I n d e p t h    A n a l y s i s
Crucial phase in King’s step

Kathmandu: Confusion in the cabinet regarding agreements limiting the army to a five kilometers radius of its barracks makes obvious the lack of unity among government representatives at the talks with the Maoists. This in itself is an indication that change is overly due in government. It may be safe to surmise thus that the third round of talks will dictate the timing for the change.

Another indication that change is round the corner is provided by the public reaction to the timing of the anti-corruption moves. Had the government not sat upon the relevant property declaration papers for so long the anti-corruption office would not have had to face current charge of ‘political recrimination’.

As it is the major political parties have swung their movement to a new second phase that will provoke display of authority by government. Problem has been added it by the predictable change of recrimination.

A waiting public is losing patience at the slow pace of delivery in the face of reassertion by the political parties who have been using their cadre strength in announcing their continued presence through the movement. In the face of this unhurried government action smacks more of incompetence than of confidence. It is clear by now that there is a lack of direction and unanimity at the top and the hesitancy in assertion is giving the opposition much leeway.

To add to this the party movement and their increasingly shrilled reaction is splashed on the pages of the partisan media drowning any feeble attempt to match these activities by the government. This unmatched coverage is likely top erode the current public backing that HM the King’s October 4th measure which includes the media, University, teachers and the bureaucracy is likely to waiver in their support. Visible change towards a definite direction will alone prevent this slide. This makes the possibility of a change stronger.

Much is being made of the anti-corruption steps being a deterrent to the slide. This however is wishful thinking since the public is aware that the shrill voices against the anti-corruption measures are designed for just that purpose. There is political capital to be made by appearing the political victim. What is feared at large by those anticipating change is that enough time has been granted the corrupt to make legal action perfunctory. If those corrupt in the eyes of the public are released; the disappointment will be costly.

RPP stalwart develops "face saving" formulae

Kathmandu: Nepal’s conspiratorial politics appears to take a new twist.

This political twist is being "formulated" by the erstwhile Panchas who have already emerged as country’s third largest parliamentary force—The RPP that is currently being steered by a shrewd and concurrently a dynamic politician Pasupati Shamsher Rana.

The new political formulae thus devised by the RPP if brought into action appears to satisfy all the agitating parliamentary parties who have by now already heated up the streets through their agitation clearly aimed against the King and his October 4 moves.

In all likelihood, this RPP "Mantra" will ease the political confrontation that the political parties have at the moment with the monarch and both that is the institutions in confrontation will find for themselves a long awaited "face saving" device for both appear tired of the ongoing clash with each other. For both appear to have concluded that they were fighting for nothing and that country’s interests were far more superior to their ego or whatsoever.

The new RPP formulae provides the formation of an all party government comprising of all the major parliamentary parties at the earliest. The RPP arrived at this conclusion the other day which appears to have been guided by the urgency to bring normalcy in the country which has surely slided towards an unidentified political abyss.

The RPP decision is a matured one, opine analysts, for this will provide the nation a way to arrest the political aberrations that have become the hall mark after the October 4 moves.

The personality who has devised this formulae is a well known RPP stalwart, Mr. Kamal Thapa, who has the distinction of pulling down his own party government in the recent past.

Mr. Thapa appears to bag so many accolades not only from his own party for his "brilliant ideas", but from those also whose voice neither the Chand government is listening nor the Nepali monarchy.

The fact is that such a brilliant proposition from Mr. Thapa has come at a time when the King too apparently is tired of a government which he himself appointed at the fag end of last year. However, since the King can’t exhibit his anger for his own government and hence, analysts maintain, Mr. Thapa upon reading the monarch’s mind could have floated this new formulae with a hope that his brainchild could give save the prestige of all concerned in the political confrontation at the moment.

It could also be that Mr. Thapa, as usual, would have considered the Chand government to be a bunch of incompetent ones and hence inorder to save his own party government from further insult and damage and hence floated the idea for the formation of an all-party powerful government.

By way of its corollary, he could have been well instructed by some powerful quarters to manage the ouster of this government through a separate political mechanism that gave an impression to all and sundry that the idea were a political one and hence no role of any quarter.

Thapa’s presentation of this new idea is simply very important in the sense that the paper has come at a time when the country is heated up by the major political parties; there has been a sort of misunderstanding in between the government representatives and the Maoists at time of the second round of talks and its agreements specially on limiting the army to a five kilometers radius from the barracks, the clear lack of unity in between the cabinet members; and the presumption that the manner the government was offering political concessions to the Maoists at the talks and its possible impact afterwards; and the statements made thereafter by the Royal Nepal Army plus by the political parties hinting that they were not pleased with what the government side agreed to in the issue of limiting the army to a small area.

Sources close to the RPP say that Mr. Thapa has also hinted in his party-paper of the possible threat that could emanate from the Maoists quarters to the country and to the monarchy concurrently should the Maoists be allowed to enjoy the concessions that they were bagging in series each time of the talks.

Hopefully, the UML which has been championing all along for the formation of an all-party government will be more than happy by Mr. Thapa’s new proposition which accommodated their own political consideration. It could prompt some UML stalwarts’ even to kiss Mr. Thapa in the open.

If it is so and the politics goes the Thapa way, it is presumed that the UML might back itself from the current agitation and might leave Koirala alone in the cold so that he visits the CIAA office time and again as and when they call him.

The fact is also that the UML’s Madhav Nepal would wish himself to see in the chair apparently he now loved most. This is his exposed-hidden desire indeed.

Be that as it may, Thapa’s proposition does not talk of elevating the ranks of the Maoists to the ministerial posts for understandable reasons. The paper albeit speaks the formation of a "powerful" all-party government which clearly means that RPP as a party and Mr. Thapa as a political stalwart of that party both conclude that the King wields at the moment executive powers and presupposes that the monarch will "delegate" that authority onto the cabinet the day such a government is formed in Kathmandu.

The RPP appears to act like a mediator in between all the contending and confronting forces. Not bad.

What is more than important and meaning loaded is that Prime Minister Chand too has accepted this formulae but has conditioned that if this proposition did away with country’s problems and restored peace then he would not mind in submitting himself to this formulae. Change appears round the corner.

Diplomats see political and ideological dimension in the emergence of insurgency
Galtung favors revision in the 1990 constitution

Kathmandu: The Maoists issue and theirs coming to the negotiating table recently has become a hot topic for national and even international scholars.

What is common about them is that both wish the Maoists join the nation’s political mainstream and the State facilitated their easy entrance into the system and contribute to the development of the nation that has seen many devastation within seven odd years of the said insurgency.

National scholars and diplomats are quick to hint that the emergence of the insurgency had both social and economic dimensions. They opine that the insurgency is related to "frustrated expectations" that came with the advent of democracy, related to abject poverty that persists for a large percentage of the population related to poor and inefficient delivery of social services in areas such as education and health and related to inequality, exclusion and widespread discrimination.

Others see the presence of political and ideological dimension in the emergence of the Maoists insurgency in Nepal.

This was disclosed at a program jointly organized by Nepal Council of World Affairs and the Nepal Human Rights Commission Monday in Lalitpur.

The main speakers included NHRC Chairman, Mr. N.B.Khatry; Dr. Henning Karcher of the UN System in Nepal; Professor Joahn Galtung, and the office bearers of the NCWA.

Dr. Karcher opined that one of the greatest challenges to the current peace process that was already on in Nepal lay in addressing "the structural elements of violence, the nine-tenth of the iceberg which were not clearly visible as that over 8000 people who lost their lives through direct violence.

He however highlighted the importance of the observation of the Human Rights aspects while negotiating at the table and said that without respect for human rights there can be no peace and without peace there can be no observation of human rights.

Dr. Karcher pleaded for signing a sort of Human Rights accord by both the parties sitting in the negotiating table which he described that could be a credible and feasible first step to begin with.

The main speaker, Joahn Galtung, an internationally acclaimed Norwegian scholar opined that conflict was an incompatible goal and that ceasefire engages both conflicting parties in their own political interests and that peace process engages both the warring sides in an egalitarian way to achieve an egalitarian solution to the problem confronting both.

According to Professor Galtung, peace process has always an element of equality contained in it. He suggested the parties concerned first to draw a line for conflict resolution.

He then cited various examples of conflict resolution process wherein he had himself played as an actor and said that peace process once started follows negotiation which in turn paves the way for a compromise which then leads to arrive at some sort of an agreement that finally initiates acts of cooperation in between the two conflicting parties.

Prof. Galtung was of the opinion that sooner or later the Maoists could declare through a statement that they could adjust themselves within a constitutional monarchy and that it would be nice if the RNA and the People’s Army cooperated each other in the development of the country which if happened would mean that rifts were being lessened in between the two.

Professor Galtung though pleasingly accepted the Maoists demand for a round table conference and an interim government but he disliked their demand for a constituent assembly. In his opinion, the 1990 constitution which he considered to be one of the best in the world could be changed as per the demands of the Maoists in cooperation with other major parliamentary parties.

The Norwegian scholar, however, wished to congratulate the Maoists for he saw a change in the mood of the leaders of the insurgency.

"I am glad that they are changing their hard stance which gives an impression that they too wish to come to terms with the situation in the country", added Dr. Galtung.

According to Galtung, the main national actors were the King ( the HMG and the RNA implied), the parliamentary parties and the Maoists and the international actors he saw were United States and the United Kingdom plus the Indian establishment. He however, did not elaborate on the possible role of the outside powers that in his opinion were influencing the whole process in a subtle manner.

K.R.Jha, the NCWA president lauded the ongoing peace process and appealed all to contribute to the installation of a sort of permanent peace in the country. Himalaya kumar Singh welcomed the guests. Dr. Gopal Pokhrel, the Vice president of the NCWA, however, warned that it was not necessary for Nepal to adopt the peace processes which were tried in the Western world for conflict resolution.

Sushil Pyakurel offered vote of thanks on behalf of the NHRC and the NCWA.

Koirala’s "no" to CIAA summon raises so many questions

Kathmandu: The President of the Nepali Congress, Girija Prasad Koirala opted not to obey the orders of the CIAA authorities and did not present himself before the CIAA court as summoned by the latter on Tuesday.

But instead he preferred to knock the doors of the nation’s apex court and sought judicial protection from the possible wrath of the highly powerful "constitutional body" with sovereign rights.

As was expected, Girija Prasad out rightly challenged the constitutional authority of the CIAA by refraining to heed to the calls of the CIAA and thus has made a precedence for others "suspected" like him not to follow the dictates of the constitutional body as and when it summoned.

Those who know Koirala from close quarters say that this was not an unexpected event given Koirala’s arrogance which compels him to consider himself at times a citizen "above the law".

However, Koirala by seeking the judicial protection of the Supreme Court has exercised his "democratic rights" as a citizen of this country. Concurrently what is also true is that he as the president of a party that more often than not equates his party synonymous to democracy has this time around made a joke of his own and his party’s true commitments to a system that is in force now.

In rejecting the summons of the CIAA, president Koirala also has amply hinted that the national population and his party men will come to his rescue and make a hill out of the mole should he be initiated actions by the CIAA for having been not able to abide by its orders.

Two things come to the fore now: Firstly, Koirala has posed a challenge to the established norms and the practices of a democratic system; secondly, in doing so he has also thrown into the dustbin the rules of the game in a democratic system which the system demands from an exemplary citizen of the sort of Koirala who has ruled the nation for most of the so-called democratic years after 1990; thirdly, in opting to take the shelter of the nation’s apex court, he wishes to show all and sundry that he is being made a victim by certain invisible quarters with a desire to make him kneel down but he wouldn’t; fourthly, and perhaps more importantly has done so to challenge the constitutional body which he himself empowered during his own tenure as premier only to exhibit that he is above the laws of the land and that the prevailing laws can’t and shouldn’t interrogate him as an ordinary citizen.

Analysts opine that Koirala by not complying to the summons of the CIAA has exposed himself as a coward citizen and that had he been only making tall claims about himself.

Many people believe that Koirala has not amassed wealth during his prime ministership. It is true.

However, political analysts do suggest that in the name of Koirala, Ms. Sujata Koirala-Jost, daughter of president Koirala who is basically a German citizen has amassed astronomical amount of wealth cashing in on her father’s prestigious position as prime minister.

For example, to recall, the Lauda scam, the Chase air deal and the most infamous Dhamiija scandals did happen at time of Koirala’s premiership and rumors were agog then that it should be Sujata Koirala who made all the secret deals by presenting herself as the daughter of the prime minister.

It should be recalled here that the UML which has now made Koirala the commander of the ongoing movement against the monarchy had blocked the entire proceedings of the 19th session of the parliament demanding the ouster of corrupt priminister Koirala.

If the UML still sticks to its old stand then what could be expected that the party would not come to the rescue of Koirala in cases related with the Lauda, Chase and Dhamija.

That means a split in the present congress and UML alliance could be round the corner. All that is left to watch as to how the UML takes up the CIAA summoning the congress suspects at its court for interrogation.

This will also determine the fate of the movement as well. Keep fingers crossed.

"French Animation in all its glory"

With the success of last years’ film festival on the theme of French Women Directors, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose "French Animation in all its glory" as this years theme for the Film Festival being organized from 24th May to 25th May, said Domnique Plassard, First Secretary at the French Embassy.

Chantal Lama, the director at the Alliance Francaise told the reporters present at the press conference held on Monday at their premises that the purpose is to show the richness of animated cinema through its creativity and its many techniques.

However, Mr Prabin Rana, the Deputy Director at the Alliance Francaise was happy with their effort to showcase animation films made by Nepalese animators and told the reporters that this will provide the Nepalese artists ample opportunity to prosper this unknown field in Nepal.

At the program Nepalese Animators also shared their views regarding the stage of the Animation technique used in Nepal so far.

The inauguration program will begin this Friday at a special function in Kathmandu.

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