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In-depth analysis:
Opposition musters strength
Kathmandu: Negative reactions to the new inductions in the Cabinet were perhaps expected.
Orchestrated, as it would have been by those opposing the King, disappointments among the many aspirants have filled the organized opposition further. One message, however, seems to have been impacted. The new appointees, however controversial, are total loyalists that were calculatedly sidelined and, even persecuted, by the political parties for their unhidden loyalty.
While the new appointments have not been well received, for the opposition particularly it is a clear message that there shall be no sign of weakness on part of His Majesty who continues to demand the cooperation of systemic forces for the essential system-building. Public disappointments at the choices apart, perhaps this message was overly due.
It is thus predictable that the opposition will orchestrate the unpopularity of the reshuffle further, and try to cash in upon the growing public disenchantment at the seemingly limited choices of personalities. The massive public support for the King's move must be eroded in order for the opposition to gain momentum. In that sense the new induction have become an opportunity.
These apart, the public mood remains pregnant with anticipation still. The nature and the composition of the new cabinet suggest that this is a temporary phenomenon and by two months end, measures currently underway will be reflected in further change in anticipation of the coming elections.
This is perhaps in the meantime, likely to be reflected in the appointments of the remaining district development committee chairman's positions where government whose hands have been already burnt by the appointments of the previous twenty-five should necessarily exercise more care. The fear is that particular Palace lobbies are having a say with designs of their own irrespective of the King's wishes. The fall-out this time should not be as embarrassing as on the previous occasion.
The fact is that government must reach out. It must deliver. The grass roots have yet to be touched. Organizational alternatives must be created. The time factor becomes increasingly pressing.
It is these sentiments that keep on cropping up regarding to the day-to-day functioning of the government. Wise to these sentiments, the mechanism of the political organizations, the orchestration in the opposition is hitting the target. By time the festival season begins, the opposition will muster their strength to hit the streets after the festivities. A faltering professional agitation of the media and lawyers will be added to from the civil service and academic cadre. How the government will match this remains to be seen.
Koirala doesn't believe; he is forced to believe
Kathmandu: Congress President Shri Girija Prasad Koirala is in a sheer dilemma.
The political mess created by this dilemma in his brain is such that he can neither believe nor reject out rightly the things and the events, which he saw for himself.
If he believes would mean that he has become weaker and if he does the otherwise would mean his position shaking in a neighboring country where his mentors are in considerable numbers and more often than not he visits them in order to strengthen his grip in the country's politics.
The question is bit problematic.
The visiting Indian minister Rao Indrajeet Singh appears to have told him in private not to suspect the very democratic credentials of his King. The Indian minister as a matter of Indian practice and thus which has become a tradition to pay pilgrimage to each and every Nepali leader whom the Indian establishment considers to be "useful" in serving the establishment's national interests while in power, did meet Koirala and the likes and apparently told them all that he was convinced of King Gyanendra's commitments for the democratic system and assured them all that there was nothing to panic.
Analysts could see minister Rao's face dim as he came out of Koirala's house. Concurrently, Koirala's posture too appeared frustrated because he listened to what he did not wanted to listen.
Gulping the bitter pill administered to him by his IThe fact is that Koirala and his colleagues in the alliances believe alien leaders more than their own brethren or for that matter the King of their own country. This is the fact as to why Nepali leaders act more on lines of alien friends than to forge a sort of unbreakable relationship with their own King and steer the country for long time to come. It is this visible fissure in between the King and the party leaders that has been at best time and again exploited by neighboring country. ndian friend, Korala had to say that "he would wait until the King exhibited his commitments to democratic system as concluded by Rao Indrajeet Singh".
Let us admit this fact, say analysts.
The fact is that the Indian minister was here not to solve the seven party alliances' grievances but to secure Nepal's vote for the United Nations Security Council prestigious seat.
For the Indian establishment nothing was more important than convincing Nepal to cast the vote in India's favor during the UN meeting scheduled this September. However, the Nepali leaders concluded that the Indian minister was here for addressing their problems and also expected that the visiting junior minister would press the King to yield to the demands of the seven party alliance to whose movement India is on record to have extended assistance explicitly.
Nevertheless, India chose this time to appease the King rather than the leaders in opposition to the King. What transpired in between the King and the Indian minister is very difficult to fathom, however, what is for sure is that the minister must have indicated the King that "every thing will be alright Your Majesty" if your country supported us at time of our need.
Hopefully, the King would have told the Indian minister that "it will be up to the government to decide whether to support India at this juncture or other countries in the race for a seat at the Security Council".
News leaking from high placed sources say that THE Indian minister assured the government and the King that Indian support would continue as usual provided Nepal extended her valuable vote to India.
Expectedly, a political bargain should be on in between Nepal and India.
For Nepal, as a nation-state, it was time to grill India on this count, say mature analysts.
What the government led by the King himself will decide is altogether a different matter. However, what is for sure is that if the bargain comes to a happy conclusion, Nepal's vote as usual will go in favor of India for a variety of reasons albeit political ones.
That the Indian minister returned empty handed became evident from his own face when he was all set to leave Kathmandu for Delhi. Had it been otherwise he would have a beaming face and would have inevitably eulogized about the multi-faceted age-old traditional friendship in between the two countries. That was missing indeed which meant that not every thing went well with the Indian minister in Nepal.
The Nepali government appears to have said a straight no to Indian demands provided India too showed flexibility in her conduct of relations with Nepal.
As a matter of fact, the Indian minister met all the agitating important movement leaders and assured them all that his country's support would continue as usual. This he did presumably to frighten the King and his government that look if you don't heed to our demands we would show our strength, as we do at times, through the use of your own Nepali political parties.
A beaming Madhav Nepal while talking to one TV told that the Indian minister assured him of Indian support to the movement carried on by the seven party alliances.
In a way, the minister appears to have showed carrots to the Nepali establishment and on the other it also concurrently hinted that they had stick as well which could be used against the Nepali establishment at any time through the tacit use of the agitating parties should Nepal annoy and deny vote to India.
Political analysts conclude that Nepal will finally cast her vote in favor of India but on what conditions will have to be watched carefully.
Leadership crisis in UML?
Bam Dev sees Koirala capable than his party boss
Kathmandu: The UML leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal is a sinking horse.
That he is already sinking or let's say is floating in the troubled UML waters becomes evident from his irrelevant speeches he is making these days.
Fiery speeches he chooses, say insiders who differ with him and challenge his leadership capabilities, simply to exhibit that he was not yet a spent force and that he still commanded respect and honor that is due to him in the party.
In doing so he wishes to hint his nearest detractors in the party that he can steer the party or has the prowess to handle the affairs of the party for yet another term.
This is his wishful thinking indeed. The fact is that his grip in the party is already slipping from his grips if not already emasculated.
Scores of UML powerful leaders with the equal capabilities and fame have begun criticizing Madhav Nepal leadership stature in open forums.
The fact is that Madhav Nepal's prestige and popularity came to the lowest ebb ever at time when he nominated Ishwar Pokhrel and Bharat Mohan Adhikari into the last Sher Bahadur Deuba's cabinet.
To recall, Madhav Nepal's intimate nominees in the Deuba cabinet are talked to have amassed wealth to the tune of unimaginable extent through the price hike affected in various consumer items including in the petro-products.
These allegations, more than surprising it may though appear, emanated not from the public quarters but from the rank and file of the party itself.
These allegations did have had its impact on the overall prestige and popularity of the leader, Madhav Nepal, who neither could defend his nominees when out of power nor could subside the wrath coming as it did from his own party cadres.
Bam Dev Gautam, a known detractor of Madhav Nepal, the other day hinted that his party boss was just a showpiece and that his leadership competence had become defunct that needed a sort of "replacement".
The climax of it all were bam Dev Gautam's blunt revelation that he found Girija Prasad Koirala more competent and capable than his own party boss. A double attack on Madhav Nepal by implication.
This perhaps explains what popularity Madhav Nepal enjoyed in the party in the current scheme of things. This also explains that Bam Dev Gautam by saying so has indicated to his party men to go in search for a competent leadership, which could match that of Koirala!
Mr. Gautam who is known for his dynamism and outspoken nature has tried to send signals to his rival, Madhav Nepal, to pack his baggage and allow a more suitable leadership to emerge.
Is Bam Dev hinting that he could fill the vacuum? Is it that Madhav Nepal is experiencing a sort of threat from Mr. Gautam? Question also arises as to whether Bam Dev's utterances were of his own or a common voice of other powerful leaders' of the UML? Should this mean that Madhav's days are gone in the party? Is there any one to come to the rescue of Mr. Nepal who would if left unattended be drowned in the UML waters that appears to be in a troubled state?
By the same token it could be fairly asked as to which force on earth prompted Bam Dev to go in for a straight and that too humiliating taunt to be made at an open forum against his own party boss? Party discipline would demand that Mr. Gautam be punished for having insulted his own party boss. But will the party dare to do so? If not then does it not testify that Madhav's grip in the party has begun experiencing a new low?
Let's wait and see how Madhav Nepal and his followers take Mr. Gautam's unceremonious rough and tough utterances made against the party boss.
Agitating alliance asking absurd from rebels
Kathmandu: The seven party alliances against the King's supposedly active participation in the country's political affairs appear to be well divided on matters pertaining to their supposed talks with the Maoists.
While NC president Girija Prasad Koirala tentatively is very much enthusiastic about his idea of bringing in of the Maoists into his scheme of things solely with a view to press the King hard in order to yield to his coalition's demand, his equally competent partners in the said alliances appear rather reluctant to buy Koirala's thoughts.
It is this reluctance on the part of Koirala's friends in the alliance that has apparently blocked the formation of a talk-team from the side of the alliance which would have been entrusted to initiate formal talks with the Maoists.
The differences are sharp in and among the coalition partners, speaking frankly.
Nevertheless, the partners in coalition appear also encouraged to talk with the Maoists but yet feel threatened on how to treat the other camp which is having guns in their possession.
The other factor that is also blocking their ways in initiating meaningful and fruitful talks with the insurgents is the fear as to how the international community, save Delhi and London, will look at them if and when the seven party alliances make a rapprochement with the personalities that have still a tag attached with them that of being terrorists. To recall, the red corner notice remains intact.
Last week, Jhal Nath Khanal, a prominent UML leader summarily rejected Koirala's idea by saying that the Maoists could not be trusted until they stopped wanton killings and abductions of their party workers and civilians. This meant that the UML would not budge an inch from what has been declared and expected by the UML in order to have a talkathon with the rebels.
To add insult to injury, yet another party, the NC-D Monday candidly reiterated that talks with the Maoists remained a far distant thing in the given scheme of things. In other words, the NC-D too toed the UML line of not coming to terms with the Maoists until they renounced violence and terror in the country.
Remarkably, the NC-D made this official declaration when the US former parliamentarian Mr. Daschel was in town and had met the leaders of the said party.
This apparently speaks of the US line of thinking undoubtedly.
The fact is that the conditions that has been proposed or set by the seven party coalition for talks with the Maoists is some thing like asking the absurd.
The condition put forth by the seven party conglomerate demands a strictly innocent, purely democratic and polite behavior from the Maoists prior to the talks with them.
The fact is that the Maoists are Maoists only because of the accessories and the lethal weapons what they possess. The guns in their possession is what is providing them with strength and it is this position of power that they feel comfortable to deal with the parties and with the state as well.
Maoists, the sons of the same soil, minus guns and weapons are no more no less than a meek civilian walking in the main thoroughfare of Ratnapark.
The parties in agitation currently are asking for a thing that the Maoists can't provide. The parties are asking what the other side can't easily abandon for fear of being outmaneuvered by the state security forces.
On the contrary, the problem of the alliance is that they can't repose trust on the insurgents unless the other camp abandons violence.
This is the crux of the matter that has so far not allowed the talk-team to be formed by the seven party alliances. On the other hand, the Maoists were so enthusiastic that they tentatively named Dr. Bhattarai and Mahara as their men for the talks with the agitating parties.
The conditions set by parliamentary forces of the country are but very difficult for the Maoists to accept. If they accept, they will lose strength and hence the bargaining power. If they don't they will loose the slowly accumulating sympathies of the political party's whose cadres at the grassroots levels have become the sole targets of the insurgents.
How the Maoists and the parties in question untie this political knot will have to be carefully watched.
Is there a middle solution to the current problem so that both the camps could see each other in an atmosphere of total confidence?
Will the state eventually allow the two camps to unite in a manner that the leaders of the alliances might have in their sober brain? How the politics unfolds in this regard will be quite interesting to study.
But then one thing is for sure: the Maoists willingness to come to the talks with Nepal's recognized democratic forces does indicate that the rebels too were in search for a safe landing and that theirs asking for talks with democratic forces also concurrently means that they believe now in democracy and not the one that they propound.
Editor Rana honored
Kathmandu: The chief editor of the Deshantar Weekly, Mr. Kabir Rana, has been awarded with 2061 Gopal Gotame Memorial prize.
Mr. Rana's selection had been accomplished by a set of jury, which forwarded his name for his significant contribution in the Nepal's media sector.
Mr. Rana is considered to be a senior journalist with tremendous experience in political journalism.
The award with which Mr. Rana has been decorated with is one of the prestigious award instituted in the country which is provided to a media man annually on the basis of his or her contributions to the media sector.
Mr. Rana also is the Vice-Chairman of the CAMP-Conflict Afflicted Media Persons. Which aims at supporting the family members and the dependents of the media men affected directly by the ongoing conflict in the country.
The Telegraph weekly extends its best wishes to Mr. Rana.
ENBREF:
Oslo slashes financial aid
Kathmandu: Nepal’s one of the main donors- Norway, citing a breach in democratic principles and human rights abuses following the King's Feb. 1 st move will reduce financial aid to the country by 10 percent.
His Excellency the ambassador of Norway to the Kingdom of Nepal Mr. Tore Tarang, issuing a press statement last week, said that the February 1 st move has affected multi-party democracy in the country and the human rights situation has also worsened.
Norway will cut financial aid to Nepal by approximately $2.5 million, Tarang said.
Norway has also terminated all agreements concerning the $400 million Melamchi project, effective immediately. Norway's pullout amounts to an additional $35 million.
Earlier citing the same reason the European Commission (EC) also suspended about 2.11 billion Nepali rupees (30 million US dollars) aid to Nepal`s "Education for All 2004-2009" (EFA) program. The EFA grant is meant for scholarships and text books for primary education by the year 2015.
US envoy: Nepal is getting to the point where its very existence is at stake
Kathmandu: The US views that Nepal is getting to the point where its very existence is at stake according to U.S. Ambassador to Nepal James Moriarty
Talking to Kyodo news agency recently the US ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty told that "Our concern is to see the process of reconciliation between the king and the political parties. We have not seen much progress at all". The longer the division between the palace and parties remain, the harder it is going to be to deal with the raging communist insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom, he added.
He said further that the king's public remarks indicate he recognizes the need to bring Nepal back to the path of democracy and “I would hope that the king's desire to get back to multiparty democracy will be reinforced by the realization that time is wasting."
Talking further he said, "Why would the Maoists be willing to give up now? Their party fought insurgency for nine years and now they see their opponents crumbled, dividing themselves, mired in acrimony," he said.
"If I were a Maoist, I'd think I was making good progress...I would try to put differences between the parties and the palace, and get them to do the Maoist business of tearing down the political structure," he added.
RCCC refutes ADB claim
Kathmandu: Refuting to the Asian Development Bank’s claim that no wrong doings had taken place in the Melamchi Drinking Water Project, the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) on Sunday rejected the idea.
The ADB which is also the main financer of the project earlier had ruled out any wrongdoings in the selection of contractors for the construction of access road. While talking to media after the trial at the RCCC premises, the main accused former Prime Minister S.B. Deuba and former State Minister P.M.Singh strongly condemned the RCCC’s ruling.
Civil servants stage protest
Kathmandu: Denouncing over the last week’s government decision of banning unions thousands of Nepalese civil servants took to the streets on friday in Kathmandu.
Representatives of 32 professional unions, including the Nepal Government Employees Organisation, joined the rally on Friday.
Korean donation to a Nepali village
On the day of 2005 July 1, the president / CEO of the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion ( KADO) Mr Son Youn Gi (Ph.D.), Korea Labor Welfare Association and the President of International Internet Volunteers of Korea Professor Choi Seong jointly provided 30 computers ( except monitors) and 3 monitors as a donation to the Global Literacy Project of Piple Village of Chitwan, Nepal.
The donations were duly received by the Director of the Global Literacy Project, Piple Nava Raj Panta in Seoul, Korea.
Panta is a doctoral degree candidate at Kyong Hee University and is currently studying in Korea.
The computers are of Pentium 3 model.
At present the Korean donations are well kept under the supervision of International Nurigeul Education Institute, Seoul, and is all set to be sent to Nepal.
"We are aiming to send these computers through Korean volunteers at Piple as soon as possible. Said Dr. Panta.
According to Dr. Panta, the grass root society of Piple village is 170 KM far from Kathmandu where the population of 15,000 reside including 65% of minority ethnic tribes as like Chepang, Tamang, Rai, Danuhar and Dalits.
The president of International Internet Volunteer Association of Korea Prof. Choi Seong Visited recently the Global Literacy Project of Piple village and donated 4 computers on 2004 Feb 16. The project received 10 computers during 2004. The Project is aiming to provide Basic Computer Training to the grass root society of Piple and teaching the Nurigeul ( ancient Korean alphabets) to Romanise Chepang Language in Korean or Nurigeul.
Some 100 Piple peoples received a 3 months basic computer training course and some 200 people learnt the Nurigeul too. The Project is run under the local governance system which is slowly changing Piple village into a Silicon valley.
News provider: Nava Raj Panta
Ph. D. Fellow, Graduate School of Tourism, Kyung Hee University, Seoul , Korea
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