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Thapa-Koirala alliance exposed!

Kathmandu: Islamabad ceremony on SAARC hardly detract Nepali preoccupation with anticipation of coming politics outside the fact that Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa is away and his return will set the ball rolling for change. His promise, belated as it was, of a postponed cabinet expansion has been steam-rolled in public attention by the Royal audience to Madhav Nepal and Thapa will find if difficult to return the focus of change.

Mr. Nepal has been largely mum on events with the King at Nagarjun Palace. But the public is aware that the UML chief has a new mission of reconciliation. Perhaps Nepal will find this mission handicapped by the party encouragement of students’ cadre to pour the tirade it has been pouring against the King. Reining in the coaxed students for sake of participating in a seemingly all-party cabinet that must be blessed by the King is a difficult proposition for a party leader who has active opponents within the party that can undercut him on grounds of a sell-out.

But the King has set the ball rolling. He, as every one, is aware that Nepal will find his party as difficult to carry as the four other parties that are allies against the King on the streets. Not surprisingly rumors were purposely floated by these very parties that the King was due to meet other leaders. Both Deuba and Girija Prasad Koirala. It seems, eagerly await Royal summons regardless of the fact that the message will be the same. The partisan media has a purpose when it tries to cover up the public awareness that a united solution and definitive agenda will not emanate from this sector although the target is for the representation in a government that must conduct elections.

The ongoing street movement is thus a convenient tool by which the parties will retain pressure on the monarchy to bow in to their demands. The monarchy has more than demonstrated its limits of accommodation. Chand and Thapa may come and go but his search for a well represented cabinet continues but is thwarted by none else than the very parties who demanded on the streets while they have no other agenda for national solutions when it comes to governance.

Significantly, charges that Nepal is playing close to his chest have already emerged and the most likely deterrent to his mission will be his street-ally Girija Prasad Koirala. In all probability the one-man party, NMKP, will prefer to stay out of the coming scheme of things while giving a nod to Nepal’s mission and the minor Left that is the other component outside the Sadbhavana splinter in the street coalition may prefer independent action. However, Nepal’s sacrifice of foregoing his leadership of a change in government may reward him the advantage of a forged coalition that will claim the necessary representation to face the polls. The strength thus forged will have successfully elbowed out underground Thapa-Koirala alliance that would otherwise have ruled the election roost.

King throws ball in the court of political parties

Kathmandu: Shivering cold and cold wave did not deter Katmandu’s politics to get suddenly warmed up.

Since last Friday, Nepali politics apparently has taken a new turn presumably for the better. However, interpretations may differ but majority of the intellectuals opine that a sort of pleasant atmosphere has dawned in th country.

After all what is that which has changed the almost stagnated Nepali politics so suddenly that even pessimistic ones too appear now claiming that better late than never the King himself has taken the lead to tear the curtain that had been persisting in between him and the political parties now in agitation?

The King began his series of meetings with the political leaders significantly with UML strongman, Madhav Nepal.

Mr. Nepal’s meeting with the monarch assumes significance in the sense that he is the one to meet him first who apparently spoke "guarded-words" against the monarch while making lectures against regression. Mr. Nepal is also the one Nepali leader who have had the opportunity to meet Prachanda last month in Lucknow.

King’s preference to see the UML leader first is loaded with meaning.

Firstly, Mr. Nepal could brief him about the Maoists fresh stance towards the Nepali monarchy and it should be none less than Nepal who could tell the monarch as to what were the Maoists bottom line for entering into a dialogue with the old-regime in the changed context.

Secondly, King’s granting Mr. Nepal audience could well have been guided by the Monarch’s consideration that Madhav Nepal could be a good political animal to trust with comparatively speaking. Given Koirala’s lambasting at the monarchy in a much more damaging manner must have prompted the King to begin with a modest one.

Thirdly, as a political party, the King might have taken note of the fact that the congress stood divided vertically and hence his meeting with leaders of the divided party would lead him to nowhere and hence he apparently concluded to invite Mr. Nepal who still, as a matter of fact, commanded respect and honor in the party and had been enjoying backing from the mass as well.

Fourthly, on yet another important plane, the King might have also taken into note of UML leaders’ high-profile contacts with the leaders across the borders which could well be cashed in on upon at an opportune moment.

All put together, the King invited Mr. Nepal first leaving Koirala and his partymen wondering as to why all this happened. By not inviting Koirala first, the monarch appears to have wished to signal Koirala and his partymen that he was not that happy with the party for having departed from its committed and declared stance of adhering to a constitutional monarchical system in the country.

Be that as it may, the King has met Madhav Nepal and also initiated the process of dialogue that was overly due.

An overwhelmingly pleased with the Royal audience, Madhav Nepal, the UML leader within five days of his meeting with the King has come up with a "road-map" in order to sort out the problems plaguing the country of late. It is not surprising therefore to see the UML talking of a road map that says that the country must now, to begin with, convene a sort of round-table conference comprising the participation of all the sectors from the society and then forming an interim government that will later set agenda on how to proceed to tackle the issues confronting the nation including the Maoists.

Is it a mere coincidence or the materialization of the instructions provided to Madhav Nepal by the monarch during last Friday’s tete-a-tete?

The UML has reasons to differ with the analyses, however, what the UML as a party and Madhav Nepal as the party’s leader must admit that this party from the very beginning possessed soft-corner for the monarch and had been pleading the King to act fast. The UML gave the impression that the party wished to work with the monarch in the betterment of the country. The King apparently listened to this silent plea of the UML.

Not surprising is therefore the King then met Sher Bahadur Deuba who has openly said that he will not mind if Madhav Nepal is made the nation’s prime minister. To recall, Kathmandu’s rumor mill had it that on so many political counts, Deuba and Madhav were close to each other. The fact is also that the King preferred to see Deuba after Madhav Nepal. Does this preference possess meaning? Perhaps yes!

No less intriguing is the King’s third invitee for a Royal audience. The RPP leader Pashupati Rana met the King Monday afternoon. The fact is that Mr. Rana is the one who is supposedly backing Deuba and Madhav Nepal for the post of the next Prime Minister. Highly informed sources say that Mr. Rana is supporting the two in his bid that if both are rejected by the Palace, the rejected ones might support him when it comes to his own candidacy. A ploy or a genuine support?

All said and done, the King has thrown the ball in the court of the political parties.

He did so on Monday afternoon when he pushed his seven point agenda for the perusal of the now agitating parties and has apparently hinted the parties to agree to his newly formulated agenda.

King’s agenda is such that no democratic party on earth can dismiss it out-rightly.

The King wishes the party to agree on , National Issues; peace and security; curbing of corruption; people’s oriented system of governance; national unity; people-represented elections and finally an all party consensus government.

Questions can’t be raised on King’s agenda. Neither the communists nor the congress can reject these demands pushed by the king for fear of being dubbed as undemocratic.

The King appears to have assured Sher Bahadur Deuba and P.Rana that he was all there to help-support the political parties and was ready to cooperate them all provided they forged unity on his seven point demands.

The King, like it or not, has very cleverly pushed his concerns before the political parties. How the parties react to the King’s agenda will determine the future course of national politics. More so, how Koirala takes these points will have to be watched.

A section of the intellectuals see the King’s fresh moves as to have been guided by the desire to weaken the ongoing movement against regression.

What is noteworthy is that the King has initiated meetings with the leaders after he met some time back with Sir Jeffery James and Christina Rocca.

To recall, Rocca had told a select group of journalists (December 18, 2003) that this time she could notice a sort of "realization" of the grave situation in the country by the leaders of the political parties. She had met the King as well.

Is it that Rocca then had hinted that the King too had realized?

Keep on guessing.

Nepal hopeful of India taking up Bhutanese stance

Kathmandu: India is in the news since August 17, 2001.

To recall, it is this particular date when Nepal’s prominent leaders went on a "working" trip to Siliguri, India to see comrade Prachanda.

India again was in the news when Nepal’s strongman, Girija Prasad Koirala, made a forcelanding in New Delhi straight from Hong Kong upon completion of his much-publicized China trip some two years ago.

India again was in the news when only last month, the UML leader made a secret trip to Lucknow, India, in his bid to make a rapprochement with comrade Prachanda so that peace could be restored in Nepal.

Later came Indian Ambassador’s fervent appeal in the name of the Nepali leaders not to use Indian soil for such meetings.

A few days later, Ambassador Saran bluntly told a select group of Nepali media men that if India is provided with the information of the whereabouts of Maoists rebels residing in his territory, his security officials would nab even Prachandji and Baburamji.

Still later, India’s foreign minister, His Excellency Yaswant Sinha, admitted that Madhav Nepal’s secret trip to Lucknow had "embarrassed" his country. In the process, minister Sinha reiterated that the Nepali rebels could be a security threat to his own country. All these made India to appear in the news.

This was not enough indeed. India got prominence when Rocca, the visiting US authority divulged to Nepali media men that she had exclusive meetings with the Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu. It was anybody’s guess as to why she should have met the Indian envoy in her Nepal trip. This brought India in the media headlines.

Ishwar Pokhrel, a leader of the UML who is supposedly close to Madhav Nepal brought India again in the news. The reason: Mr. Pokhrel was detained by the security men at Indira Gandhi International Airport for some unexplained reasons.

A furious Pokhrel later managed to give his detention a "national" issue which it was not. Pokhrel wished to exploit politically from a "non-issue-made-issue" to the extent that he managed to seduce his agitating friends to burn the effigy of Prime Minister Bajpayee which definitely was a political blunder judging by any angle.

This was a Himalayan blunder committed by the UML in general and Pokhrel in particular. A bad precedent indeed. How India would take up this issue will have to be watched. After all, Pokhrel’s political size is not that high and unchallenged as that of modest and internationally respected Indian Prime Minister Bajpayee. Question arises as to what prompted Pokhrel to blow the matter out of proportion? Is he all set to bring about a rift in UML-India friendly relations?

Should India wish, she could create problems for the UML leaders impending trips to India.

The UML leader perhaps forgot that what would happen to their fiery speeches being currently made against India if the Indian authorities disclose the names of the sons and the daughters of the party-leaders who are enjoying free-scholarships in Indian universities. Thanks that the embassy in Kathmandu digested the "insult" so easily.

All these sad events brought India in the news.

India was again in the news, obviously by default, because of Bajpayee’s open-hearted praise in Islamabad of Bhutan for the latter’s tangible support in driving out the Indian rebels from its territory. To quote Bajpayee, "In this context, I would like to draw attention to the courageous action taken by His Majesty the King of Bhutan and his government against insurgent groups, which were trying to use Bhutanese territory to launch terrorist activities in India. It is an outstanding example of sensitivity to the security concerns of a neighbor, which is at the same time in the direct long-term security interest of Bhutan itself".

Intelligent observers in Kathmandu say that the Indian Prime Minister in saying so "prompted" Nepal to seek the same treatment from India.

Now that India is all praise for Bhutan, it is not surprising therefore that Punarjagran, an independent Nepali weekly too demands the same treatment from India vis-à-vis the Nepali rebels supposedly residing in India.

Should all these mean that India, knowingly or unknowingly, admitting that she should now act as per the wishes of Nepal?

The climax of it all came when Pokhrel at time of Delhi detention was "politically" interrogated by the Indian security men.

"Why you guys don’t give a nod to the idea of a constituent assembly"? is what Pokhrel was told by the interrogating officers at Delhi airport.

Pleasingly enough, the Indian security officers remain abreast with Nepali politics and know which political party in Nepal possess what demands.

By default or by design, the very simple question made to Pokhrel by the interrogators does speak so many things at one stretch.

Finally, one Indian Conflict Management specialist, P.G.Rajamohan writes in the Himalayan Times English daily dated 6 January, 2004, this piece for his own country’s consumption. He says: " there is mounting evidence of substantial movement of the Maoist leadership in India, and their close links with proscribed Indian Left wing groups especially the PWG and MCC.

Koirala meets King; keeps fingers crossed

Kathmandu: Better late than never, congress president Girija Prasad Koirala too has been able to see the King Tuesday morning.

A furious Koirala until yesterday, however, told the press men that his meeting with the King was a normal one and that he was not that excited as is being made by certain quarters.

If one were to believe Koirala then what comes to the fore is that he told the King in no uncertain terms that the King must not go in for a spree of experiments in the country and that the King must act in favor of the arrangement that activates the now de-activated constitutional process.

Koirala also told the King that unless there persisted a sort of crisis of confidence in between the monarch and the political parties and the constitutional processes derailed, the country will remain beset with problems as it is now.

In his fifty minutes tête-à-tête with the monarch, Koirala is supposed to have told the former that the monarch’s seven point agenda could be considered only when the King constitution in action by reviving the now dissolved parliament.

Koirala still believes that the revival of the parliament is the only panacea for the country’s present ailments.

He however, assured the King that there was no harm in giving due thoughts to the King’s seven point agenda.

Not surprising therefore Koirala hints that the movement and the process of meeting with the King will continue side by side.

By time this issue comes to the hands of our readers, the King will have completed the first cycle of his meetings with the nation’s prominent leaders now in agitation.

It still remains to be seen as to how Koirala and his men react to the substance of the meeting with the King. Much will depend on how the political parties conclude from their meetings in series with the monarch.

IT will have to be watched as to how Koirala reacts to Madhav Nepal’s freshly prepared concept of a road-map which talks of a round-table conference and later the formation of a sort of an interim government.

Clearly speaking, while Pashupati Rana of the RPP and Deuba of the congress-democratic have taken King’s assurances in full faith, Koirala and the rest of the leaders housed in the five party coalition against regression are expected to take King’s assurances with reservation. They would wish the King to act in their favor. The King, on the other, would prefer to get the committals from the leaders for his seven point agenda pushed to the political parties for an unconditional agreement.

Be that as it may, Koirala and his coterie will henceforth analyse to understand the King’s mind in its right perspective as, according to Koirala himself, he have had such several meetings and that he has felt that he has been deceived by the King time and again and hence he would move cautiously.

Nevertheless, the King has reasons to be happy simply because Deuba, Rana and Nepal appear to have already formed a positive view vis-à-vis the monarch’s fresh political overtures. If it is so then even if Koirala, Amik Sherchan and comrade Rohit come together, the other half will remain in favor of the monarch.

Should this mean that Madhav Nepal should begin stitching the national dress? Or will Deuba be blessed? What if a consensus is in favor of Rana if Thapa resigns?

But then what is the guarantee that Thapa will resign voluntarily? Is he that smooth as is being taken by the leaders in the agitation?

The fact is that if all the leaders don’t agree to King’s formulae, the agitation is a divided one.

"Power and Masculinity" equated with "men" contends Indian scholar

Kathmandu: In the recent years, conferences and conventions have been emphasizing a lot about women’s empowerment and mainstreaming. Kathmandu based NGO’s and INGO’s usually cover specific women’s programs but they notably lack a broad gender perspective. The fact is that still the women in rural areas are the greatest losers with increasing work burden, reduced access to resources, discrimination, and lack of education and identity crisis.

Defining Empowerment in concrete terms becomes difficult but it is a process of gaining control over the self, over ideology and the available resources, which defines power, says UNFPA report on "Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, 1997".

Kamala Bhasin, an Indian expert on issues dealing with "Women Empowerment" said that, in the recent years more emphasis has been given to women and women related issues but said we have forgotten to provide due attention to issues related to "Men and Masculinity", which is of course the other side of the same coin.

She was expressing her views at a program organized by Society for International Development, Nepal Chapter here in Kathmandu, Monday afternoon.

"Power and Masculinity" has been equated with "men" and, adds Bhasin, time had come to explore the whole concept of masculinity.

In the process of women’s empowerment role for men has to be defined, as power is associated with men and masculinity, said the Indian expert.

Meanwhile Professor Bishwa Keshar Maskey president of the SID, Nepal Chapter, said ‘denying the gender equity is not only a matter of gender discrimination but it is a bad development policy’. Maskey further said in South Asia despite its ancient civilization roots and tradition of learning, orthodox tradition, social taboos imposed on women, plus the geographic and economic inaccessibility to schools and traditional preference for male child, etc have all put together inhibited social and equalities and consequently hit the lives of the entire community. This has not only hit the girl child but has affected the whole society itself, he added.

What impact, intellectuals ask, seminars such as this one would be on the numerous women folks in Nepal still being manhandled, misbehaved and often killed on the pretext of practicing witchcraft in the 21st century?

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