The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has asked the government to ensure that legislation on Disappearances (Crime and Punishment) and Truth and Reconciliation are adopted through regular democratic process and not by executive ordinance. In a statement on Friday, ICJ said adoption of such legislation should follow broad based national consultation and should fulfill Nepal's human rights obligations.
"The ICJ is deeply concerned that the government is seeking to undermine the Constituent Assembly and bypass public debate by enacting executive decrees on matters of fundamental national importance," the statement reads. "If the government is serious about respecting the rule of law, these bills must be decided by the elected representatives of the people," said Roger Normand, ICJ's Asia-Pacific Director. The ICJ called for a special parliamentary session to discuss these bills and avoid their adoption by ordinance. Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and other parties have already opposed the government decision to promulgate ordinances soon after ending the parliamentary session.
Courtesy of: Nepalnews: January 30, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Nepalese Maoists warn Army leader
| By Charles Haviland |
 [Nepalese soldiers fought a decade-long civil war] |
The Maoist-led government of Nepal has stepped up the rhetoric in an ongoing war of words between itself and the country's army.
The army and the Maoists fought against each other for 10 years until 2006.Now the Maoist defence minister has issued a fresh warning to the army chief to stop an ongoing process of recruiting people to the military.The confrontation is the most serious between the two institutions since the Maoists won elections last year.
Retirements
After that historic win in April, much of the Nepalese state has been turned upside down. No relationship is more uneasy than that between Ram Bahadur Thapa - defence minister and former commissar of the Maoist rebel army - and Gen Rukmangad Katuwal, the army chief, who was actually brought up inside the palace of the now deposed royals.
 [Suspicion still exists between the two sides] |
They meet regularly, but in recent weeks a row has arisen over the general's insistence that the military has the right to recruit new people to fill vacancies created by retirements. The Maoists say this breaches one of the peace accords, which forbids either of the formerly warring sides to recruit "additional armed forces" without mutual agreement.
Maoist Defence Minister Thapa has now told a parliamentary committee that there will be "serious consequences" if the army recruitment is not suspended. He said that the military "must obey" his instructions and if it did not, the situation would be tantamount to army rule.
The row is a symptom of the biggest unresolved issue of the peace process: whether and how to integrate the Maoists' own army with the national one. Many of the 19,000 former rebel fighters, currently demobilised in camps, want to join the army. But Gen Katuwal says he will not accept "politically indoctrinated soldiers" into its ranks. The Maoist army, called the People's Liberation Army or PLA, wants some sort of union that allows its top commanders to keep high ranks, and keep a discreet PLA unit. A separate hard line faction in the party wants to avoid integration altogether, keeping the PLA entirely intact.
Coutesy of: British Broadcasting Corporation: January 28, 2009.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Maoist Impunity: Rampant: Brutal murder of Journalist forces Nepal PM to cancel foreign trip
Kathmandu, Jan 15 (IANS)
Under growing fire from journalists’ organisations in Nepal and the international community for the brutal murder of a woman reporter in the turbulent southern plains, Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda Thursday called off his controversial foreign junket scheduled this week.A group of journalists who met Prachanda Thursday to submit a memorandum seeking justice for 24-year-old Uma Singh who was hacked to death in Janakpur town Sunday, was told the PM had cancelled his European tour in order to stay at home and address the crisis.
Under growing fire from journalists’ organisations in Nepal and the international community for the brutal murder of a woman reporter in the turbulent southern plains, Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda Thursday called off his controversial foreign junket scheduled this week.A group of journalists who met Prachanda Thursday to submit a memorandum seeking justice for 24-year-old Uma Singh who was hacked to death in Janakpur town Sunday, was told the PM had cancelled his European tour in order to stay at home and address the crisis.
Prachanda told the visiting team from the Federation of Nepalese Journalists that he was shocked by Singh’s murder. He said that last month when a media house was attacked by Maoist trade unionists, he had pledged that the attackers would be punished, no matter who they were.
Prachanda told the team that he himself would take initiative once more to ensure that Singh’s killers were caught.
On Saturday, Prachanda was scheduled to lead a 13-member delegation to Norway and Finland, purportedly to see how the two European countries were harnessing wind energy. The knowhow was to have been applied in Nepal to alleviate the reigning dire power crisis.
The proposed junket as well as Prachanda’s penchant for attending fairs while Nepal has been reeling has been under fire. Besides being his sixth proposed foreign visit in five months, Prachanda was criticised for including wife Sita Poudel in the trip to Norway and Finland while the power minister as well as ambassador concerned were dropped.
The stung Nepali ambassador reportedly sent a stiff note to the PM, pointing out that he was slighting his envoys by excluding them from official trips.
Media reports are suggesting that Singh’s murder was linked to the abduction and disappearance of her father and brother three years ago and the confiscation of their land by the Maoists. They raise the possibility of the Maoists having a hand in the incident. If this is proved, it will trigger widespread outrage.
The UN, European Union and US have already condemned the killing and urged the government to punish the slayers.
The Prachanda government is also facing public anger for the power crisis which led the state to declare a 16-hour blackout daily since last Sunday.
Though the Maoist government blames the previous governments for the mess, there are growing protests.
On Thursday, protesters shut down the heart of the capital, throwing traffic off gear.
The disruption caused the first meeting of the new central committee of the Maoists party to be put off Thursday. The meeting had been called to discuss new strategy after the Maoists this week merged with a fringe communist party.
Courtesy of: Compilation of blog based sources and the Thai Indian.
You can't be punished for the same crime twice
| | ||
| by TILAK POKHAREL NA argues that since it has already punished the accused – Khatri, Captain Amit Pun and Captain Sunil Adhikari, who were proven guilty by military court in 2005, the case is closed. The NA didn’t find Basnet guilty. “The army has already court-marshaled and punished them and we have also informed the police about this and Basnet is not guilty,” Brigadier General BA Kumar Sharma, chief of NA’s law department, told myrepublica.com. “They can’t be punished twice for the same crime.” The Military Court, in its ruling, had said Maina was subjected to torture in the presence of seven NA officers and men, including two captains who ordered Maina Sunar’s head submerged in a large pot of water for one minute at a time six or seven times as instructed by Col. Khatri. The NA personnel then administered electric shocks to Maina’s wet hands and feet four or five times; the torture continued for one and a half hours. After that she was detained in a building on the premises of the training center, where she was left blindfolded and handcuffed. She later began vomiting and foaming at the mouth and then died, without having received any medical treatment. However, international rights bodies don’t count the ruling handed down by military court as any punishment. “The officers received sentences of six months in jail and temporary suspension of promotion (for two years), but they are unlikely to serve any actual time in prison, as they were found to have served their sentences in being confined to barracks,” US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in September 2005. In the view of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal), “justice has not been done”, a view shared by other human rights organizations. Besides being confined to the barracks, Khatri and Adhikari were also asked to pay Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively as compensation to the victim’s family. Four years after the crime, Khatri, who continues to serve at the NA Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), has been promoted to “full colonel” and Captain Basnet to “major”. Two others -- Pun and Adhikari -- against whom arrest warrants have been issued – have already resigned from the army and are reportedly living abroad. NA’s argument that “the guilty have already been punished” is baseless as the law already took its course once the District Court, Kavre issued arrest warrants against them, said police officers. And, it is government (public) prosecutors, not an NGO or individuals, who have pressed charges against the accused. Following a Supreme Court order, the Office of the Attorney General on October 31, 2007 asked the police to arrest the accused within three months. A police investigation found the accused guilty of Maina’s murder. NA continues to disregard the court rulings and the police request for facilitating the arrests. It has continued to turn down requests from the police for a copy of the Military Court verdict. “The NA hasn’t cooperated with the police investigation,” a police officer, who prefers to remain anonymous, told myrepublica.com. However, NA spokesperson Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri said the army has been extending all necessary cooperation “to the civilian court” as sought. According to police, Maina’s mother, Devi Sunar, filed an FIR at Kavre District Court on December 6, 2005. Kavre District Court is going to carry out hearings in the case on February 2. “As police have failed to nab the accused, the onus is now on the court,” said the police officer. In the case of the two other accused (Amit Pun and Sunil Adhikari), who have already left the army and gone abroad, police wrote to the Foreign Ministry to have their passports canceled. If convicted, the accused can face life imprisonment with confiscation of all their property, according to lawyer Ambar Raut, who is with the Advocacy Forum, a human rights NGO. However, in absence of the accused, the only thing the court can do now is freeze all their property. Chronology of Maina murder case:
|
Monday, January 26, 2009
Nepal: Prachanda in troubled waters
A veteran Maoist commander finds running a democracy difficult
by Nava Thakuria
Nepal’s collision with Maoist-led secular democracy after 150-odd years of royal religious rule is now nearing half a year in age with distinctly mixed success, lots of violence and many problems stemming from a party that seems ill-equipped to lead an electorate by consensus.
After more than a decade of guerilla war, in which an estimated 15,000 people died, elections were held last April, with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known by the nom de guerre Prachanda, taking power with a mandate to write a new constitution after sending the king packing. But the logical end to the peace process with the former armed communists is still uncertain. At least one journalist has been murdered and many others have been met with violence.
"Prachanda is really confused about how to perform his role as an administrator in a democratic setup,” a Kathmandu-based political analyst told Asia Sentinel. “He is caught between being the Maoist chairman and the prime minister. He seems to be more interested in a single-party communist dictatorship in Kathmandu than a multiparty democracy. As the head of the government, Prachanda has failed to ensure security for common Nepalis as news related to extra-judicial killings, extortion and abduction pour into the media."
Prachandra is having a hard time engaging with the democratic and social institutions he joined after the overthrow, political observers in Kathmandu say. He has found himself in a long string of unnecessary controversies because of inexperience and intolerance after being sworn in last August. Far too often, the Maoists appear to want to solve problems the same way they came to power – through violence.
The latest controversy erupted over the Pashupatinath Temple, the holiest Hindu shrine in Nepal when, in an abrupt move, the government tried to turf out the working Pujaris, or priests, who are traditionally from India, and to replace them with Nepali Brahmins. A group of Maoists and the members of the Young Communist League, its youth organization, stormed into the temple and vandalized the southern gate, threatening the Indian Pujaris to leave the place.
Although the Supreme Court of Nepal, defying the Communists, directed the temple authorities not to let the newly-appointed Nepali priests perform the rituals and issued an order that the three Indian priests could carry on with the rituals till its final verdict, the Maoists simply ignored the court directions. But, outraged by the assault, the temple management committee under the Pashupati Area Development Trust has now demanded that the President of Nepal be made patron of the body instead of the prime minister, as the king was when the monarchy was in power.
The temple, a UNESCO heritage site, attracts nearly 1 million pilgrims annually, primarily from Nepal and India. The resultant uproar, a huge public outcry, was too hot to handle for Prachanda, who later backed down and reinstated the Indian Brahmins.
Beyond that, the first months have been characterized by the Maoistled government’s failure to draft a constitution for the poverty-stricken country of 27 million people and arrange for a general election within three years. Prachanda finds himself in continuing controversy. He has earned the distrust of the bureaucracy and the Army, saying they were not supportive of him. He has also criticized opposition parties, charging them with for putting hurdles in his way.
Nepali media reported Prachanda as saying, "It is impossible to go for the task (drafting of a new constitution for the federal democratic republic of Nepal) without the support and consensus from the major political parties. If they (the Nepali Congress party) do not support the government, I will resign and go to the people."
Nepali Congress chief Girija Prasad Koirala promptly responded by saying that the Maoist-led government “are not serious about the drafting of the constitution. What they want is only to continue in power and pursue their agendas for a complete tyrannical rule."
Another former premier of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, also a Nepali Congress leader, dismissed Prachanda's claim that traditional forces were creating trouble, alleging that innocent people were still being killed by Maoists, law and order are deteriorating, and that the price of essential commodities has continued to rise.
In a stinging comment, Deuba told reporters that it is always more difficult to run a government than to kill people as an armed rebel.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister, Bamdev Gautam, a member of the Communist party Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) was supportive, joining Prachanda in criticizing what he called the 'old-fashioned bureaucracy' , which he said created hurdles in running the government. Gautam even criticized his own party leaders as being much too critical, "We should not forget that we are also a part of the coalition government,” he said. “And if the Prachanda-led Maoist government fails, we have also to receive brickbats from the people."
Nonetheless, Madhav Kumar Nepal, a high-ranking member of Gautam’s party called the first hundred days of the Maoist government a total failure.
Prachanda kicked off another uproar recently by saying there was a need 'to educate people about the positive aspects of violence,’ adding that the peace in Nepal after the political change had been established through the barrel of the gun.
"We should not tell people lies about violence," Prachanda said during a discourse at Kathmandu on December 12. Addressing a seminar of the Progressive Writers' Association, Prachanda argued that 'in order to preserve the existing peace, every Nepali should be trained how to use weapons'. Prachanda clarified that he was making those points as the chairman of his party and not as the premier of Nepal, reiterating that as the head of the government he was committed for the peace process and the drafting of a pro- people constitution.
But his comments on 'the outcome of violence' stirred criticism across the political and media spectrum, with the general secretary of CPN-UML. Jhalanath Khanal said three days later that Prachanda was 'confused whether he is a politician or a rebel,’ with other politicians saying his comments had the potential to derail the peace process and turn Nepal into a failed state.”
Uma Singh
After the media, particularly the Telegraph Nepal and other publications, accused Prachanda of glorifying violence as a means to empower the people, respected elements of the press have been attacked. Ominously, as many as 15 suspected Maoist cadres invaded the home of a young woman journalist and human rights activist, Uma Singh, on January 12 and hacked her to death. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists claimed that Maoists were involved in the brutal murder. The federation president Dharmendra Jha pointed out that Uma’s father, Ranjit Singh, and elder brother Sanjay had also both been abducted and killed by them some years earlier. Thousands of citizens joined in the funeral procession and all the radio stations in surrounding districts suspended programming to run tributes to the young woman. Four suspects have been arrested.
Earlier Prachanda faced unprecedented hue and cry when activists belonging to his party vandalized a prestigious media group in Kathmandu on December 21. The attack on Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, the publisher of the Nepali language Himal Khabarpatrika, the English weekly Nepali Times, the regional Himal Southasian and Wave, an English magazine, resulted in injuries to reporters and other employees and also considerable damage to property.
An unruly mob of more than 50 Maoists went after the respected Nepali journalist and Nepali Times editor Kunda Dixit, although he wasn’t hurt seriously, and threatened to repeat the violence and target other newspapers as well if the media continue publishing articles critical of the Maoists.
The incident was strongly condemned by the media, both national and international, and sociopolitical organizations. The Nepali Journalist Federation protested the acts by leaving the editorial pages of the daily newspapers blank on December 23. They were joined in denouncing the incident by the International Federation of Journalists and Reporters San Frontiers, which said that 'the government must guarantee the right of every voice to be heard by punishing violators and by not allowing its supporters to act with impunity'. Condemnations also poured in from political leaders and human rights groups.
The Prime Minister expressed sadness over the incident and quickly denied that the attackers had any direct relationship with his Maoist party. He also assured that the government would investigate the matter and book those involved in the attack under the law, although he offered up the excuse that 'some immoral agents who might have infiltrated into the Maoist party' were involved instead.
Later the government ordered a probe into the incident of attack on Himalmedia.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently expressed apprehension that the Maoist party might continue 'using arms and violence' to settle political scores. The UN chief, who visited Nepal last year, observed, "The internal debate held during the national gathering (of the Maoists) and some public statements by Maoist leaders also resonated outside the party, giving rise to further questioning of the Maoists' commitment to multi-party democracy and concern that the party has not abandoned its military past."
Courtesy: Asia Sentinel: January 21, 2009
by Nava Thakuria
Nepal’s collision with Maoist-led secular democracy after 150-odd years of royal religious rule is now nearing half a year in age with distinctly mixed success, lots of violence and many problems stemming from a party that seems ill-equipped to lead an electorate by consensus.
After more than a decade of guerilla war, in which an estimated 15,000 people died, elections were held last April, with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known by the nom de guerre Prachanda, taking power with a mandate to write a new constitution after sending the king packing. But the logical end to the peace process with the former armed communists is still uncertain. At least one journalist has been murdered and many others have been met with violence.
"Prachanda is really confused about how to perform his role as an administrator in a democratic setup,” a Kathmandu-based political analyst told Asia Sentinel. “He is caught between being the Maoist chairman and the prime minister. He seems to be more interested in a single-party communist dictatorship in Kathmandu than a multiparty democracy. As the head of the government, Prachanda has failed to ensure security for common Nepalis as news related to extra-judicial killings, extortion and abduction pour into the media."
Prachandra is having a hard time engaging with the democratic and social institutions he joined after the overthrow, political observers in Kathmandu say. He has found himself in a long string of unnecessary controversies because of inexperience and intolerance after being sworn in last August. Far too often, the Maoists appear to want to solve problems the same way they came to power – through violence.
The latest controversy erupted over the Pashupatinath Temple, the holiest Hindu shrine in Nepal when, in an abrupt move, the government tried to turf out the working Pujaris, or priests, who are traditionally from India, and to replace them with Nepali Brahmins. A group of Maoists and the members of the Young Communist League, its youth organization, stormed into the temple and vandalized the southern gate, threatening the Indian Pujaris to leave the place.
Although the Supreme Court of Nepal, defying the Communists, directed the temple authorities not to let the newly-appointed Nepali priests perform the rituals and issued an order that the three Indian priests could carry on with the rituals till its final verdict, the Maoists simply ignored the court directions. But, outraged by the assault, the temple management committee under the Pashupati Area Development Trust has now demanded that the President of Nepal be made patron of the body instead of the prime minister, as the king was when the monarchy was in power.
The temple, a UNESCO heritage site, attracts nearly 1 million pilgrims annually, primarily from Nepal and India. The resultant uproar, a huge public outcry, was too hot to handle for Prachanda, who later backed down and reinstated the Indian Brahmins.
Beyond that, the first months have been characterized by the Maoistled government’s failure to draft a constitution for the poverty-stricken country of 27 million people and arrange for a general election within three years. Prachanda finds himself in continuing controversy. He has earned the distrust of the bureaucracy and the Army, saying they were not supportive of him. He has also criticized opposition parties, charging them with for putting hurdles in his way.
Nepali media reported Prachanda as saying, "It is impossible to go for the task (drafting of a new constitution for the federal democratic republic of Nepal) without the support and consensus from the major political parties. If they (the Nepali Congress party) do not support the government, I will resign and go to the people."
Nepali Congress chief Girija Prasad Koirala promptly responded by saying that the Maoist-led government “are not serious about the drafting of the constitution. What they want is only to continue in power and pursue their agendas for a complete tyrannical rule."
Another former premier of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, also a Nepali Congress leader, dismissed Prachanda's claim that traditional forces were creating trouble, alleging that innocent people were still being killed by Maoists, law and order are deteriorating, and that the price of essential commodities has continued to rise.
In a stinging comment, Deuba told reporters that it is always more difficult to run a government than to kill people as an armed rebel.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister, Bamdev Gautam, a member of the Communist party Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) was supportive, joining Prachanda in criticizing what he called the 'old-fashioned bureaucracy' , which he said created hurdles in running the government. Gautam even criticized his own party leaders as being much too critical, "We should not forget that we are also a part of the coalition government,” he said. “And if the Prachanda-led Maoist government fails, we have also to receive brickbats from the people."
Nonetheless, Madhav Kumar Nepal, a high-ranking member of Gautam’s party called the first hundred days of the Maoist government a total failure.
Prachanda kicked off another uproar recently by saying there was a need 'to educate people about the positive aspects of violence,’ adding that the peace in Nepal after the political change had been established through the barrel of the gun.
"We should not tell people lies about violence," Prachanda said during a discourse at Kathmandu on December 12. Addressing a seminar of the Progressive Writers' Association, Prachanda argued that 'in order to preserve the existing peace, every Nepali should be trained how to use weapons'. Prachanda clarified that he was making those points as the chairman of his party and not as the premier of Nepal, reiterating that as the head of the government he was committed for the peace process and the drafting of a pro- people constitution.
But his comments on 'the outcome of violence' stirred criticism across the political and media spectrum, with the general secretary of CPN-UML. Jhalanath Khanal said three days later that Prachanda was 'confused whether he is a politician or a rebel,’ with other politicians saying his comments had the potential to derail the peace process and turn Nepal into a failed state.”
Uma Singh
After the media, particularly the Telegraph Nepal and other publications, accused Prachanda of glorifying violence as a means to empower the people, respected elements of the press have been attacked. Ominously, as many as 15 suspected Maoist cadres invaded the home of a young woman journalist and human rights activist, Uma Singh, on January 12 and hacked her to death. The Federation of Nepalese Journalists claimed that Maoists were involved in the brutal murder. The federation president Dharmendra Jha pointed out that Uma’s father, Ranjit Singh, and elder brother Sanjay had also both been abducted and killed by them some years earlier. Thousands of citizens joined in the funeral procession and all the radio stations in surrounding districts suspended programming to run tributes to the young woman. Four suspects have been arrested.
Earlier Prachanda faced unprecedented hue and cry when activists belonging to his party vandalized a prestigious media group in Kathmandu on December 21. The attack on Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, the publisher of the Nepali language Himal Khabarpatrika, the English weekly Nepali Times, the regional Himal Southasian and Wave, an English magazine, resulted in injuries to reporters and other employees and also considerable damage to property.
An unruly mob of more than 50 Maoists went after the respected Nepali journalist and Nepali Times editor Kunda Dixit, although he wasn’t hurt seriously, and threatened to repeat the violence and target other newspapers as well if the media continue publishing articles critical of the Maoists.
The incident was strongly condemned by the media, both national and international, and sociopolitical organizations. The Nepali Journalist Federation protested the acts by leaving the editorial pages of the daily newspapers blank on December 23. They were joined in denouncing the incident by the International Federation of Journalists and Reporters San Frontiers, which said that 'the government must guarantee the right of every voice to be heard by punishing violators and by not allowing its supporters to act with impunity'. Condemnations also poured in from political leaders and human rights groups.
The Prime Minister expressed sadness over the incident and quickly denied that the attackers had any direct relationship with his Maoist party. He also assured that the government would investigate the matter and book those involved in the attack under the law, although he offered up the excuse that 'some immoral agents who might have infiltrated into the Maoist party' were involved instead.
Later the government ordered a probe into the incident of attack on Himalmedia.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently expressed apprehension that the Maoist party might continue 'using arms and violence' to settle political scores. The UN chief, who visited Nepal last year, observed, "The internal debate held during the national gathering (of the Maoists) and some public statements by Maoist leaders also resonated outside the party, giving rise to further questioning of the Maoists' commitment to multi-party democracy and concern that the party has not abandoned its military past."
Courtesy: Asia Sentinel: January 21, 2009
Maoist, NA at loggerheads
AKHILESH UPADHYAY
KATHMANDU, Jan 22 - Despite Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's recent dismissal of speculations that his party is all set to remove Chief of Army Staff Gen. Rookmangud Katawal from office, relations between the Unified CPN (Maoist) and Nepal Army (NA) continue to remain frosty and there is deep insecurity in the NA that Maoists are likely to mount a charge for Gen. Katawal's removal before his three-year term comes to an end in mid-September.
Should this happen, it will further deepen the already-growing polarisation between political parties and possibly between major international actors too. It can also add to Nepal Army's perception that Maoists want to subjugate, while the NA continues to look for elusive political patronage since the decline and demise of monarchy.
Never in best of terms, relations between Maoists and the Army chief have especially deteriorated after Gen. Katawal took a firm position on not rolling back the NA's ongoing recruitment of some 2,800 personnel, a process that officially began on Nov. 2 with a vacancy advertisement in newspapers.
On Dec. 24, the Maoist-led Defence Ministry wrote a letter to the Army, asking it to stop the recruitment process. In its Dec. 31 response, the NA said its move is well within the confines of the peace agreement and constitutional. In the ongoing recruitment, the Army has received some 50,000 applications and collected Rs. 5.5 million in application fees.
NA insists that the current recruitment doesn't violate any clause in the 12-point agreement or the Interim Constitution as NA personnel will remain within the current NA ceiling. The peace clauses, the NA argues, only bars recruitment that would swell the current NA ranks. Not filling up routine vacancies would stretch the current personnel. The annual turnover comes out to be anywhere between 2,500-3,000. This is the third NA recruitment since the peace process started in 2006 and the fact that the recruitment became a story only now and not on past two occasions gives further credence to the theory that differences between the NA and Maoists are deepening.
The opposition Nepali Congress has gone on record in support of the NA recruitment process, insisting that "any attempt to politicise" the recruitment issue will only affect the morale of the apolitical institution. Madheshi Janadhikar Forum and CPN-UML, two major partners in the ruling coalition and the third and fourth largest parties in the Constituent Assembly, have also supported the NA position on going ahead with the recruitment.
The move is likely to lead to polarisation in the international community too. Already, New Delhi has conveyed to the CPN (Maoist) leadership in various forums that early removal of the Army chief could create needless political complications.
Delhi views that the Maoists, having achieved their goals of removal of monarchy and institutionalization of a republic through the Constitutional Assembly, could now sidestep their commitment to pluralism and multiparty democracy in violation of the letter and spirit of the 12-point agreement between the Seven Party Alliance and CPN (Maoist) developed, and ultimately signed, in New Delhi in 2005. In all likelihood, Beijing will support the Maoist position. It is still not very clear how two other major international actors, which have enjoyed strong ties with Nepal Army -- Washington and London -- would respond. "For now, both U.S. and U.K. are keeping cards very close to their chest," said a senior government official.
Though Gen. Katawal can potentially contest his removal (should that happen) in the Supreme Court, it is not going to be an easy option. First, any defiance on his part could be interpreted as abeyance to a civilian government and hence undemocratic. Second, the new Army chief and a section of senior Army officials could question his move, severely crippling his political grounds.
If Katawal is removed in the near future, his successor will be Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka whose own term expires mid-June, but Khadka will continue in the office as Army chief for a three-year term should he be promoted to the top position. If Gen. Katawal completes his term in September, Gen. Chhattraman Singh Gurung is the senior-most general in the line of succession.
"We have already made our position on the NA recruitment clear" said a UML Cabinet minister. "We expect the Maoists to take us into confidence in the true spirit of a coalition if they are planning to take any decision on the fate of Nepal Army and its chief."
One important date to watch would be Feb. 16-21, when the UML General Convention gets underway. Whether the Maoists make their move before the convention depends a lot on what kind of outcome they would like to see: removing Gen. Katawal before the convention is likely to bolster the stocks of the anti-Maoist camp in UML led by K. P. Oli. Either two or three senior most leaders in the party - General Secretary J. N. Khanal, former General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Oli - are likely to contest for the proposed executive chair in the party convention.
There have been speculations in recent days that Unified CPN (Maoist) will take the decision to remove the Army chief sooner rather than later to appease hardliners in the party. Prime Minister Dahal, according to this theory, is under tremendous pressure from Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa who, it is said, views Gen. Katawal's continued refusal to roll back the recruitment as the ultimate affront to his authority.
Courtesy: Kantipur: January 21, 2009
KATHMANDU, Jan 22 - Despite Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's recent dismissal of speculations that his party is all set to remove Chief of Army Staff Gen. Rookmangud Katawal from office, relations between the Unified CPN (Maoist) and Nepal Army (NA) continue to remain frosty and there is deep insecurity in the NA that Maoists are likely to mount a charge for Gen. Katawal's removal before his three-year term comes to an end in mid-September.
Should this happen, it will further deepen the already-growing polarisation between political parties and possibly between major international actors too. It can also add to Nepal Army's perception that Maoists want to subjugate, while the NA continues to look for elusive political patronage since the decline and demise of monarchy.
Never in best of terms, relations between Maoists and the Army chief have especially deteriorated after Gen. Katawal took a firm position on not rolling back the NA's ongoing recruitment of some 2,800 personnel, a process that officially began on Nov. 2 with a vacancy advertisement in newspapers.
On Dec. 24, the Maoist-led Defence Ministry wrote a letter to the Army, asking it to stop the recruitment process. In its Dec. 31 response, the NA said its move is well within the confines of the peace agreement and constitutional. In the ongoing recruitment, the Army has received some 50,000 applications and collected Rs. 5.5 million in application fees.
NA insists that the current recruitment doesn't violate any clause in the 12-point agreement or the Interim Constitution as NA personnel will remain within the current NA ceiling. The peace clauses, the NA argues, only bars recruitment that would swell the current NA ranks. Not filling up routine vacancies would stretch the current personnel. The annual turnover comes out to be anywhere between 2,500-3,000. This is the third NA recruitment since the peace process started in 2006 and the fact that the recruitment became a story only now and not on past two occasions gives further credence to the theory that differences between the NA and Maoists are deepening.
The opposition Nepali Congress has gone on record in support of the NA recruitment process, insisting that "any attempt to politicise" the recruitment issue will only affect the morale of the apolitical institution. Madheshi Janadhikar Forum and CPN-UML, two major partners in the ruling coalition and the third and fourth largest parties in the Constituent Assembly, have also supported the NA position on going ahead with the recruitment.
The move is likely to lead to polarisation in the international community too. Already, New Delhi has conveyed to the CPN (Maoist) leadership in various forums that early removal of the Army chief could create needless political complications.
Delhi views that the Maoists, having achieved their goals of removal of monarchy and institutionalization of a republic through the Constitutional Assembly, could now sidestep their commitment to pluralism and multiparty democracy in violation of the letter and spirit of the 12-point agreement between the Seven Party Alliance and CPN (Maoist) developed, and ultimately signed, in New Delhi in 2005. In all likelihood, Beijing will support the Maoist position. It is still not very clear how two other major international actors, which have enjoyed strong ties with Nepal Army -- Washington and London -- would respond. "For now, both U.S. and U.K. are keeping cards very close to their chest," said a senior government official.
Though Gen. Katawal can potentially contest his removal (should that happen) in the Supreme Court, it is not going to be an easy option. First, any defiance on his part could be interpreted as abeyance to a civilian government and hence undemocratic. Second, the new Army chief and a section of senior Army officials could question his move, severely crippling his political grounds.
If Katawal is removed in the near future, his successor will be Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka whose own term expires mid-June, but Khadka will continue in the office as Army chief for a three-year term should he be promoted to the top position. If Gen. Katawal completes his term in September, Gen. Chhattraman Singh Gurung is the senior-most general in the line of succession.
"We have already made our position on the NA recruitment clear" said a UML Cabinet minister. "We expect the Maoists to take us into confidence in the true spirit of a coalition if they are planning to take any decision on the fate of Nepal Army and its chief."
One important date to watch would be Feb. 16-21, when the UML General Convention gets underway. Whether the Maoists make their move before the convention depends a lot on what kind of outcome they would like to see: removing Gen. Katawal before the convention is likely to bolster the stocks of the anti-Maoist camp in UML led by K. P. Oli. Either two or three senior most leaders in the party - General Secretary J. N. Khanal, former General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and Oli - are likely to contest for the proposed executive chair in the party convention.
There have been speculations in recent days that Unified CPN (Maoist) will take the decision to remove the Army chief sooner rather than later to appease hardliners in the party. Prime Minister Dahal, according to this theory, is under tremendous pressure from Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa who, it is said, views Gen. Katawal's continued refusal to roll back the recruitment as the ultimate affront to his authority.
Courtesy: Kantipur: January 21, 2009
Nepal government bans 'Chandni Chowk to China'
Kathmandu, IANS:
The government move followed street protests by students, who said the film was an attack on Nepal's territorial integrity and sovereignty with its false claim that the Buddha was born in India.
Six years after Nepal banned a section of Hindi films due to erupting violence, the new Maoist-led government Thursday officially banned Bollywood's first Kung Fu comedy "Chandni Chowk to China" after continued public protests over its misrepresentation of the Buddha's birthplace.
The formal ban by the ministry of information and communications came as cinemas in Nepal had on their own stopped screening the controversial film Wednesday.
The government move followed street protests by students, who said the film was an attack on Nepal's territorial integrity and sovereignty with its false claim that the Buddha was born in India.
"The Buddha was born in Nepal; learn to respect Nepal's identity and sovereignty," students screamed during a protest rally before an engineering college in the valley Thursday. In the Lainchaur area near the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, protesters marched in silence, waving placards.
A group of protesters also handed over a memorandum to the Indian embassy.
All Kathmandu Valley cinemas hurriedly dropped the Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone starrer and began showing the earlier Bollywood release "Ghajini" or Nepali films.
"The trouble was created by the narration in the film," said Nepali film director K.P. Pathak, who heads the Nepal Film Directors' Association that is urging audiences to boycott all foreign films that project wrong messages.
"About five minutes into the film, the narration introduces the hero as someone born in India, the Buddha's birthplace," Pathak said.
The Buddha was born Prince Siddharth in Lumbini in south Nepal in 623 BC. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit the area every year to pay their homage.
Before being released in Nepal Friday, "Chandni Chowk to China" was viewed by Nepal's censor board which objected to the dialogue. Subsequently, the distributors deleted it.
But though the offending dialogue was removed, the word got around and students stormed the deluxe Jai Nepal cinema Wednesday, tearing down posters of the film.
Remembering the violence that flared up in 2000 after comments were wrongly attributed to Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, the distributors of "Chandni Chowk to China" Wednesday decided to can it.
The protests, however, still continued Thursday with students claiming that the CDs and VCDs of the film that have reached Nepal still have the offending dialogue. They are also demanding an apology from the film's director, Nikhil Advani.
The controversy has created bad blood between Indians and Nepalis on YouTube, with messages becoming abusive.
The most clinching argument in the heated debate comes from someone signing in as Prynka.
"The bottom line is," Prynka says, "the movie is very disappointing and it has definitely angered a lot of Nepalis for disregarding a very important part of our history..."
"No one would expect a movie under the Warner Brothers' banner to have such ignorant mistakes."
"Chandni Chowk to China", the first Hindi film to be shot in China, is produced by Sippy Films and Warner Brothers.
The Lumbini Development Trust, that manages the Buddha's birthplace, said Indian tourist agencies also misguide travellers into believing that the Buddha was born in India.
"Before the Nepal government changed its visa policies, tourists would be brought to Nepal without being told they were entering a different country," Nepal's official media Thursday quoted the public relations officer at the trust, Gyanin Rai, as saying.
In 2000, Nepal banned "Mission Kashmir" starring Hrithik Roshan and other films of the Bollywood star after the actor was wrongly reported as having run down Nepalis.
In 2006, the Maoists, who were then a guerrilla party, said they would not allow any film starring Manisha Koirala since the actress supported the election called by King Gyanendra, who had seized absolute power in a bloodless coup.
Courtesy: Deecan Herald, January 22, 2009
The government move followed street protests by students, who said the film was an attack on Nepal's territorial integrity and sovereignty with its false claim that the Buddha was born in India.
Six years after Nepal banned a section of Hindi films due to erupting violence, the new Maoist-led government Thursday officially banned Bollywood's first Kung Fu comedy "Chandni Chowk to China" after continued public protests over its misrepresentation of the Buddha's birthplace.
The formal ban by the ministry of information and communications came as cinemas in Nepal had on their own stopped screening the controversial film Wednesday.
The government move followed street protests by students, who said the film was an attack on Nepal's territorial integrity and sovereignty with its false claim that the Buddha was born in India.
"The Buddha was born in Nepal; learn to respect Nepal's identity and sovereignty," students screamed during a protest rally before an engineering college in the valley Thursday. In the Lainchaur area near the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, protesters marched in silence, waving placards.
A group of protesters also handed over a memorandum to the Indian embassy.
All Kathmandu Valley cinemas hurriedly dropped the Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone starrer and began showing the earlier Bollywood release "Ghajini" or Nepali films.
"The trouble was created by the narration in the film," said Nepali film director K.P. Pathak, who heads the Nepal Film Directors' Association that is urging audiences to boycott all foreign films that project wrong messages.
"About five minutes into the film, the narration introduces the hero as someone born in India, the Buddha's birthplace," Pathak said.
The Buddha was born Prince Siddharth in Lumbini in south Nepal in 623 BC. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists visit the area every year to pay their homage.
Before being released in Nepal Friday, "Chandni Chowk to China" was viewed by Nepal's censor board which objected to the dialogue. Subsequently, the distributors deleted it.
But though the offending dialogue was removed, the word got around and students stormed the deluxe Jai Nepal cinema Wednesday, tearing down posters of the film.
Remembering the violence that flared up in 2000 after comments were wrongly attributed to Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, the distributors of "Chandni Chowk to China" Wednesday decided to can it.
The protests, however, still continued Thursday with students claiming that the CDs and VCDs of the film that have reached Nepal still have the offending dialogue. They are also demanding an apology from the film's director, Nikhil Advani.
The controversy has created bad blood between Indians and Nepalis on YouTube, with messages becoming abusive.
The most clinching argument in the heated debate comes from someone signing in as Prynka.
"The bottom line is," Prynka says, "the movie is very disappointing and it has definitely angered a lot of Nepalis for disregarding a very important part of our history..."
"No one would expect a movie under the Warner Brothers' banner to have such ignorant mistakes."
"Chandni Chowk to China", the first Hindi film to be shot in China, is produced by Sippy Films and Warner Brothers.
The Lumbini Development Trust, that manages the Buddha's birthplace, said Indian tourist agencies also misguide travellers into believing that the Buddha was born in India.
"Before the Nepal government changed its visa policies, tourists would be brought to Nepal without being told they were entering a different country," Nepal's official media Thursday quoted the public relations officer at the trust, Gyanin Rai, as saying.
In 2000, Nepal banned "Mission Kashmir" starring Hrithik Roshan and other films of the Bollywood star after the actor was wrongly reported as having run down Nepalis.
In 2006, the Maoists, who were then a guerrilla party, said they would not allow any film starring Manisha Koirala since the actress supported the election called by King Gyanendra, who had seized absolute power in a bloodless coup.
Courtesy: Deecan Herald, January 22, 2009
To tax or not to tax
Private schools are up in arms over proposed tax rise on the private education sector :
The government is planning a tax raise on private schools to improve education, but the affected schools are not giving up without a fight.
At the heart of the disagreement lies a five per cent increase in taxes on private schools that the government says will be used for public school reforms in remote areas of the country.
Private schools, already taxed as private companies, are up in arms over this proposal and say the tax is an extra burden to parents and guardians of their students.
Leading the protest over the tax is the Private and Boarding Schools' Organisation, Nepal (PABSON) that says private schools registered as companies were already paying 25 per cent tax on incomes. Under existing rules, private schools also have to give scholarships to 10 per cent of students. "Most private schools will not be able to handle a rise of five per cent in taxes," says Bhoj Bahadur Sha, President of PABSON, "This is a violation of a fundamental human right to education."
PABSON submitted a strong memo to the education ministry and the prime minister earlier this month. PABSON and other educational organisations took out newspaper advertisements last week condemning the proposed tax rise.
The architect of the tax is Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai, and he asks schools to trust the government to use the money properly to improve the quality of the government school system.
"We guarantee it is only used for public school reforms," Bhattarai tells Nepali Times. "It will strengthen the public education system, but it doesn't mean the private schools should be closed down."
Acknowledging the dissatisfaction with the proposed tax, Bhattarai says the five per cent tax on admission and tuition fee was taken up from recommendations from a task force set up to study ways to improve public schools. He adds,"It is up to the schools to decide if they want to transfer it to parents. We don't interfere."
But private educators feel they have paid their dues to society by providing quality education to Nepalis, something they say government schools do not. To drive home this point, Principal of Advanced International Model School, TR Dhakal, says 14.2 per cent of government school students pass their School Leaving Certificate at the end of Grade 10, whereas more than 70 per cent do so in private schools.
Public schools are also sorely lacking in basic facilities to provide a conducive environment for learning, says Dhakal, who is also secretary-general of PABSON.
To upgrade public schools, funds spent on these schools should be more accountable for and properly spent. Dhakal feels the money should be drawn from other sources instead of cannibalising resources from the private education sector.
Rajan Suwal, principal of Khwopa College in Bhaktapur, agrees that the five per cent tax is a bad idea, "The government thinks all private schools are rich and families who send their children there are wealthy but that's just not the reality."
Bhaktapur is a model for cheap quality education which is subsidised by the municipality. Some private schools here charge only Rs 50 to 200 per month in fees-unheard of anywhere else.
Even private school owners who are supportive of the idea to channel more funds to public schools say they are not confident that revenue from the proposed tax will be used for reforms in public education.
"Unless there is a mechanism to ensure the money is distributed to the poor areas, it is unlikely it will happen," says Dhakal. He adds that funds spent on public schools are already mismanaged, resulting in a severe lack of basic facilities in institutions.
Umesh Nepal, principal of Manjushree High School, has even harsher words on the five per cent tax. "This money will never go to the poor. It will only feed the Maoist cadres."
Courtesy: Nepalitimes, January 26, 2009.
The government is planning a tax raise on private schools to improve education, but the affected schools are not giving up without a fight.
At the heart of the disagreement lies a five per cent increase in taxes on private schools that the government says will be used for public school reforms in remote areas of the country.
Private schools, already taxed as private companies, are up in arms over this proposal and say the tax is an extra burden to parents and guardians of their students.
Leading the protest over the tax is the Private and Boarding Schools' Organisation, Nepal (PABSON) that says private schools registered as companies were already paying 25 per cent tax on incomes. Under existing rules, private schools also have to give scholarships to 10 per cent of students. "Most private schools will not be able to handle a rise of five per cent in taxes," says Bhoj Bahadur Sha, President of PABSON, "This is a violation of a fundamental human right to education."
PABSON submitted a strong memo to the education ministry and the prime minister earlier this month. PABSON and other educational organisations took out newspaper advertisements last week condemning the proposed tax rise.
The architect of the tax is Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai, and he asks schools to trust the government to use the money properly to improve the quality of the government school system.
"We guarantee it is only used for public school reforms," Bhattarai tells Nepali Times. "It will strengthen the public education system, but it doesn't mean the private schools should be closed down."
Acknowledging the dissatisfaction with the proposed tax, Bhattarai says the five per cent tax on admission and tuition fee was taken up from recommendations from a task force set up to study ways to improve public schools. He adds,"It is up to the schools to decide if they want to transfer it to parents. We don't interfere."
But private educators feel they have paid their dues to society by providing quality education to Nepalis, something they say government schools do not. To drive home this point, Principal of Advanced International Model School, TR Dhakal, says 14.2 per cent of government school students pass their School Leaving Certificate at the end of Grade 10, whereas more than 70 per cent do so in private schools.
Public schools are also sorely lacking in basic facilities to provide a conducive environment for learning, says Dhakal, who is also secretary-general of PABSON.
To upgrade public schools, funds spent on these schools should be more accountable for and properly spent. Dhakal feels the money should be drawn from other sources instead of cannibalising resources from the private education sector.
Rajan Suwal, principal of Khwopa College in Bhaktapur, agrees that the five per cent tax is a bad idea, "The government thinks all private schools are rich and families who send their children there are wealthy but that's just not the reality."
Bhaktapur is a model for cheap quality education which is subsidised by the municipality. Some private schools here charge only Rs 50 to 200 per month in fees-unheard of anywhere else.
Even private school owners who are supportive of the idea to channel more funds to public schools say they are not confident that revenue from the proposed tax will be used for reforms in public education.
"Unless there is a mechanism to ensure the money is distributed to the poor areas, it is unlikely it will happen," says Dhakal. He adds that funds spent on public schools are already mismanaged, resulting in a severe lack of basic facilities in institutions.
Umesh Nepal, principal of Manjushree High School, has even harsher words on the five per cent tax. "This money will never go to the poor. It will only feed the Maoist cadres."
Courtesy: Nepalitimes, January 26, 2009.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Maoist PM, Dahal calls for comprehensive political understanding
Delivering his second message to the countrymen since he took over the office of prime minister five months ago, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has appealed to all the political parties for new comprehensive political understanding.
"The bitter experience of the last five months has shown that our national commitment cannot be fulfilled by working in traditional manner. So I appeal to all the political parties to reach political understanding like the 12-point pact of the past," he said.Admitting that the government has not been able to work as per the expectations of the people, he blamed the limitations of coalition government, tradition working pattern, among others, for the situation.
PM Dahal urged the youths to use their energy in constructive purposes instead of resorting to bandhs and chakkajam in every pretext. He particularly asked the youth wings of ruling parties to end their bitter relations.
He also made a number of pledges for socio-economic development. "This government declares that within a week, the practice of dowry will be banned. Both those who give dowry and those who receive dowry will be punished," he said. He said the law on equal property right between sons and daughters will be strongly enforced.
On the issue of energy crisis, he said that the load shedding will be ended or reduced to minimum limit within this fiscal year by mobilizing thermal, solar, biological and all kinds of alternative. "Those who have sought license to develop hydropower must start their process within six months or face revocation of their license," he said. He said that since the global economic crisis were likely to affect Nepal's workers overseas, there was no alternative but to build domestic industries to check the unemployment situation.
He promised a number of administrative, judicial and other reforms. PM Dahal also appealed the media to disseminate optimistic and encouraging information to usher in the era of construction. He urged business bodies to engage in philanthropic works. He also had some advice for citizens whom he asked to focus on how they can help their country instead of engaging in useless criticisms.PM Dahal also asked ministers and bureaucrats to work efficiently.
In his half an hour long message, which he delivered from Singhdurbar, he listed the increase in internal revenue, village-oriented budget, start of talks with Madhesi outfits, formation of CA committees as some of the achievements of the government.
He said that the issue of integration of army and writing of new constitution as major pillars of peace process. He asked for support from all domestic and international community for help and support in this regard.Countesy: nepalnews.com: Jan 25, 2009
Saudi patience is running out (Financial Times)
By Turki al-Faisal
In my decades as a public servant, I have strongly promoted the Arab-Israeli peace process. During recent months, I argued that the peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia could be implemented under an Obama administration if the Israelis and Palestinians both accepted difficult compromises. I told my audiences this was worth the energies of the incoming administration for, as the late Indian diplomat Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit said: "The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war."
But after Israel launched its bloody attack on Gaza, these pleas for optimism and co-operation now seem a distant memory. In the past weeks, not only have the Israeli Defence Forces murdered more than 1,000 Palestinians, but they have come close to killing the prospect of peace itself. Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told the UN Security Council that if there was no just settlement, "we will turn our backs on you". King Abdullah spoke for the entire Arab and Muslim world when he said at the Arab summit in Kuwait that although the Arab peace initiative was on the table, it would not remain there for long. Much of the world shares these sentiments and any Arab government that negotiated with the Israelis today would be rightly condemned by its citizens. Two of the four Arab countries that have formal ties to Israel – Qatar and Mauritania – have suspended all relations and Jordan has recalled its ambassador.
America is not innocent in this calamity. Not only has the Bush administration left a sickening legacy in the region – from the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to the humiliation and torture at Abu Ghraib – but it has also, through an arrogant attitude about the butchery in Gaza, contributed to the slaughter of innocents. If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact – especially its "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia – it will have to drastically revise its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine.
The incoming US administration will be inheriting a "basket full of snakes" in the region, but there are things that can be done to help calm them down. First, President Barack Obama must address the disaster in Gaza and its
causes. Inevitably, he will condemn Hamas's firing of rockets at Israel. When he does that, he should also condemn Israel's atrocities against the Palestinians and support a UN resolution to that effect; forcefully condemn the Israeli actions that led to this conflict, from settlement building in the West Bank to the blockade of Gaza and the targeted killings and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians; declare America's intention to work for a Middle East
free of weapons of mass destruction, with a security umbrella for countries that sign up and sanctions for those that do not; call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Shab'ah Farms in Lebanon; encourage Israeli-Syrian negotiations for peace; and support a UN resolution guaranteeing Iraq's territorial integrity.
Mr Obama should strongly promote the Abdullah peace initiative, which calls on Israel to pursue the course laid out in various international resolutions and laws: to withdraw completely from the lands occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, returning to the lines of June 4 1967; to accept a mutually agreed just solution to the refugee problem according to the General Assembly resolution 194; and to recognise the independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. In return, there would be an end to hostilities between Israel and all the Arab countries, and Israel would get full diplomatic and normal relations. Last week, President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad of Iran wrote a letter to King Abdullah, explicitly recognising Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Arab and Muslim worlds and calling on him to take a more confrontational role over "this obvious atrocity and killing of your own children" in Gaza. The communiqué is significant because the de facto recognition of the kingdom's primacy from one of its most ardent foes reveals the extent that the war has united an entire region, both Shia and Sunni. Further, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's call for Saudi Arabia to lead a jihad against Israel would, if pursued, create unprecedented chaos and bloodshed in the region.
So far, the kingdom has resisted these calls, but every day this restraint becomes more difficult to maintain. When Israel deliberately kills Palestinians, appropriates their lands, destroys their homes, uproots their farms and imposes an inhuman blockade on them; and as the world laments once again the suffering of the Palestinians, people of conscience from every corner of the world are clamouring for action. Eventually, the kingdom will not be able to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against Israel. Today, every Saudi is a Gazan, and we remember well the words of our late King Faisal: "I hope you will forgive my outpouring of emotions, but when I think that our Holy Mosque in Jerusalem is being invaded and desecrated, I ask God that if I am unable to undertake Holy Jihad, then I should not live a moment more."
Let us all pray that Mr Obama possesses the foresight, fairness, and resolve to rein in the murderous Israeli regime and open a new chapter in this most intractable of conflicts.
Prince Turki is chairman, King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh. He has been director of Saudi intelligence, ambassador to the UK and Ireland and ambassador to the US
-Published: January 22 2009 20:15 | Last updated: January 22 2009 20:15
Coutesy and Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
In my decades as a public servant, I have strongly promoted the Arab-Israeli peace process. During recent months, I argued that the peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia could be implemented under an Obama administration if the Israelis and Palestinians both accepted difficult compromises. I told my audiences this was worth the energies of the incoming administration for, as the late Indian diplomat Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit said: "The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war."
But after Israel launched its bloody attack on Gaza, these pleas for optimism and co-operation now seem a distant memory. In the past weeks, not only have the Israeli Defence Forces murdered more than 1,000 Palestinians, but they have come close to killing the prospect of peace itself. Unless the new US administration takes forceful steps to prevent any further suffering and slaughter of Palestinians, the peace process, the US-Saudi relationship and the stability of the region are at risk.
Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, told the UN Security Council that if there was no just settlement, "we will turn our backs on you". King Abdullah spoke for the entire Arab and Muslim world when he said at the Arab summit in Kuwait that although the Arab peace initiative was on the table, it would not remain there for long. Much of the world shares these sentiments and any Arab government that negotiated with the Israelis today would be rightly condemned by its citizens. Two of the four Arab countries that have formal ties to Israel – Qatar and Mauritania – have suspended all relations and Jordan has recalled its ambassador.
America is not innocent in this calamity. Not only has the Bush administration left a sickening legacy in the region – from the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to the humiliation and torture at Abu Ghraib – but it has also, through an arrogant attitude about the butchery in Gaza, contributed to the slaughter of innocents. If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact – especially its "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia – it will have to drastically revise its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine.
The incoming US administration will be inheriting a "basket full of snakes" in the region, but there are things that can be done to help calm them down. First, President Barack Obama must address the disaster in Gaza and its
causes. Inevitably, he will condemn Hamas's firing of rockets at Israel. When he does that, he should also condemn Israel's atrocities against the Palestinians and support a UN resolution to that effect; forcefully condemn the Israeli actions that led to this conflict, from settlement building in the West Bank to the blockade of Gaza and the targeted killings and arbitrary arrests of Palestinians; declare America's intention to work for a Middle East
free of weapons of mass destruction, with a security umbrella for countries that sign up and sanctions for those that do not; call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Shab'ah Farms in Lebanon; encourage Israeli-Syrian negotiations for peace; and support a UN resolution guaranteeing Iraq's territorial integrity.
Mr Obama should strongly promote the Abdullah peace initiative, which calls on Israel to pursue the course laid out in various international resolutions and laws: to withdraw completely from the lands occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, returning to the lines of June 4 1967; to accept a mutually agreed just solution to the refugee problem according to the General Assembly resolution 194; and to recognise the independent state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital. In return, there would be an end to hostilities between Israel and all the Arab countries, and Israel would get full diplomatic and normal relations. Last week, President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad of Iran wrote a letter to King Abdullah, explicitly recognising Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Arab and Muslim worlds and calling on him to take a more confrontational role over "this obvious atrocity and killing of your own children" in Gaza. The communiqué is significant because the de facto recognition of the kingdom's primacy from one of its most ardent foes reveals the extent that the war has united an entire region, both Shia and Sunni. Further, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad's call for Saudi Arabia to lead a jihad against Israel would, if pursued, create unprecedented chaos and bloodshed in the region.
So far, the kingdom has resisted these calls, but every day this restraint becomes more difficult to maintain. When Israel deliberately kills Palestinians, appropriates their lands, destroys their homes, uproots their farms and imposes an inhuman blockade on them; and as the world laments once again the suffering of the Palestinians, people of conscience from every corner of the world are clamouring for action. Eventually, the kingdom will not be able to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against Israel. Today, every Saudi is a Gazan, and we remember well the words of our late King Faisal: "I hope you will forgive my outpouring of emotions, but when I think that our Holy Mosque in Jerusalem is being invaded and desecrated, I ask God that if I am unable to undertake Holy Jihad, then I should not live a moment more."
Let us all pray that Mr Obama possesses the foresight, fairness, and resolve to rein in the murderous Israeli regime and open a new chapter in this most intractable of conflicts.
Prince Turki is chairman, King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh. He has been director of Saudi intelligence, ambassador to the UK and Ireland and ambassador to the US
-Published: January 22 2009 20:15 | Last updated: January 22 2009 20:15
Coutesy and Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Maoist Foreign Minister slams UML Party: says there is danger of counter-revolution in absence of PLA
Finance Minister and senior Maoist leader Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has deplored the ruling coalition partner Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) saying his party was unable to fulfill its wishes. “We have met each of their demands but they are still dissatisfied,” he said, adding that UML was given ‘plum portfolios in the cabinet and even their leader who had been defeated from two constituencies in election was made chief of constitutional committee.’
“But our friends are still complaining,” he said, addressing a party function in Panauti of Kavre district on Saturday. Referring to UML leaders’ comments that the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should hand over weapons to national army, Dr. Bhattarai said that in the absence of PLA and their weapons, there is danger of counter-revolution.“Gyanendra Shah (former King) is still conspiring. The UML and Nepali Congress should understand this reality,” he added.
Countesy: nepalnews.com: Jan 25, 2009
YCL earns democratic epithet, will become YCDL.
The meeting of the powerful organisation department of the Unified CPN-Maoists, Saturday, decided to change the name of its youth wing the Young Communist League (YCL). The YCL – which has come under criticism from various quarters for its militant and often violent activities – will now be changed into YCDL (Young Communist Democratic League). The change in the name will be endorsed by the central secretariat of the party, soon. The meeting also decided to change the names of various sister organisations. The names are being changed following the unification of CPN-Maoists and CPN-Unity Center Masal.
Courtesy: nepalnews.com: Jan 25, 2009
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