Book of the week

In depth Analysis

Girija babu has his hands full!

Kathmandu : The Maoists' "Armed Bundh" Thursday was a show of strength in Kathmandu on part of government where the total absence of the agitators and the total closure of Kathmandu activities demonstrated Maoist capability perhaps to the relief of the government. No untoward incident on the occasion and the visible presence of government presence of arms was unprecedented given the movements' success in the absence of any visible activity on part of the agitators. Surprisingly, the incident leaves both government and the Maoists claiming success. What is true is that Kathmandu street and shops can now be swept clean with merely Maoists threat. This has connotations all its own.

A demonstration of Maoists and government strength was followed this week by a similar demonstration of UML strength with an emphasis on visibility that call for a massive cadre gathering which has purposes of political utility. The UML is very likely to be agitating in Kathmandu too. Unlike the Maoist success in the absence of visible demonstration, UML activity will be one of cadre presence on the streets. At considerable cost, the UML have trucked in their workers for the purpose.

It is not that the Maoist had no activity. Last week saw major killings in armed confrontations and the propaganda machine on part of both the agitators and the government worked overtime to scare people away from the street one day ahead. It is clear that government was as keen to make their task easier. Much of the success of the Maoist "Armed Bundh"' can be accounted to this factor.

Sabre-rattling on part of government is designed to demonstrate determination and strength by the Girija ministry to confront the Maoist issue. However, Girija strength in the congress is said to be clearly waning. One indication of this is seen in the abrupt closure of the Winter session of the Parliament. Another is said to be seen in the public pronouncements of "balancer"'' Khum Bahadur Khadka who is said to be disgruntled by Girija babu's denying him both the deputy premiership and the home ministry. It was largely known that Khadka tilted the balance in favor of Girija against Deuba and he is known to have precious votes that can work against the present Prime Minister if not appeased.

It is not surprising therefore that a UML hit list against identified corrupt personalities has minister Khadka topping the list. The UML agitation on the street will be one against corruption and very versatile political purposes can be solved by aiming at Khadka whose political strength, of course, must be nurtured by proximity to precious government resources granted by lucrative cabinet positions.

The congress in fighting has, not surprisingly, remained very much in the news. The titillation's within the cabinet leave Girija Koirala precariously positioned. The UML activities on the streets are likely to be so designed as to pressure extraordinary parliamentary meetings. The virtual breakdown of talks with the Maoists may result in heightened confrontations. The Prime Minister has his hands full indeed.

What next if political ambition of Nepal's military grows?

Kathmandu : At the fag end of his five decade long political career, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala appears determined to do away with some visible ailments that have gripped the nation well after the advent of the new democratic order in the country.

Koirala's three point agenda include among other, providing good governance; curbing the menace of corruption and solving the Maoists' problem once and for all.

In his various speeches made after the assumption of Prime Ministership of the beleaguered nation, Koirala inevitably touches upon these three goals.

Talking of good governance, one wonders how the current bureaucracy that is politically divided and remains most lethargic would help him in achieving his first goal. The government at the center at its best can only devise plans and programs for the welfare of the public. But it is the state bureaucracy that has to implement the government decisions made in favor of the lay men down at the grass root level. Added to this is the fact that good governance can only be provided by good actors or say performers. Needless to say, our actors and performers could be dumped in the category of the worst ones. Given the fact that his own party is split in to various lobbies plus the intermittent internal rifts that crops up in the party and hinders the state machinery, to dream of providing of good governance will be foolhardy.

However, with carrot and stick in hand concurrently will do some work provided his kitchen cabinet members tell the Prime minister.

 Then comes Girija's avowal of curbing corruption from the nation's scene. This is impossible simply because the declared corrupts he has housed in his freshly constituted cabinet speaks of his inability to keep a distance with those notorious fellows. The reason is simple. At time of the parliamentary party election, it is these rotten eggs who elevated him to the present ranks.

Prime minister Girija's claim that he would do away with corruption and corrupt practices with the set of corrupts in government sounds hollow. If he could sack his own cabinet members who had been adjudged by his own party members as corrupts at the last Nepalganj convention, people will to a greater extent admire his courage and perhaps would give credit to his fresh determination. To bag sympathy from the people and party members, Koirala , to begin with, will have to clean his house first and set an example for others.

Thirdly comes the issue of the Maoists'. Here too the Prime minister must spell out in clear terms as to how he sees this threat. Is it a terrorist act? Or an agenda demanding political solution? Or even a threat that warranted military solution?

Sadly speaking, the Prime minister has taken this issue differently at different times. Only recently he has said that it was an issue that solicited "national consensus". More surprisingly Prime Minister Koirala has declared that the Maoists threat would be now taken proper care of by the National Security Council which means that the military personnel would be taken out from the barracks. To recall, the military chief, Mr. Prazwal Rana prior to his departure to Hawaii during Bhattarai's Premiership had hinted that the military can contain the threats emanating from the Maoists' quarters provided they were told to do so by an all party "consensus". Mr. Rana's wish made then and Koirala's wish to bag national consensus in this regard is worth pondering over. Mere conjecture only or ….?

The talk of a possible military solution to this five year long imbroglio has come at a time when the Prime minister has instructed Sher Bahadur Deuba to continue with his job as the chief of the Maoists' commission and facilitate the ground for talks with the Maoists'.

Analyzing these Prime ministerial contradictory interpretations, what could be fairly said that the executive chief is still in dilemma on how to proceed to control the Maoists threat.

As per the 1990 Constitution, Article 118 allows the formation of such a Security Council with members as Prime minister, the defense minister and the military chief. However, the council thus formed comes in to action only after the Royal Orders.

Since the current Prime minister is himself the defense minister so some one from the NC parliamentarians would be soon picked up for the post of the defense ministry if the Security council were to proceed in the direction.

The million dollar question now automatically arises as to what would happen if the military action fail in finding a solution to the Maoists issue? The question also could be raised as to what would happen to the civilian government at the center in case the military men proceed with their rule in the captured areas of the Maoists dominated West?

Can the growing political ambitions of the otherwise apolitical military men be calmed down?

Perhaps the government under Koirala must look in to these small but very important things prior to deciding sending the military to the Maoists affected areas.

Advisable would be to resume the talks with the insurgents at the earliest.

Corruption must be tackled -Richard Vokes, ADB

Kathmandu : The Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank in Nepal in cooperation with the Ministry of General administration organized  April 7, 2000,  a workshop on the "formulation of action plan for civil service reform".

The workshop was participated in by top government officials from various key ministries, donors based in Kathmandu and members of the civil society.

The main host Mr. Richard Vokes, ADB resident representative in his opening address said that the core problem is not the size of the civil service but rather its very wide mandate and the way in which the civil service is organized.

"'The wide mandate is also in contradiction with the liberalization policies of the government", added Vokes.

Talking on the existence of corruption in the Nepalese civil service, the ADB chief said that the survey of Civil Service management issues indicated that after poor pay and benefits, high level of corruption is seen as the major problem facing the civil service while problems of corruption at all levels is widely recognized.

''Corruption must be tackled"', continued Richard Vokes.

Deputy Prime minister of Nepal Ram Chandra Poudel who kept the guests waiting for more than half an hour told the gathering that the concrete findings of the seminar would help the government in bringing about reforms in the Nepalese civil service.

Poudel was the chief guest at the opening ceremony.

Janet Tay Consultants, Singapore, has assisted the ADB in preparing the draft document for effecting possible reforms in the Nepalese civil service.

The recommendations include the trimming of government ministries; strengthening the constitutional bodies and effecting laws with proper reforms to make the existing civil service responsible. (the full text of Richard Vokes speech will be printed next issue-editor).

Industry and Commerce day observed Corruption number one enemy -PM Koirala

Kathmandu : The FNCCI, federation of Nepalese Chambers of  Commerce and Industry celebrated "Industry and Commerce day" amidst a gala ceremony Monday afternoon.

Noted industrialists, businessmen and traders of the nation converged at the Birendra International Convention Hall and contributed their support to make the event a success.

Diplomats from various countries also graced the occasion.

In his welcome speech the incumbent President of the FNCCI, Pradip Kumar Shrestha, said that the basic objective behind the celebration of this day was to raise public awareness and interest towards industry and commerce and to disseminate the significance of business and industry amongst the wider public.

Key note speakers Takashi Tazima, APO, and Dr. Mohan Man Sainju dwelt at length about the current trend seen in the world regarding trade and commerce and suggested the attending Nepalese participants to take up the new global trend in a competitive manner.

Dr. Sainju made scathing criticisms against the dismal performance of the successive Nepalese governments formed after the restoration of multi-party dispensation contrary to their proclamations made prior to the fall of the erstwhile regime.

Perhaps disturbed by this criticism, Prime minister Koirala, the chief guest of the function, too retorted back by saying that tall lectures and voluminous sermons would do little in alleviating the sufferings of the common masses of the country.

"What we need today is not the sermons rather concrete action plans that goes in favor of the common destitute of the nation", continued Prime Minister Koirala.

He also assured the attending business community that he can go to any extent in finding solutions to their grievances provided the community convinced him of their problems.

The Prime minister bluntly accepted that an invisible enemy was more dangerous than the visible one. "The Maoists threat is secondary for me. The primary threat to my government and me emanates from the corrupts and their corrupt practices", added the Prime minister'.

Many attending participants were found sleeping in their respective seats as the program unnecessarily stretched for four hours or even more.

Russia refutes 'Council of Europe' resolution

Kathmandu : The resolution passed on April 6, 2000, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the Chechen situation can only cause puzzle and profound regret says a statement of the Russian federation ministry of foreign affairs released the otherday.

"The Assembly took its cue from those deputies who judging by their statements and actions continue to live and think in terms of Cold War stereotypes and double-standard approach", adds the Russian statement.

Inspite of the unprecedented openness of the Russian side for dialogue and the more than convincing facts made available to PACE regarding the real state of affairs in Chechnya and the Russian leaderships' firm commitment to a political settlement, those parliamentarians could not or would not take all that into account. They continue to draw their information from the spurious propaganda spread by Chechens and their backers, continues the statement.

"'By taking this decision, the parliamentary assembly dealt a serious blow to the efforts of the Council of Europe for creating a single European environment including in the humanitarian and legal spheres and thus incurred serious responsibility"' adds the statement.

The Russian side will continue to firmly follow the policy line of uprooting international terrorism, achieving a lasting political settlement of the situation in the Chechen republic, restoring constitutional authority, law and order and human rights and normalizing the social and economic life of the republic. While acting along these lines, Moscow will be open for cooperation with all those international organizations that are really and practically contributing towards the achievement of these goals concludes the statement.

B'desh Ambassador to visit Biratnagar

Kathmandu : The newly appointed Bangladesh Ambassador to Nepal. Mr. Cyril Sikder, will be visiting Biratnagar by the end of this month.

The Nepal-SAARC Journalists' Forum, NSJF, will assist the Bangladesh embassy in Kathmandu to materialize Ambassador Sikder's successful Biratnagar trip.

To recall, under the initiation of the NSJF, previous Bangladesh Ambassadors Mahmud Ali and Ambassador Mohiuddin Ahmed had been to Biratnagar.

Ambassador Sikder's program in Biratnagar will be coordinated by the Nepal-SAARC Journalists' Forum in close cooperation with the local Biratnagar Press Club.

Mr. N.P.Upadhyaya and Mr. Puspa Pradhan, both from the Journalists Forum will accompany the Ambassador to Biratnagar.

Bangladesh Embassy Counselor Abdul Kader Khan will also join the Ambassador's entourage to Biratnagar.

IA flights resumption; conflicting views

Kathmandu : The Nepalese side perhaps for the first time has felt the compulsion to reiterate the very internal reasons that caused the breakdown of the last round of Nepal-India   talks held on the resumption of the abruptly suspended Indian Airlines flight to Kathmandu.

"The bilateral talks failed when the Indian side forcefully demanded that they be admitted to conduct the last security check-up of the passengers and their baggage's right at the departure lounge", said Nepalese officials employed in the talks.

The minister of civil aviation and tourism, Tarini Datt Chataut and his ministry officials laid bare this fact to the Foreign affairs and human rights committee of the parliament Monday, it is learnt.

According to Narayan Man Bijukche, a member of the said committee, the Indian team first exhibited its inclination to install a X-ray machine at the departure lounge and conduct the necessary inspection of the passengers of the Indian airliner by their own men. However, the Nepalese officials discarded this Indian proposal but politely assured the other side that they would install the X-Ray machines on their own and do the needful themselves.

During the process of the bargaining, the Indian team had demanded that they be offered facilities to conduct the necessary security check-up right here in the Nepalese soil. This was out-and-out rejected. Later came the Indian proposal of being given the same facility right on the steps of the ladder prior to entering the aircraft.

However, the Nepalese authorities made it clear that such facilities could only be enjoyed by the airlines when its passengers were already inside the plane.

Seemingly these events and proposals in part caused the abrupt failure of the talks.

The government version has come immediately after the Indian Embassy briefed Nepalese journalists only last week.

A section of the Nepalese media claimed after the embassy briefing that the talks have not failed as has been given to understand by some" anti India elements and the so-called radical nationalists" in Kathmandu.

 A definite case of divided loyalties!

However, despite the contradictory statements emanating from two different quarters, the bilateral talks must resume at the earliest.

Thamel dot com launches website

Kathmandu, April 11, 2000 – thamel dot com (P) Ltd launches its new high tech premium world wide web site, <http://www.thamel.com> for tourism development in Nepal through Information and Technology. It is an effort to open a window to the outside world through which one may enter into the exotic world of endless opportunities that Nepal has to offer. THAMEL is a historical and genuine word, which is recognized as much as abroad as at home.

thamel dot com has established a corporate office at thamel complex, Tridevi Marg, on behalf of affiliate organizations to provide their business information and activities. We are primly located at the very entry point of Thamel with some 26 highly dedicated staffs. The site also features the most updated general information on Nepal, Travelers and Tourist sections enabling a potential visitor to make a well informed choice before visiting Nepal. It contains information on all the aspects of tourism like mountaineering, trekking, rafting, bird watching, rock climbing, bunjee jumping, cultural and religious tours, eco-tourism, visa information, flight schedule etc.

This is stated in a press release dated Tuesday, April 11, 2000, sent to us Monday.

National | Editorial | 2nd Impression | International | Past |