Government instruct Cable Operators to stop airing Kantipur Television as the mobile services resumed
By UWB! Team
[7:00PM] State Minister for Communication Shrish Shamsher Rana called all cable operators for a meeting and asked them not to air Kantipur Television through their cable. Most of the cable operators have already stopped airing the channel.
Meanwhile, Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) has issued a press release demanding immediate restoration of press freedom and expressing solidarity with the protest programs of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ). NSJF has also condemned government decision to use the stadium and covered hall as the detention center and has asked to stop politicizing sports sector.
[6:30 PM] Traffic in the valley is almost normal.
This afternoon, a mass meeting was held at Gongabu where thousands of people participated. The state stationed a sizeable number of security force (I counted three armed police trucks, two army trucks, an armour vehicle and half-a-dozen mini-TATA used by policemen), but they didn’t intervene.
Nepali Congress’ Ram Sharan Mahat, Nepali Congress (Democratic)’s Prakash Man Singh and UML’s Yogesh Bhattarai were among those who addressed the meeting.
Meanwhile, the mobile serivices of Nepal Telecom resumed services from this afternoon. Both post-paid and pre-paid mobiles started working. However, the mobile service of Mero Mobile, a private company, hasn’t resumed yet.
At Pulchowk, students of Engineering Institute disrupted the traffic for more than an hour.
Without closing traffic and business, a few places of the capital and many places outside the capital is continuing general strike for Day Eight
File Photo (April 10) by Shruti Shrestha
[10:00 AM] Yesterday, although the traffic in Bhaktapur was almost nil, Kathmandu roads were different. There were lots of private vehicles, especially motorbikes, taxis and a few tempos and microbuses and very few buses were seen plying on the roads.
Today, traffic in Bhaktapur has also increased during the morning. At Kaushaltar, demonstrators rallied demanding democray and end of autocratic rule.
It looked like Kaushaltar has became the happening place in Bhaktapur as more than a hundred policemen stationed at the place and before the rally began, both DSP of the district were there.
Police didn’t intervene on the rally but didn’t allow the people to continue the sit-in program as of yesterday.
At 9:30AM, I heard that people burnt a vehicle at Surya Binayak, but this report is yet to be confirmed. The vehicles decreased a lot at around 10:00AM.
During the rally, I saw a vehicle of a public enterprises with four plaincloth soldiers in it. They were holding guns under their jackets and only a part of it was visible.
United We Blog 
Comments
112 responses to “General Strike Day VIII Updates”
oh NO
really ohhhh noo…mitra tapaiko aatmagat chahna ra des ko bastugat yetharthaa ta mildaina na ni…maoist will attack ktm and nepal will be afganstain in no time…if u really think that dost why dun u think nepal might be the next france in no time..why can’t u wonder nepal will be the next britain where people chopped the head of their king..and the same old corrution thing which u rajabadi always say…girija was corrupt due to sujata jost why don’t u shout against that women…girija ko aafno bhane almost nothing…he lives at shashank’s place…who is the one of the best eye doctor…and in birtatnagar also it is his old house…his wife as i heard died when a stove got blasted….well he has done that lauda air thing but just for his suputri sujata….and about maoist killing political party activist and girija killing maoist…comon this is all politics man…yeah it is wrong..tara show me a politics without any of these 2+2= 5…do u know the country called uk..when fighting with IRA… used it’s own agents to bomb public places..to get the support of the general people..no war is clean…war are always dirty that’s why everything that matters in war is survival then only comes human rights and so on…if u don’t belive me u should know about a recent killing of double agent in uk… Denis Donaldson…everyone denies involvement and an interview with another double agent Kevin Fulton in the BBC proved that the british government wants to kill them….so there’s no clean war man….the only rule is like malcolm x said…by any means necessary…just look at ways CIA and FBI works….jite krantikari hare aatankakari…this is the general ideology of all who fight against the state….and like stalin said….if one man dies it’s a tragedy…when one million dies…it’s mere statistics..it seems cruel from a cruel dictator…but sadly it’s soo real….
and about the people who says kantipur spreads propoganda…gosh…i dun have words to say to them…remeber girija was the pm when the editors or kantipur were arrested….and like narayan wagle said to prachanda…we will always face problems from any governments if he also comes to power by some way…..i would like to sincerely ask u guys some propoganda that kantipur spread….it would be good to hear and reply to all u guys….coz we are seeing how desperate is the government becoming which is clearly shown in the so called action to be taken against kantipur….
The announcement of king yesterday made clear that he is still enzoying stalemate of the country. we will show him, what can we do.
People, start countdown of Narayanhiti to be torched.
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
Malcolm X (1925 – 1965),
Bhudai Pundit is hired by GIRIJA CHOR thats why he keeps talking against Deuba.
People Rise,
I wish Nepal could be France or next UK. Brother don’t think that Nepal will be next UK or France with Girija or SPA members. Don’t ever think that I have any personal feud with anybody. I am just a Nepali junta who as you said wants his country to be like UK or France. You said that Girija was corrupt due to Sujata. Sorry man if a person who was given responsibility of such a critical position becomes a poppet of some other person. I don’t want to question Sujata or others. I just want to ask Girija that why did you play on the hands of Sujata instead to handling the country well. What if he(Girija) again plays into the hands of his other relative (other bhai or bhatija).
Nepal to be France or Uk just read how they came to this situation, what rules and regulations they follow. They don’t destroy their own country’s property for some protest. They don’t have like Bandh or chakka jam, they don’t have fight inside parliament, once a person loses an election or has already become minister they never again go to the election, they don’t have unplanned cities and 1000 of more reasons. You want some more and
“At last they don;t have leaders like Girija or SPA members who become corrupt by going along what their family members say”
I am neither a raja badi nor maobadi. Please read my comment carefully before alleging someone. I want independent developing Nepali nothing else.
if kantipur does not spread propoganda, why did it never show up on ektantipur.com when mahara said the maoists were co-operating with the parties…. or is mahara gyanendras second puppet?…. well like buddha said… dont believe the truth.. especially when theres politics involved… believe in your own rationality. do not read newspapers for a week then think about whats going on… i bet ull have a better picture.
Punditji,
Lets hear something about Girija and Sushil Koirala as well and the mistakes they made.
WHO MADE THE FIRST MISTAKE, DEUBA OR KOIRALA.
I think the main mistake of the country was that GIRIJA PRASAD AND HIS CRONIES planned the suicidal step to defeat Krishna Prasad Bhattarai in the first election after democracy.
THings went tumbling down after that.
HAD KP BHATTARAI NOT BEEN DEFEATED BY ANTARGHATI STEP (DOUBLE CROSSING) BY GIRIJA AND HIS CRONIES, NEPAL WOULD STILL HAVE ACTIVE DEMOCRACY.
DAMN GIRIJA AND HIS CRONIES FOR THAT> DAMN FUCKING COMMUNISTS ALSO WHO PLANNED IT WITH GIRIJA BABU FOR THAT
Mero Desh…. high five! … ekdum thik kura lekhnu bhayo.
Mero Desh:
Sorry I came across as attacking you.
Ok lets be realistic like you suggested. I also hate Girija et. al. We all know that they are slimly bastards and will burn in hell for their misdeeds. And I completely agree with you that new generations of political leaders need to come up, we need some new faces etc.
But realistically the current political leaders are not just going to step down. Besides except Gagan Thapa who else do you see steping in and filling in the major leadership roles? The number one priority right now is to reinstate a democratic system PERIOD. After we have a democratic system first and foremost then we can start to worry about the competancy of the leaders, policy issues etc.
Once there is a democratic system it should not be difficult to choose the leaders we feel are best suited to run the country.
What I am saying is that for the time being we have really no other choice but to support the current batch of politicans as old and stale as they might be.
okay… how many people believe that when the maoists called their ceasefire… they wanted peace? please, id really like to know what people think of the maoists… and i read somewhere that they should not be called terrorists… who agrees with that? comments please..
Happy new year to all the proud nepali who love being killed rather than being slave
let all of us who have not actively participated in the ongoing “revolution” promise to do so in the new year. Let us not see what i get, lets think what i can do for my people.
“our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
why are people so much worried about maoist.
They have changed and i can assure u all of that
Novadi,
You seem to be talking like the leaders. they haven’t change. In order to change they must give up their arms, contest in the election. That is called change. Just doing some 12 point agreement that also in India not in Nepal. They should do all the agreement openly in front of the Nepali Junta. Then only we can be assure.
happy new year
Happy New Year To all May Peace prevail in Nepal
mero desh
when u look at wat one mean u have to look for his intentions, and i know they have right intentions
happy new year in new loktantric nepal!!!!!!
Novadi,
Then anyone can say anything. King also says that the terriorist activities have subsided. But has it? no. He is simply saying to influence Nepali junta. Only saying doesn’t matter. Do it and show it.
I reveal a deceiver
In the highest seat in the land
His idle hands the Devil’s workshop
Generate more smoke than heat
Time and time again
What you said ain’t what you mean
Even if all my bones are broken
I will drag myself back from the edge to
Kill the King
the latest survey of nepalnews.com on the major contributor for the present state(worsening of course)of the country presents KG as the major one with 55.4% compared to parties with 27.1% and the maoist 12.3%
( upto 1:35 am ,14th April)
now its upto all to make out anything u like from it.
Novadi,
Why don’t you understand that all the 3 percentages are related and one effects another. Parties failed to talk with maoist, maoist failed to give up arms, King took that oppurtunity to take power and we are in this situation now.
if u are a true democratic(loktantric),i request u all to boycott any product?? of kamana publications…viz.. Nepal Samacharpatra, Mahanagar, Kamana , Sadhana etc. coz this guy puskar lal shrestha, the publisher com editor of nepal samacharpatra is a puppet of KG employed for infiltreting nepalese journolists. BEWARE
Mero desh
let me put it this way.
2046:democracy announced; people happy,KG and his group was unhappy for he couldnt smuggle idols freely.
2046+some years:parties lost themselves in kathmandu started doing all the things for themselves; dissatisfaction grew in public of the villages, then some planned to cash it on.
2050s:maoist evolved cashing the sentiments of dissatisfied villagers.
2058:KG cashed a situation to kill whole of KB
maoist got shock of their life who were working with KB when they saw that KG is 1 step ahead than them.thats the point when slowly they started changing themselves. The parties failed because maoist wanted constitution assembly and they couldnt give that coz they have agreed on 2047 to allocate a respectable place for the king. thats the only reason. now the king himself had breached that agreement there is no bounding for the parties too.
2063:Loktantra and a peaceful nepal
I don’t see any substance in king’s new year address. He is trying to shy away from his Kalo Kartus. I dont think any conscious people give a damn to his speech
heres somethin you all probly already read but need to read again….
EXPLAINING MAOIST STRATEGY: IT’S ALL IN THE SCRIPT
By Dr. Thomas A. Marks
Even as I write, events in Nepal unfold as if a Broadway play – nary a miscue from the script passed out months ago in the Nepalese media.
Having declared a “ceasefire inside the Kathmandu Valley,” thus to gain the media “spin” that would necessarily come from “peaceful protestors” being “attacked,” the Maoists proceeded elsewhere in the country to attack positions. The Butwal attack is only the most recent example.
Open use of violence “outside” the urban centers has been accompanied by orchestrated rioting “inside.” That the foreign media (with the help of the anti-government sectors in the Nepali media) persist in calling such “peaceful protest” only demonstrates how thoroughly detached they are from the reality of the people’s war approach.
From the Maoist Playbook
To outline the Maoist strategy for those who were not present at the auditions for parts:
● Overload the security forces “inside” while attacking with main forces “outside.” Claim to be only supporting “peaceful” forces for change.
● Use government troop deployments to advantage. If the security forces must move more men inside, flow into the vacuums left behind. If they move outside, send urban partisans inside.
● Exploit every death and claim that any setback (e.g. failure to overthrow the government) proves that only the violent way is left to install “absolute democracy.”
● Break the RNA at all costs. RNA is the one real obstacle remaining in the quest for power. So caught up is the SPA in its short-term effort to remain relevant that it is oblivious to long-term peril. SPA can be counted upon to mindlessly perform on cue.
● Move now to exploit the opening provided by Indian perfidy. New Delhi senses an opportunity to at long last create of Nepal a dependency that will do as it is told.
From the Maoist perspective, they have adopted a “win/win” course of action: no matter what actually happens, they will benefit.
By declaring a “ceasefire outside Kathmandu Valley,” they seal off the battle area, declaring that it will be a fight between rival bodies of manpower. They feel that the SPA manpower on the streets can overwhelm whatever the police and APF (the backup) can put on the playing field.
When the authorities make mistakes, which ultimately they must if SPAM plans go off as scripted, the government is again “human rights abusers” — and the howls can already be heard from the usual suspects. Some elements of the Nepali media appear to be working deliberately to fan the anti-government flames.
Further, the violence allows the Maoists to claim they at least gave “peace” a chance.
The dream scenario, from the SPAM perspective, is to replay 1990, with masses rushing across the open boulevard leading to the main palace gate, the troops forced to open fire, bodies filmed by international media and beamed worldwide, India declaring it can no longer stand by “as democracy is crushed.”
Role of India
India’s role remains to be untangled, but no one who was in Sri Lanka in July 1987 – as I was – can overlook the startling similarities. The Indian invasion, conveniently disguised as the IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force), was but the culmination of half a decade of support for Tamil insurgents/terrorists that New Delhi thought it could “manage.”
Then, as now, the shape of the international arena played a significant role. India, many have forgotten, had sided with the Evil Empire. There were some 6-7,000 Soviet advisors in the country. It was the first country outside the Warsaw Pact to receive the MIG-29 fighter, the first (and only) ever to be rented a nuclear submarine.
Beyond all else, in a relationship only now emerging from files of the KGB spirited out of the country prior to the resumption of the authoritarianism, the government of Indira Gandhi allowed itself to be fed Soviet disinformation that convinced it Sri Lanka was a threat.
Alleged “special intelligence” provided by Moscow purported to prove Colombo was on the verge of granting Washington basing and spying facilities, India became involved with the Tamil insurgents, eventually training, arming, and basing them. When an initial massing of forces to invade in early 1984 was warned off by the Reagan administration, Delhi simply waited for a more propitious moment. This came in July 1987, as the Sri Lankans moved to crush the trapped insurgents in Jaffna.
What that moment shares with the present is the astonishingly bad “intelligence” that drove Indian policymaking, as well as the claim that “foreign hands” support the monarch. Putting the word in quotation marks only highlights what Indian field commanders realized within days of landing in Jaffna – there was little they had been given in their briefing packets that was accurate.
That India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had produced “analysis” every bit as flawed as any in the annals of intelligence debacles has since been recognized by no less than India’s imperious Proconsul at the time, J.N. Dixit (now deceased) – though he continued to claim, even in his last writings, that India’s information on America’s intentions was completely reliable.
That India had completely botched its assessments of Sri Lankan ground realities would not surprise anyone who has followed what has emerged as the dominant government position in the present Nepali crisis. Indeed, Indian participants in panels held in Washington, DC, such as S.D. Muni, have distinguished themselves principally in what can only be characterized as willful ignorance of SPAM pronouncements and motives.
To cite but the most egregious example, the Indians continue to claim SPAM is willing to negotiate for itself a role in a parliamentary framework headed by a constitutional monarchy, even as the Maoists give press conferences claiming they will try the monarch in a people’s court.
There do seem to be analysts who have correctly identified the astonishingly strategic myopia involved in destabilizing Nepal further even as India itself grapples with its own growing Maoist challenge. In his recent “India, Maoism and Nepal,” former Finance Minister Madhukar S.J.B. Rana hit the nail squarely on the head when he wrote, “India is playing a dangerous game of pure real politic where it seeks to intervene in Nepal militarily by using the Maoist [as published] as proxy under the unbelievable propaganda ‘to secure peace and democracy for the Nepalese people and to arrest the impending refugee inflow into its own territory’.”
Change a word here and there, and the logic is identical to the debacle that became IPKF. It is further noteworthy that in the three bloody years that followed July 1987, IPKF acquitted itself well in “India’s Vietnam” (as it was called by the press), even as Indian policymakers sought to cast blame for the blunder on anyone and everyone except themselves. (The most ludicrous position, of course, was the very one the Maoists advance now: it is all the fault of American imperialism.)
Where to From Here?
As irony would have it, it is the growing amicability of India and the US which has served as the strategic cover for New Delhi to bring Kathmandu to heel. Nepali sources have become increasingly blunt (and strident) in the same manner as the Sri Lankans all those years ago, as the Indian ties to Nepali violence become more clear.
One does not have to engage in plot mongering to posit that India is making a major policy error in steering its present course. Neither does one have to cast aspersions to point out the obvious: the SPA portion of SPAM has been willing to play the quisling for momentary political gain.
For it will be momentary, come what may. Let us suppose that the present government collapsed tomorrow. Where would that leave SPA? With two useless pieces of paper and a worthless sheath of promises.
What is tragic is that very little would seem to separate the sides at the moment save profound mistrust. The king agrees that parliamentary democracy should be restored with a constitutional monarch. The Maoists claim they will accept a democratic republic of whatever sort is decided by a constitutional convention. SPA claims the same. SPAM as a whole claims to desire a “ceremonial monarch” (but the “M” has been unwilling to desist from claiming a trial or exile is the only way out for the present monarch). RNA would become a true “national” army, which, not surprisingly, it already thinks it is.
It is important to interject RNA into the discussion, because the shape of any successor organization was a major sticking point in the previous 2003 round of ceasefire talks. SPAM seems to think this institution will simply agree to dissolve itself without discussions of what this entails.
That this will not happen was put to the Maoists directly in 2003, but they were as unwilling then to grapple with the complexities thus raised as they appear to be now. Yet the growing stratum of combat-tested, politically astute officers is not simply going to go as lambs to the slaughter.
Thus a great deal more thought is required upon the part of all sides. This will not take place as long as SPAM persists in its present course.
Dr. Thomas A. Marks is a political risk consultant based in Honolulu, Hawaii and a frequent visitor to Nepal. He has authored a number of benchmark works on Maoist insurgency. Please send your comments to feedback@mos.com.np.
(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to editors@mos.com.np)
Hey guys:
what you still arguing about Grija, and others. Just remove them from the list, we will have a choce to do so once we get the freedom…….. but what would u say to the King.
Grija doesn’t not represent all the people in the party. He has a power and that’s it. What do you say about Gagan Thapa and others?? Choice is ours, but we need to get one. It is always easier to be critic, but we need to be rational as well.
I heard in this blog where people are saying that they didn’t like king and didn’t like SPA either, on the basis of Girija. So let’s keep him and his bootlickers away…. We are now cautious about politics now. Recall the past 5 years, when we regarded politics and a dirty game. Mind you, whatever is “personal it is political.” So politics can’t be separated from personal, and that’s what happening these days. Guys, i like the way you argue, and that it should be.
But we need to come to the conclusion as well what do we really want. People are saying that the government should be given back to the people??……. what does that mean???…. and by what means we gonna do that??…… of course, we need representatives from the political parties….. and we have a choice to do so……… and let’s do it……. Remove the king out of the realm. As long as he is, nothing is really possible.
Regarding corruption, I agree there was hell lot of corruption during 1990 to 2005. But guys, have u ever thought twice how we got to know about these corruption??….. of courese it is due to opposition parties and media. Now we are conscious of what’s going on??….. but then, people didn’t care about that saying “politics as the game of politicians”, but now we should be take politics as personal.
Coming to the king. Do you believe there will be less corruption during his rule, when there will be no one to oppose??….. and moreover, we will never know what’s going around, coz’ we will be lacking the information, and all the truth will be hiddne…….. that’s what happening now……… Kantipur is being blocked by the threat of the government…… simple because the king does not want the reality to get exposed…….. That’s the public relation policy of the king. Last night, i watched a news online, where prabal Rana was the speaker….. and guess what he said: “the protest that’s going on these days is just limited in kathmandu by the bunch of bubble heads with nothing to care about…. but people around kathmandu are still sympathetic towards king??……. that’s what i call the public relation policy of nepal…. without opposition, the people is power will do what ever they want to do…… and obviously media is the best exaple to it…..
guys, i can’t explain everthing about this public relation thing here, coz’ it’s all about policy….. but for those who really do care about it……….
I would advise all of you to watch the documentary:
“Peace Propaganda and the Promise Land” and compare that with the government media and also the way Kamal thapa or Shrish Rana talk to the press council briefing about the situation of Nepal……..
Decide yourself what we want……….
Don’t take SPA for granted just because of Girija or some other bootlickers…….. first we need to have a choice………. and the first choice we have is to replace the king…… then we have to take how it comes….. and mind you, overthrowing the king is not the only measure, it’s just the beginning of all other steps……. it’s kind of what leaders say: “Gatho fukaunu”
nice reading all of your comments, which forced me to put forward my opinions…..
thank you all.
I wish Janaandolan Part II:
– Would get rid of not just the King and Monarchy
– Would get rid of coward and incompetent leaders (Girija, Madhav Nepal, and likes)
– Would also get rid of murderous Prachanda, Baburam and their armies.
Let the power come trualy back to People of Nepal!!
Mero Desh:
You did not really reply to my questions…
By all accounts the Maoist have shown that they are capable of change. The declared a ceasefire for 3 months – during which time the present government made no effort to reciprocate. Instead towards the end they attacked a Maoist camp as if provoking them to end the ceasefire.
The Maoist have to negotiate in India. How can they openly negotitate in Nepal? Wouldn’t the security forces capture/kill them if they found out where they were negotiating?
If we want peace to prevail in Nepal the King must step aside or better yet – step down.
what’s up with this?
http://kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=71046
ring ring!…UWB..?
sup with this? where is -you-double’U’-bee- on this?
http://kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=71046
seriously…kata chha ‘you-double u-bee’ yo barema…
http://kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=71046
Today’s King speech: Beware SPA! It is Too little and too late!
Hey this just look like a normal situation speech. The king has failed to address the situation
Many Many Happy New Year 2063. With a great hope that all the people will fight against the rough rule of Gynendra and united for the Loktantric Nepal. Jaya Desh Jaya Janta
blogwatch:
What the hell does that mean? Right now it is the King who should beware of what is coming to him if he stays on this current course of action!
it is a warning to SPA not to negotiate with KG.
What KG is offering is too little and too late.
Yes it is too late. It is again to decieve the people, parties and confuse them. I hope the political parties will understand and will not care about what he is saying.
The aim of the King is to have a political system of his own and with his bhardars like Kamal Thapa and Niranjan Thapa. This is impossible if he talks of the 21st century.Long live democracy and hell with the King.
I don’t know if it is a good idea for the parties to completly ignore the king and refuse to negotiate with him. In that case the King will continue to hold on to power since he will nothing else to loose.
They could negotiate with the king and reach some sort of an argreement that doesn’t allow the King an influence or interventionist capability.
But it is really in the hands of the parties to be smart and not be duped. Here I have some faith in Girija (boy I never thought I would EVER say that – I have an intense dislike for the man). Deuba is an IDIOT and I am not sure about Madav Nepal. If the parties start to fight among themslves again then the King will just dupe them into an argreement that will bring us back to where we were.
KG has not back out yet from his take over. It is not worth to negotiate before that. Otherwise mass are in a mood for Republic of Nepal
The problem of making Nepal into a Republic really quickly is a tricky task. Because the RNA will support the King because under civilian rule things will be different. For example It will no longer be the Rana/Shah hegemony, there will need to be more transparency etc.
Given all these changes the RNA will continue to support the King and the King will just try to keep holding on to power – which means more violence and bloodshed. The other problem is that we don’t have the strong, cleaver credible political leadership to work through this …. so it could backfire.
I think it would be best to take things slowly .. I think we should move towards a Republic in the future but we cannot get emotional and do something drastic. The leaders should negotiate with the King and demand the restoration of the constinuent assembly who could call for the elections … from there we can work at stripping the King of his interventionlist powers.
My biggest worry now is that the King will just play our Monkey politians against one and other. And since the SPA leaders are like untamed monkeys who cannot control their urges they might just play into the Kings Hand.
Mr. Pundit,
The king has in his speech offered nothing. It’s just another empty promise of demcocracy and general elections which he has been spouting ever since he took the throne and took power. He has offered nothing concrete and I am really fed up with this guy.
Well I was not aware of the excat contents of his speech.
Well in that case then there will be a violent revolution. I was really happy to read that the King calls for dialogue but I guess it was too good to be true.
where are my comments?
Punditji,
You can check it out at the ekantipur website. It is the same type of speech he has been giving since Feb 1, 2005. I was hoping that as a fellow Nepali that he might reach out to solve this crisis…but all we got were vague calls for dialogue, peace and elections. The king acts more and more like a politician.
not that one. UWB, where are my other comments?
‘I love my country, but I hate the Nepal government’
Kanak Mani Dixit
Thursday, April 13, 2006 22:49 IST
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Kanak Dixit, Editor Himal South Asian and Publisher Himalmedia, was arrested in Kathmandu on Saturday, April 8, with a host of other professionals for defying curfew to press for democratic rights in Nepal. He remains in detention. This column was smuggled out of jail.
All over the subcontinent, every day, the most disadvantaged fall through the cracks. They are pummelled by the forces of state, market or feudalism. The middle class, the political parties, or those linked to the state have recourse although it may not be always available or efficiently delivered. The tragedy of Southasia is that those who are left out are not the exception but the rule.
This abuse can cover a whole spectrum of activities, from displacement of tribals from forest reserves which has been their traditional homes, to trans-boundary missiles that land in the middle of shanties of NWFP, to street-side youngsters devoured by the security machinery of an autocratic state bent on repression.
Taken in by Kathmandu’s royal regime with two dozen other protesters last week for willfully (and with prior announcement) breaking the curfew order, this writer had opportunity to see how a ‘militarising’ autocratic state machinery can ride rough-shod over some of the weakest members of society.
What we have seen during our incarceration is something that the privileged with contacts in high places or money to buy oneself safe passage rarely care to see or understand. Of the types of inmates in this makeshift detention centre at the Duwakot armed police barracks outside Kathmandu the relatively well-known human rights activists have little fear of violence once they are taken in.
But there is an entire category of true innocents. Most of these young adults are migrants who have left their families in faraway hills and plains, to work in menial jobs.
Firstly, it is the chase on the streets, the attacks by batons and staffs, the abuse, and the bundling into the back of trucks. Once in the holding centre, the toilet facilities are non-existent, then they are transported from one detention centre to another, provided with no information whatsoever. No food is provided for more than a day, and when it is it is of the lowest grade imaginable. There is fear that authorities in need of proving Maoist ‘infiltration’ of the democratic movement can with the flick of a pen declare you an insurgent and do away with your life prospects.
Who will tell the family, who will inform the employer? Who is to defend you, and to charge the regime with wrongful imprisonment, and seek a writ of habeas corpus, and demand release and reparation?
Dambar Nepali, is 14, from Udayapur in the hills of the east. He works as a construction labourer and was taken in and beaten while coming home from work. Ramesh Basnet, 23, from Dhading, was returning from the printing press where he works. Ram Kumar Tamang drives a microbus, license plate No 4266, and was crossing the road during a curfew when he was detained. Biraj Sharma, 18, was loitering outside a roadside shop in an area outside curfew limits. “The policemen were like demons,” he recalls, “they kicked my head as if it was a football.”
Some policemen can be fine, sensitive individuals. But they take orders from an insensitive state run by a ruler who has sought again and again to prove his contempt for the people of Nepal.
This is one more reason for a quick return to democracy, pluralism and peace.
Ramesh Basnet told me the day before yesterday before he was taken away: “This turns out to be the kind of country I was born into. I love my country, but I hate the government. I have not picked up a stone, I have not burnt a tyre in protest, why am I here, and where will they take me?”
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Rakesh,
Thanks a lot for the article/statement by Kanak Mani Dixit. I have always had the greatest respect for Mr. Dixit and hope his ordeal is eased soon. We need more guys like him. Actually he would be my candidate for the next democratically elected Prime Minister, if he ever stood for elections, which I wish he did.
Bhudai pundit,
I disagree with your idea of obtaining republicanism in installment..the country can no more debate and fight over the same issuee over and over again..should it be republic or not?..This should be the final push..and the verdict this time should be the final one..
My personnal wish is that the country should be republic this time..if the same old thing happens as in 2046 and 2007, the country can not move forward anymore.the king will intervain again and again..remmeber parash is waiting in que..and also the maoist factor..they have always said that they would never compromise anything less than constituent assembly for a republic system….I think this time we are fighting both to establish democracy and to address the maoist problem at a same time..and a republic state is a common solution of both. So I am sure the restoration of the parliament and democracy as of before is not going to change anything more…may be the press freedom will be restored..funding from outside will be continued..and people can speak freely …but this is not the complete solution of the crisis.
given that king’s stronghold in army is only obstacle to have a republic country in the future, I think that is not a big deal..army can be transformed..they can be be made more accountable to the people once a country be republic.