Baluwatar area, the official residence of Prime Minister of Nepal, was virtually captured by Maoists. In the bizarre twists of events, it seems that Maoists not the SPA is in the helm of Kathmandu.
By Deepak Adhikari
Talks can’t break! No Monarchy! reads the placard on the girl’s chest.
Seeing is believing, they say. This turned out to be reminder for me when I visited the crowded summit talk venue of Baluwatar. As photojournalist Shailendra and I drove towards PM residence, an aggressive Maoist cadre blocked our way. We told him that we were journalists. Another one came and said that journalists should understand that the milieu is crowded and should not venture past. We nevertheless moved ahead.
Milling and cooing through the hordes of people in October afternoon, the hoarse sounds of sloganeering that demanded republic Nepal, declaration of date for constituent assembly election etc pierced through my ears. I was amazed at this unsolicited pressure coming from Maoists themselves, the party involved in dialogue to reach a peaceful resolution.
Maoist cadres make a human chain for the security of the talk venue.
It was as clear as mid day’s sun that most of the people gathered there were the comrades themselves, albeit in the guise of different organizations. That the whole nation is keenly awaiting an agreement to hold the election of CA is crystal clear. But, the comrades are hell bent on taking laws in their hands, directing people while the state’s security mechanism was just a reluctant observer–why do you bother when someone else does your job?
Not only women in unprecedented numbers, but also the school children were there to warn readers. They even didn’t know why they were there. So, Maoists are adept at using the innocents, be it in war or in compaign like this. Few militia-looking girls were reading slogans from pamphlets. Similarly, Rastriya Madhesi Mukti Morcha was there with the chirpy slogans of inclusiveness and equal rights.
Bishnu Giri shouts for help outside the talk venue after he was denied an entry.
But, the poignant part was the Maoists’ victims. They staged protests just outside the gate of PM residence. A wheelchair bound man who claimed that he was injured in a foreign country was also there to claim his share of cake. From this event, it is clerar that all and sundry were there.
At around, 3:30 pm, the Maoist coterie comprising the talk team and the chairman Prachanda made it to the venue. Like earlier, journalists were not permitted inside; they were seen hovering outside the talk venue. Now this is height of lack of transparency at a time when we talk of loktantra, civil rights and guarantee of press freedom.
Civilians pass through the talk venue after Moist cadres make a human chain for the security of the talk venue.
Nepal’s politics is very unpredictable. It’s hard to speculate on the outcomes of today’s talk. Going by the things, it is unlikely that the long awaited breakthrough will ring true.
All Photo by Sailendra Kharel. Visit his blog at pjsailendra.da.ru
United We Blog 
Comments
164 responses to “Summit Talks in Snail’s Pace in Nepal”
Like I have said numerous times, the maoists are up to no good. They have a simple philosophy “My way or the highway”! This summit is turning out to be a maoist fiasco!
well someone apptly said: the most predictable thing in nepal its unpredictability!
varta is postponed until further notice!
This is a maoist ploy to look like they have good intentions. The fact is they have been gathering their goons in the valley for quite sometime now. Just go to any of the adjoining villages of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, to see how many of their goons are forcefully staying in people’s houses, eating their scarce food and trumatizing children and adults alike. What gives them the right to just walk in to other poeple’s houses and demand that they let them stay there and be fed? Is this what they mean by fighting for people? Talk is cheap, when do they plan to walk the walk and be like a responsible party that has a genuine desire to help this country cope with this terrible situation? People had hope, maybe, just maybe, things will improve…but the deceitful nature of these so called leaders are starting to reveal itself and I am sorry to say this.. this is headed towards another bloodshed…maybe there won’t be another turning point for some of these people after that, they just do not know how dangerously they are approaching the point of no return…The oppertunity is being wasted to finally find a meaningful path for us all to follow…my way or highway attitude is not going to lead us to any solution. It is time both side realize this and work to resolve this crisis.
even though i am not a congress supporter(believe me i hate congress ),i still think congress is right now. Its ok to have a ceremonial monarch than a republic with those junglees running the whole show.
RSS I agree with you buddy.
Oh bummer! Wonder whats going to happen next?
That was what I was contemplating. Now the question is: What does the govt. do or SPA do ? Just watch the atrocities committed by Maoists and keep mum ? Till the Maoists do not achieve their goal i.e; full power or Satta, they are not going to stop. What is the military strategy ? Does Katuwal help Girija ? There are host of other questions. There is a possibilty of all out anarchy in the country if the Govt. and SPA keep mum and do not act swiftly against the Maoists.Security of the cititzens is the primary responsibility of the govt.
Well everything’s up in the air now. The SPA should start showing some steel now. It officially is supposed to have the armed forces at it’s beck and call. Wonder how loyal the Army will prove to be if hostilities resume? Also this impasse gives the royalists an opening.
the summit talk between SPA and maoist leading us nowhere. girija might have thought that it would be easy to deal the maoists once the King is sidelined(i never liked the un-natural and imbalacned delhi-pact, though many bloggers favoured it). but situation proved him wrong. maoists are hard nuts they dont want to give up anything, girija gave them much needed access to the capital city and the international media exposure(i think that it is more than the ‘SPACE’ girija is seeking for maoists), just look at the presence of maoists carde at the Baluwatar today.
maoist insurgence is bigest mistake in the history of the country, only way the country resolve the issue is to eliminate prachanda and baburam and all the hardcore maoists.
the thing is, govt does not have to listen to the maoist anymore, as they are not going back to jungle(they have pledged it so many time) but is girija ready for any action? or he wants prachanda to make mistake before he initiates anything or else ready to wait forever?
“Baluwatar area, the official residence of Prime Minister of Nepal, was virtually captured by Maoists. In the bizarre twists of events, it seems that Maoists not the SPA is in the helm of Kathmandu”
tell that to wagle deepak-ji
he is one who disbelieved us when we told him ktm has been taken over by the maoist militia..
i guess now he will believe you..
the way it goes.. seeing is believing..
wagle is a dumbo, was a dumbo will always be a dumbo
very typical gloating by…you know what type of people. I guess we should brace ourselves for…who knows what!
i totally agree with pawan. The only way out of this crisis is to eliminates those barbaric junglese.
o’o. the one who says “eliminate ’em all” brands other as “barbaric junglees”? what a paradox? man, if the maoists are barbaric junglee, you’re no different!
i see in both of you the same persona.
k hun6 hola ni ab? pheri gam jan napaine ho ki? kati jhagan garne hun yinle? ab hami afain barta garam, ki kaso?
gamle, now gamle is in your town
Something smells bad from the talk Summit. It should be held in Tundikhel so that everyone is aware of what is goin on. We cannot trust the SPAs or the Maoists to decide the future of the Nepali people.
Do we need Monarchy with the fact that Paras Shah would be the next King? We need to think in a long term perspective. Maoists are on the plus side right now. They are backed by their armed guerillas. SPA has no force behind them. The former RNA, I doubt about it since it is still more loyal to King Gyanendra. The policy cannot be changed overnight, not to forget the CoAS also.
Basically, we all are in deep SHIT may be. It is definitely a tough task for Girija babu as well I am sure. May be he is somehow presurised from the Palace(organisation rather than just King) or something else which is not clear. There is something goofe goin on – Nepali people need to know it.
Peace talks are suspended, for how long do we live in a dilemna?
1) What is the point of having Constituent assembly election if you want to decide republic right now?
2) If you are trying to make changes forcefully on an ad hoc basis instead of democratic election, what is the difference between Maoist and Gyane? What is the point of April Movement to restore democracy?
3) I have seen a pattern in Nepal that whenever a group of people become arrogant and drunk with power, it leads to their demise. It happened to Panchayat, SPA, Gyane, and if Maoists are to act the same way and act undemocratically, people will bring them to the knees.
dont worry guys, it’ll soon be ok. there is no other option. they’ll sit in next round of talks soon and clear things out.
i’m optimistic.
SPAs should have courage to tell Maoists that untill PLA is disbanded there will be no meeting and no deal.
“In the bizarre twists of events, it seems that Maoists not the SPA is in the helm of Kathmandu.”
As I have said repeatedly, the Maoists have an army, the SPA doesn’t. The SPA is irelevant. Only the Maoist Army and the Nepal Army are relevant. Stop being so naive.
I’m sick of this. I see a day when the public is going to be so pissed off that people are going to start throwing bricks inside the P.M’s residence.
For heaven’s sake, Girija, old man, do something.
I don’t think the Maoists will go back to the jungle. I don’t think they can sustain the momentum of their struggle for too long. It’s a bluff and the SPA hopefully understands that.
Just J.F. Kennedy said “never be in position where you have to negotiate with fear but never fear to negotiate,” the former is applicable in regards to SPA. They have given in so much that only way they can negotiate is with fear with sole aim to maintain their relevancy and Maoist are dead on on their path to not give that chance to SPA. Have you ever heard points agenda from SPA whereas Maoist keeps on rolling down 5 points agenda etc., See how thw agenda is being twisted. Now, its the Monarchy issue rather than arms decommissioning. As being in the driver seat they are dictating the agenda for the talks not the other way around. So in the end- SPA has two option 1. give up and join Moaist as a coalition or 2. put up a fight which has no end. Where would place your bet?
Too much attention is given to Girija and Prachanda. The real stumbling block to this talks is the issue of NC – and the stumbling block is Deuba who should if he knew better unite with the mother party. Deuba has always been a trouble maker. History shows this.
We need elections period. We should just go for elections and the elected representatives can then decide the many issues. The question of treating the national army in par with the maoists party policy driven army is quite simply ridiculous. The issue of whether a party should pronounce itself a republican party or a ceremonial monarchy party is also another ridiculous idea. What does it matter what the PM’s view or a parties view is on monarchy or republic? It is the people who decide and party cadres themselves get their vote as well, not all Congress as individuals are for ceremonial monarchy just as not all communists as individuals are for a republic. This is a silly issue that Prachanda keeps latching on to.
If Prachanda is so dead sure that the majority of the people want a republic then he should be glad the Congress is talking of a ceremonial monarch, because as he is dead sure of the peoples wishes this should in his mind give him advantage in the elections over Congress. On the other hand if he thinks that there are many in favour of a ceremonial monarch and it would give Congress the advantage, then what can be more democratic then having parties representing all the views present in the people of Nepal?
If the Congress unite and Deuba leaves his childishness behing for the good of the party and the nation, the SPA will be in a stronger position to lay their cards on the table.
For the millionth time. These maoists are up to no good at all. All this is really just buying time. They are now all over the capital. Hopefully, not just the army but the people of the capital also have to get in the game to get rid of these thugs for good. Believe me the unity of the people against such thugs will be a short lived pain for the thugs as opposed to a long time suffering for the nation if we do nothing.
sl,
no using crying over here trying to make your point …
these dumbos will never learn to face the truth
wagle’s blog is only meant for maoist sympathizers..
I strongly belive wagle is in the pay roll of the CPN-Maoist and they are using him as a tool for Public Relationship..
thats why he disappears all the time in the name of some “fictional” trek and goes in the meeting to get his new orders from the higher command
The point is lost amongst us. Can anyone give a plausible reason that Maoist will adhere to Freedom, freedom of expression and indvidual rights. Can we give benefit of doubt to them? Lets not act naive, shall we.
SPA should have been the antithesis of Maoist but they lost that by joining hands with them and championing their cause and agenda;therefore, they lost the moral authority to negotiate and lead. No wonder the statement as “maoist being in the helm” is not much farther from the truth. The mess at Baluwatar proves my point, does it not.
Maoists and SPA, brothers and sisters:
This is not a time to dilly-dally. 27 million people have been held hostage for 10 grueling years with your indecisiveness. It is time to ask what you can give for the Nepal, but not ask what you can get out of the talks for yourself alone. Here are my suggestions in vain, though I dought any one involved in the talks will read this:
A. Try to reach consensus
B. If no consensus, try to reach for compromise
C. If no compromise, ask each party to vote on
each issues. Make each party’s stand public
.Respect the majority voice.
Mr. Wagle be clean;
People and even your friends journalists are suffocated by yesterdays act of maoist in PM’s resident. How long you defend the turmoil crisis infront of people, they are already crystal clear about future happening in the country…
Just wondering if those involved in brawl were real maoists or Mandales? In any case maoists are doing their own business as usual. They have been trained for this for decades and old habits diehard. What is amazing is their retort that even if Prachanda comes, they would not care ! Cadres are telling us something else, they are not under Prachanda’s control. Chairman it is high time you teach them real maoism or hooliganism will sweep you and Baburam soon
Tomato was very funny when s/he said that those involved in the brawl could be mandales as well. With all the “intricate” planning and “immaculate” party cadres maneuvering that the maoists claim to do– they could have easily used some more of their brutal force if they even had an inkling that the ones creating trouble could have been Mandales. But no, the maoists cadres who are now too busy extoritng money and partying all night long, were, after having taken over from the security personnels, too busy preventing the journalists from doing their jobs. These terrorists of yesterday and hooligans of today are a very dangerous to the Nepali people that Nepali is poised for a fate that Somalia has faced. When the maoists party eladers allow their party cadres to now have a free-for-all on virtually every issue, extort money from people who have hard earned it, mobilize the drivign license-less micro bus, taxi and tempo drivers to create chaos in the city, get their guirrillas to act as traffic police in the city, allow the party cadres to loot shops/homes as well as focibly live in people’s homes, how can we guarantee that such atrocities will not escalate once the same cadres see that their demi gods are in power. How will the brahmins like Pushpa Kamal and Baburam be able to put a stop to all the atrocities once they have assumed power. How will the same brahmins make sure that there will be no other arms uprising in Nepal when their party cadres who are now thriving on money they have extorted from others find out that such sources have finally dried up. When can the people in Nepal breathe freely? When will the Maoists spare this country and its citizens who have struggled for far too long but like it or not, they have never suffered as much as they are doing this very moment.
I want to add this bit as well– during the 19 days of so called april revolution, according to brahmin Pushpa Kamal,the call was for “nisarta” sabhidhan sabha. Now, if we are to declare wahtever it is that the same brahmin is demanding for (I think it is called republican democracy- but in the form that the brahmin will define sometime later)- then what happens to “nisarta’? Will brahmin Pushpa Kamal not let the people decide what they want? Or is he only as good as the lip service he has been doing for the past ten years?
Maoists are getting desperate.
I dont think they are ready to go back to the jungle and villages now. They all want a share of pie.
The pressure is on Maoists leaders who made false and impossible promises to their cadres. Time will come when Maoist Leaders will be victim of their own cadres.
Maoists leaders are to be blamed for planting the seed of violence and terrorism in Nepal. They all will have to face the consequence someday soon.
It will be nice to see Maoist Terrorist Leaders being punished (Jana Karbahi, so they say) by their own cadres.
Who is worse?
Maoist or Mandales !!!
Mandales are one of amongst the worst possible political pawns of Nepal. To make matters worse,
Maoists are 1 million times worst than mandales.
Have you ever heard of a Mandale hacking the limb or head off of a human being?
Have you ever heard of Mandale crushing the limbs of 70 year old elderly between hammer and anvil….
These are classical duties of Maoists.
I support what Shree Sherstha said:
Shree Shrestha says:
October 16th, 2006 at 8:38 am
SPAs should have courage to tell Maoists that untill PLA is disbanded there will be no meeting and no deal.
Yes, finally the discussion is moving in the right direction. Good point everyone!
Prachanda initially indoctrinated his lower cadres and now its coming back to hunt him. These lower cadres have nothing to gain from a peaceful settlement. Right now Girija and the SPA have so much more leverage then they realize!
My sources tell me that the SPA and the Maoists already have an ‘in principle’ understanding but for the purposes of public and their own cadres consumption are pretending that the road ahead is difficult. Real politik.
Pandit, i’m really ashamed that you sought help from the buggers! i’d thought of you as different than the harke, pyare and other buggers. but i’m proved wrong. you crap.
The SPA should sacrifice the king in exchange for arms management of the PLA. The RNA will always be loyal to the king and not to the people as long as the he is around-that’s dangerous. It’s like killing four birds with one stone-i. It will leave the Maoists little to fight for ii. It will ensure the end forever of any royalists manuevres iii. will ensure that the Army has no divided loyalties (even if they decide to do a coup it will have to be for themselves and they have no guts to do this) iv. This can be exchanged for arms ‘management’of the Maoists/PLA.
Kirat,
good point, sacrifice of king, so be it. but the question is: do the SPA have ‘geda’ to do that? until now they have been ‘geda moling’ of sri panch.
If you have geda or ghanta I do no know but the situation goes like this for long time, there is a danger that both the SPA and Maos will lose their whatever credibility they have. I want to see once that Maos going to jungles and declared again the terrorists. And we have to capture them alive all polit buros or kill in an “encounter”. That is the best solution like in Peru. The whole campaign of Maos will be dispersed or killed. TINA/ There is no alternative guys.
Hey Prof. what gives you so much confidence in our security forces? In the last ten years of hostilites with the Maoists, name one prominent Maoist leader that the security forces caught.
yahoo sadly the SPA has no balls.
tankey what are you talking about?
Name one prominent Royal Family Member or SPA Leader killed by Maoist.
Dear Pradhayapak Pyare,
my ‘geda’ should not be your concern, keep yours safe that’s all.
but you have raised a very intersting parallel between nepal and peru, the struggle is identical even the characters:
corrupt elected Fujimori resembles our own political leaders, our supremo Prachanda is mirror image of Guzman and other vested interest groups of business and oligarchs our own royals.
but my friend do not be in dark that Peru quelled Shining Path, it was the US.
how unfortunate US dosen’t have any interest in our politics, and we don’t have political and military might to ‘kill’ as you said, all moaist.
only option remains, who has stake in all this is India, ARE YOU READY TO GEDA MOLO of INDIA to get rid of moaist in Nepal?
until then stup up and stop talking like Simon Bolivar!!!
I have confidence on NA because they were never fully put on offensive by the PMs and the King.
i apologize for the harsh word i have used for the other commentor, but, sometime stupidity demands it.
read what you’ve posted in nepalnow. you’ll understand what i mean, if you haven’t already. you sought support of that crap bugger! he’s already exposed and you know what people think of him?
Pradhayapak Pyare,
same question to you, why was NA not put into it’s full might?