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October, 2003 |
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Political |
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A Year After October 4 is the first anniversary of sacking the Deuba government which had followed a number of dramatic developments with much positive expectations by the people. But the review of the year yields little to hold satisfaction as the nearly seven month old ceasefire in the Maoist insurgency achieved after royal takeover of October 4 could not be turned into a lasting peace. The five major political parties not represented in the government are about to announce the so called eighth phase of their protest activities demanding restoration of the dissolved parliament, but that too is likely to fizzle out as did the previous seven phases. Instead of lasting peace, people are now yearning for a ceasefire during the festivals (Dashain festivals September 2-7 and Tihar festivals October 25-27). However, that too is being denied. There are threats of general strike by the Maoists even during the festival days. Meanwhile, reports of business establishments closing down have started to be more frequent. As expected, the hardest hit are the tourism related businesses due to lack of customers. But the Maoists seem to be indiscriminate in attacking any business establishment. Following the damage they caused last month in Janakpur on a paper factory, in September they blasted a spinning mill in Madhyapur Thimi inside Kathmandu Valley. However, the analysts still do not think such attacks to be part of the broader political-economic plans of the Maoists. Rather they are interpreted as steps meant to intimidate and terrorise so as to put greater pressure on the government to buckle about the demands of the Maoists. The insurgents are, in that sense, trying to impress that they are strong enough to inflict damage anywhere in the country. Perhaps, this also explains why some of their recent bomb blasts killed the schoolchildren. Among the major developments of September was the return of the king from London where, some political observers thought, he was supposed to meet some Maoist leaders living in exile. However, nothing has come out about any development along this line. Meanwhile, Sir Jeffrey James, London-based special representative of British government to Nepal, arrived in Kathmandu late September. In another development, the human rights activists scored a point when the Royal Nepal Army was forced to set up a court of inquiry to investigate on the alleged violation of human rights by the army in its action against the Maoists in a place called Doramba, during the ceasefire period. The month of September also saw the change of Attorney General (now Sushil Pant hold that position). In another interesting development, police surprisingly arrested Charles Sobhraj, the internationally famous conman (one of the claims attributed to him is that he would easily pass an elephant through the Tribhuvan International Airport customs in Kathmandu without letting it be recorded on the customs books). However the police are reported to be perplexed about how to pursue the case against him on the charge of two tourists some 28 years ago in Nepal. The records are feared lost. And the master conman is reported as claiming this to be the first time that he has come to Nepal. |
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