Monthly Archives: March 2009

Ex-Prince Paras on Nepali Royal Massacre

Posted on March 31, 2009 by | 63 Comments

Eight years after the royal massacre, ex-Crown Prince Paras Bikram Shah talks to the New Paper of Singapore. Why?

UWB Note: The exclusive interview has been translated and reproduced by many Nepali media including top selling and most influential newspaeprs in Nepal. That is one of the most read items in newspapers in Nepal today and yesterday.

Paras

By Clement Mesenas and S Murali
Original source of the story: The New Paper

‘THE Nepali people need to know the truth,’ said Prince Paras, eight years after seeing 10 members of his royal family gunned down ruthlessly. The persistent, painful nightmares stopped after four years.

What haven’t stopped, however, are the ugly rumours of his involvement in the incident on 1 Jun2001.

But enough is enough, says Crown Prince Paras.

He now wants to clear his name.

Reacting to recent reports that the current Nepali government might reopen the investigation into the massacre, he decided to speak to senior Singapore media men.

Three Reasons for the Massacre

FORBIDDEN love is the oft-heard reason behind Nepal’s palace massacre when Dipendra Bikram Shah, then crown prince, ran amok.

But there’s more to this Shakespearean tragedy than meets the eye, said the last crown prince of the Himalayan kingdom, a cousin of the killer prince.

Opening up for the first time since the 2001 bloodbath that took place before his eyes, Prince Paras Bikram Shah, 37, said there was a web of deep-seated reasons that sparked the killing. Continue reading →

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Posted in Nepali Society 3

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Nepali Constitution: In search of Excellence

Posted on March 25, 2009 by | 4 Comments

By Prof. Suryabahadur Singh*

The experimentation of various types of Constitutions was carried out in Nepal. The country had to experience six more Constitutions until elections to Constituent Assembly, 2065 (2008) were held. It had been observed that, these procedural delay jeopardized the growth of democratic system to a greater extent and derail overall national development in the absence of stable constitution of Nepal.

First Constituent Assembly of Nepal

The King Mahendra, while promulgating ‘the Interim Government of Nepal Act, 2007 (1951), had emphasized upon, framing the Constitution by duly elected Constituent Assembly. During this stage, the King had desired to have Constitution drafted through a duly elected Constituent Assembly. At that time, the formation of first Constitutional Assembly was dithered due to political turmoil, lack of time, urgent need for constitution and unstable administration. This lags the constitutional development of Nepal in search of suitable constitutional model.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Constituent Assembly 3

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Intellectual Poverty

Posted on March 23, 2009 by | 9 Comments

By Darshan Karki, after attending the David Seddon lecture last week

There is a distinct pattern to the workshops, public discussion and lecture series that take place in Kathmandu. Firstly there is the speaker or pundit or whatever name they are called by. They are supposed to have mastered the issue in question. In most situations the experts live up to their name. And in a rare case scenario the ‘expert’ clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding to the extent that they ‘boldly’ or ‘shamelessly’ allow someone else in the audience to take control of the discussion. Then there is an audience which is diverse and has come to attend the discussions for various reasons. Some come there with the sole purpose of listening to the speakers with no strings attached. They are there to learn whatever they can. Another kind are cynics. It doesn’t matter if their knowledge of the issue is nil: they are there to criticize and will not leave unless they have done so. The third type of attendees are the flamboyant ones. They are there to show off what they know. If the speaker utters a single word which they know of, their response will not stop until they’ve finished narrating the entire history of that term. The weapons they use will be jargons and sentences quoted verbatim from a book or else theories that the person in question knows by heart.
All this happens regardless of the fact that good speakers often start discussions by stating that they are not going overload their speech with technical terms for the benefit of the multitude. If talk programmes did not have a start and finish time then they would most likely be ruined by these smart alecs who are all keen to prove that they are the smartest ones in the room. College years spent in attending discussion of all sorts led me into believing that these types and scenarios covered all there was to see in the nature of such public lectures. But just when I had thought I had seen it all I went to see the recent 30th lecture series in Yala Maya Kendra. Continue reading →

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Posted in Nepali Society 3

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BAD: PLA's Reaction to Nepal Army Recruitment

Posted on March 5, 2009 by | 17 Comments

By Lilu Thapa

Following the lines of the Nepal Army’s recruitment, the PLA also has started its own recruitment process for the “vacant posts”. How sane is that decision by the Maoist leadership or what will be the extent and effect of this new development is yet to be seen. However, if this new recruitment from the PLA continues, it will have serious impacts in the already fragile political balance (or imbalance) that we have in the country. Continue reading →

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Posted in Secutiry

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The Recruitment that Threatens to Derail the Peace Process

Posted on March 4, 2009 by | 8 Comments

For the record: Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA) cantonments have started recruiting new soldiers apparently in response to the ongoing recruitment in Nepal Army (NA). Though the Maoist party itself has yet to officially comment on the recruitment, key political parties have come out strongly against the drive saying it violates past pacts, most notably the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of November 2006. Maoists, who head the defense ministry, said the same when Army recruitment row broke out. The other political parties gave the nod to Army recruitment. Continue reading →

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Posted in Security 2

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Soldiers Mutiny in Bangladesh: Lessons for Nepal

Posted on March 3, 2009 by | 11 Comments

The incident in Bangladesh should cause a serious concern to the policy makers and the senior officers of the uniformed forces in Nepal as well.

By Lilu Thapa

The recent mutiny of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Soldiers in Bangladesh has raised a lot of questions in the security arena. It practically seems to have spread to Bangladesh from their twin’s inspiration in Nepal. It must be studied closely in Nepal by all those who are involved in the management, control and use of the armed forces here as well. The contemporary importance of this revolt which took lives of hundreds of officers by their subordinates, in an armed force, is very real in Nepal. Also, this can have impact further on to the whole of south Asia as all of the countries here in South Asia have the similar force structure and general conditions in the armed forces. Continue reading →

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Posted in Foreign Affairs

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