caught in Rampur Campus premises

CHITWAN, Nov 21 (PR) - A Royal Bengal tigress that created havoc in Rampur based Central Agriculture Campus premises over the last two days has been caught, the local administration said Wednesday.

The tigress that escaped from the park area pounced on Dewan Singh Magar, an employee of the campus on Tuesday. Chief District Officer Durga Prasad Bhandari said police, army personnel of the park and three elephants were mobilised to dart the tigress, which was hiding in a horticulture garden near the entrance of the campus.

CDO Bhandari said the wild beast was sent to the park after keeping it in a cage. Yesterday’s attempt to capture the beast turned futile as its whereabouts could not be known.

Terai people celebrate Chhath on the Bagmati banks

Post Report

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 – Hundreds of devotees converged on the banks of Bagmati River at Thapathali today to observe the festival of Chhath, one of the biggest festivals of the people living in the country’s Terai region.

The Terai people celebrate Chhath, the four-day festival, with full enthusiasm but those living in the capital celebrate this occasion by taking a dip in the local Bagmati.

Unlike other festivals, both men and women take a fast during Chhath. The most important day of the festival is the first day today when people clean up and purify their houses.

People take a fast a day before the festival when they only consume Kheer (a traditional of rice cooked with milk) and water, which is called Kharna. And today they took a fast for a whole day, without taking even a drop of water.

"Only those who take a fast are allowed to cook prasad like - Kheer, Malpua, Puwa, Kasar for puja," says Urmila Gupta, who was preparing for her puja along with her family members at the Bagmati.

"I will take food only after giving arga to the rising sun tomorrow morning," says Gupta who has not eaten anything from the early morning today.

Another devotee Madhuri Gupta, who came to the Bagmati for puja, brought with her prasad and fruits. She says, "The real puja is performed by dipping half body under the water, but here the water is so dirty that I took a bath at home and have brought a jug of water for the puja."

It is believed that Chhath mata is the mother of Sun God. "We take a fast for the prosperity of our family," says Madhuri.

There is a belief that Sun God will fulfil every wish if the people worship in a proper manner. "But the prayer should be serious and the prasad separated for the God should be pure," says Madhuri.

Meanwhile, the Terai-based Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) extended good wishes to the people of Terai region who are celebrating the Chhath festival.

"Chhath is not only a festival, but is also an opportunity to develop understanding in a society," NSP said here today in a press release.

In the release, party president Gajendra Narayan Singh also demanded the government to announce public holiday for two days to celebrate the occasion in a grand manner.

Parties oppose demand for Constituent Assembly

By Pramod Poudel

KATHMANDU, Nov 21 - At a time when the CPN-Maoist has demanded the formation of Constituent Assembly as their minimum demand from the government, all the major political parties have completely ruled out such a possibility.

Many political leaders assert that neither the government nor the parliament can scrap the present Constition, which automatically becomes necessary to hold election for the Constituent Assembly if the demand is to be agreed.

"The Maoists’ demand of Constituent Assembly denotes their immature and non-political thinking," said Speaker Taranath Ranabhat. Nepali Congress leader and member of the government negotiating team with the Maoists Narahari Acharya also ruled out the possibility of Constituent Assembly. He says, "There is no possibility that present Constitution could be scrapped through talks".

Ruling out the possibility of Maoists’ demand of Constituent Assembly, Ranabhat, however, points out that the point of agreement between the government and the Maoists could be "mid-term election" which could be conduted by an interim government in which Maoists could also be included. He even says that the first work the new government would do should be on amending the Constitution.

Government negotiating team member Acharya says, "We can reach the solution with the Maoists that day when they bring forth their clear set of demands". Even Acharya was quick to point out that the government had no right to scrap the present Constitution.

The main opposition party CPN-UML has already ruled out the Maoists’ demand of Constituent Assembly. Says CPN-UML leader KP Oli, Maoists demand of Constituent Assembly is impossible to meet. "The government has no right to scrap this Constitution, and it can’t meet Maoists demand of Constituent Assembly," says Oli.

"The Maoists demand of Constituent Assembly is not appropriate," says Oli,"they must abandon this demand". His argument was that the present Constitution had to be scrapped for Constituent Assembly, and, that the parliament could not perform in the absence of Constitution.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Nepal Sadbhawana Party (NSP) are also against the Constituent Assembly election. RPP leader Prakash Chandra Lohani says that his party has not seen any relevance of such a Constituent Assembly. "Our party, sticking to the multi-party democracy and Constitutional Monarchy, is willing for any required amendments in the Constitution to remove the present malaise in the society but there is no way we can agree to such Constituent Assembly," says Lohani.

NSP President Gajendra Narayan Singh says that the Maoists should not be adamant on their demand of Constituent Assembly.

"They should talk of reforms in the Constitution, but not seek a new Constitution," says Singh.

However, Ameek Sherchan, Samyukta Jana Morcha (SJM)Chairman, says that his party had always been in favour of Constituent Assembly. Sherchan, who pointed out that the Maoists are not clear on what sort of Constituent Assembly they are looking for, said that his party was ready to go for amendments in the present Constitution. But he wanted amendment in the preamble of the present Constitution which is "non-amendable".

Even CPN-ML is against the Constituent Assembly election. Its leader CP Mainali says, "Our party is only for amendment in the present Constitution and is against the Constituent Assembly".