Thursday, February 24, 2005

King G, Active Politics, and Media Interviews


King G really should get off the throne and come into active politics. The guy so loves giving media interviews. Maybe he is right, he is incapable of being a Constitutional Monarch. He is too restive.

Even after his said three year period, he has Panchayat in mind. He intends to "Nepalise" democracy. That is codeword for Panchayat.

Ashok Mehta's article throws a lot of light on the RNA.
  • Nepal king criticises military aid freeze after power grabChannel News Asia, Singapore King Gyanendra, in his first meeting with journalists since his power grab on February 1, said the aid-freeze was sending out the wrong signal about the country's battle against "terrorism".
  • Is EU preparing to do business with Nepal Maoists?: New Kerala ..... a coordinated international response to the suspension of democracy and civil rights in this Himalayan kingdom is taking shape. ..... soon Kathmandu and other towns will face severe food and fuel shortages that could erupt in street riots. ..... now finds himself caught in a pincer move by two unrelated forces opposed to his "royal coup". ..... India, Britain and the US, which have been shoring up Nepal's security, are loath to rescue King Gyanendra from the political mess in which he finds himself. ..... the Maoists, making full use of the king's isolation, are trying to make the best use of the situation to their advantage. ..... European diplomats posted in Nepal have been increasingly interacting with the Maoists ..... "The European Union has generally been well received by the Maoists ..... if push comes to shove, the European Union and its member states will not hesitate to do business with the Maoists - better the far-left insurgents than a king who believes in absolute monarchy, seems to be the message. ..... The Royal Nepal Army lacks the capacity to maintain military rule and wage a successful campaign against the Maoists. It could never be the alternative state that the military has become in Pakistan. ..... Political parties still have considerable support. ..... about a third of Nepalese maintain an affiliation with a party. ..... Peace is unlikely without a broad national consensus on the problems of poverty, ethnic and caste exclusion and corruption ..... the king has little political experience and few solid international connections ..... a rather bleak scenario for King Gyanendra and the "military leadership", who according to the ICG report, "pressed the king into taking this step". ..... Gyanendra lacks the wherewithal, material and political, to take on the Maoists and defeat them ..... India is believed to have conveyed to the emergency regime in Kathmandu that it is willing to initiate back channel discussions with the Maoists for a peaceful settlement ..... Nepal's Maoists are irrevocably opposed to what they describe as "Indian expansionism" and have been actively promoting an alliance with far-left Maoists in several Indian states who pose a serious internal security threat to India ..... Prachanda .. has on more than one occasion promised to turn on India after seizing Nepal. ..... Pushed to the wall, especially by India, King Gyanendra may just decide to go for broke. Claiming that India has violated the letter and spirit of the 1950 and 1965 treaties that impose restrictions on Nepal seeking arms from another country, he may turn to China and Pakistan who have refused to comment on the "palace coup"...... The "royal coup" and its political fallout provide an excellent opportunity for Beijing and Islamabad to shore up their relations with Kathmandu. .....
  • Nepal's Dalits: Fodder for the Maoist machineTimes of India, India He is a dalit in Nepal and nobody sells milk to dalits here. ..... Even in Kathmandu, a city full of hip dance bars, Versace showrooms and mind-numbing stream of foreign cars, no one will let out houses to dalits. ..... Maoists came in, turning a community into a fearsome death force ..... Maoists got a ready-made army. "Any one could sense that dalits were a force, imploding with centuries of hurt, waiting to be tapped. ..... Dalits in Nepal constitute 20% of its population, but own just 2% of its land. ..... the per capita income in Nepal is $210, for a dalit it is just $39 .... The upper castes still believe dalits are beneath involvement in cash transactions. ..... "You hand a gun to our people and they suddenly feel a surge of empowerment. The gun is a powerful metaphor of power," says a dalit student. ..... Though figures of dalit and tribals in the roughly 7,000 Maoist fighters and one lakh active supporters is not known, most analysts say it could be anything between 30-40% — a lot of representation for a community who have no officers, judges or bureaucrats and are still not allowed into Hindu temples or into restaurants.
  • Nepali Congress demands new democratic constitution: New Kerala ..... the Nepali Congress (Democratic) today demanded drafting a new democratic constitution, incorporating the main political demand of the maoists after intensive negotiations with the rebel leaders ..... Arjun Thapa said that the drafting of the constitution should be carried out through an elected constitutional assembly.....
  • Army and the King Delhi Pioneer Krishna Prasad Bhattarai who later threw a glass of hot water into the lieutenant's face ..... aircraft dropped leaflets over different district headquarters, explaining that the King's action was to save the nation..... Nehru was livid. He called the King's coup a "complete reversal of the democratic process"..... the RNA killed more than 300 Nepalese during this second revolution ..... With such an anti-people record, it was paradoxical that King Birendra would not allow RNA to be employed against the Maoists till its post at Dang had been attacked in 2001 as the RNA could not be "used against its own people"...... With the promulgation of Emergency the RNA was immediately empowered to act against its own people...... The modern RNA was trained and reorganised by the Indian Military Mission in Kathmandu from 1952 to 1970 when it was squeezed out. The Palace ensured the RNA became the King's Army in letter and spirit...... Surendra Bahadur Shah, who translated it into Nepali, inserted the word "Naresh" (King) alongside Desh (country). This meant the King's safety, honour and welfare, the primary task for the RNA, was at par with the nation..... the RNSA could not protect the King during the palace massacre of June 1, 2001. Inside the 1 km x 1 km Narayanhity Palace are crammed the elite Royal Palace Guard brigade, air defence and artillery batteries, military police and armoured personnel carriers. It is the most fortified complex in all of Nepal...... The RNA is ferociously loyal and faithful to its supreme commander and has virtually refused to take orders from the elected political authority which it holds in utter contempt. ..... The class and caste composition of the senior echelons in the RNA shows Rana, Shah, Thapa, the erstwhile feudal combine's continued monopoly of Higher Command and Staff appointments. This clique swears by the "Sarkar" and worships the Royal family...... Barring its experience in anti-democracy movements and a brief brush with Khampa rebels in 1976-77, the RNA has no combat experience ..... an impeccable UNPKO record. It has not missed any UNPKO since 1978..... But for the lure of UNPKO which accounts for the Rs 9 billion Army Welfare Fund, not many would join the RNA. In fact, UNPKO is what is keeping the RNA together...... Nearly 40,000 soldiers are in Kathmandu valley alone...... the RNA which took a hammering from the Maoists till end 2002 when it emerged shaken out of the "Duffers-Drift" syndrome ..... By the year 2010, RNA is expected to become a modern 100,000 Army...... shown little evidence of its ability to force the Maoists back to the negotiating table, leave alone bringing them down to their knees, a feat many RNA Generals have frequently boasted about..... from where will Gen Pyar Jung Thapa find soldiers to fight the Maoists who control 80 per cent of sovereign territory..... where will the will to fight come from..... Talks are on between some of these groups and the Maoists to form a front...... The Nepal Maoists are not a major threat to India; they are only an irritant. That the Maoists of India and Nepal will together forge a red corridor from Amlekhgunj to Adilabad is an exaggerated fear. The two movements are different in composition and character. ..... One of the key demands of the Maoists has been weaning away the RNA from the palace and putting it under civilian control. Only when that happens will RNA become a normal people's army putting national interest before the Naresh's.
  • Indian companies wilt under new regime in NepalEconomic Times, India ..... the likes of ITC, Dabur, Coke, and Berger Paints ..... Surya Nepal Tobacco is one of the largest companies in Nepal with a turnover of over Rs 500 crore...... a policy of wait and watch for big companies. Most companies are keeping their fingers crossed that the situation will improve soon.
  • UN envoy offers mediation in Nepal again:New Kerala, India ... Kul Chandra Gautam, the UN assistant secretary general, has told BBC Radio's Nepalese Service that the UN, with its experience in mediating in international disputes, could help establish an accord between the two sides based on international laws and democratic values...... no evidence to suppose that if a third round of dialogue could be started between the new government and the rebels, it would be successful..... both sides were displaying extreme positions..... The king is seen as wanting to strengthen monarchy while expressing commitment towards multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy. The Maoists, on the other hand, are killing people and resorting to violence while saying they are not against the democratic system.
  • Nepal's 'Ranvir Sena' takes on Maoists:New Kerala, India .... Pandey was training about 500 young men in armed combat and boasted that his outfit possessed AK-47s, shotguns and explosives..... Pandey's group, reports from Kapilavastu say, has been setting fire to houses belonging to hills people, raising fears of ethnic tension between hills people and the plains people, pejoratively called Madhesias..... The private army has raised Maoist hackles. Krishna Bahadur Mahara, former MP and spokesman of the Maoists, issued a statement from underground Wednesday, condemning the band..... Pandey and his band apparently shot back this month, killing 21 Maoists in different areas in Kapilavastu.
  • Rebels face rebellion Calcutta Telegraph .. the Royal Nepal Army, which is yet to penetrate the rural belt in its mission against the Maoist rebels..... the grim story of the rise of a private army which is trying to whip up local anger against the Maoist rebels..... “The ferocity of Maoist attacks, especially targeting the Madese people, provoked anger and I had to use this to defend the people here,” he said. ..... Last night, villagers in Sheopur burnt at least 350 houses of hill settlers suspecting them of harbouring Maoists.
  • Terrorism vs peace, no third force left: His Majesty Nepalnews.com Talking to a group of Nepali journalists at Fohara Garden of the Narayanhiti palace ..... If their agenda is one party communist type of rule, it is unacceptable ..... democracy must flourish, but we must pursue a democratic dispensation that is suited to the genius of the people of Nepal and the soil of Nepal. “We all value democratic norms, democratic values. What do we understand by this. We understand features like open society, transparency, mass participation, mass communicating of ideas. But we have to Nepalise them. We need to make it suit for this country and for the people of Nepal,” His Majesty said. ..... “We felt that the nation was also in a process of fragmentation, not the physical fragmentation. But the harmony among ethnic communities .....

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