Amidst seeming deadlock, the political parties are busy in behind-the-scenes parleys and making tangible progress.
By Ameet Dhakal
The negotiations are mainly in two sets – between the Nepali Congress and the Maoists and between the government and the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF).
Negotiations between the Nepali Congress and the Maoists are focused mainly on four issues:
A. Return of seized property
B. Release of salaries for the combatants
C. Construction work at the cantonment sites, and
D. Monarchy.
Return of seized property
The Nepali Congress has taken a strong stance on return of seized property and has linked this to the release of salaries for the Maoist combatants. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala told Maoist Chairman Prachanda that the government would not release salary for the combatants if the Maoists did not return seized property. Finally, the two sides agreed that release of salary and return of seized property would progress simultaneously. “That’s why Dr Baburam Bhattrai and Dr Shekhar Koirala went to Dang last week, to facilitate the return of seized property,” said a source. But the Maoists received a jolt in Dang when their cadres and peasants refused to oblige and instead engaged in manhandling of NC cadres. Dang soon became a ‘test-case’ for whether or not the Maoist leadership could assert its authority on its own cadres.
But they succeeded in making significant progress in Dang Friday evening. Following a public statement by Maoist Chairman Prachanda on the return of seized property and strong directives from the Maoist high-command to the district leadership, Maoist and NC district leaders in Dang held a meeting Friday at which the former agreed to return the seized property of 83 people in the district. But they have held on to the property of 15 people saying they would be released after completion of the investigation. Maoist district commander Surya issued a press statement Thursday urging all the displaced to return to the district and reclaim their property.
“Now the government will release part of the pending salary for the Maoists combatants and release the rest as progress is made in returning seized property,” said an NC source. The prime minister has already agreed to provide a monthly benefit of Rs 3,000 each to the combatants starting from the day they entered the cantonments.
Construction at cantonment sites
The sub-human living condition at the cantonment sites was emerging as a major irritant in the peace process, with commanders at the cantonments threatening the Maoist leadership with revolt if things did not improve soon. Though the finance ministry had released funds for construction a few weeks ago a dispute over the modality for fund release at the site had held up construction work.
The Maoists were demanding that the money should go directly into the hands of the commander at the cantonment, but the government had proposed that it should go to a committee headed by the Chief District Officer.
A high level meeting this morning attended by four ministers — Ram Chandra Poudel, Dr Ram Saran Mahat, Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Hisila Yami — sorted out the issue.
They have agreed to form a committee with the chief at the cantonment site (a government under secretary), an engineer of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction and the cantonment commander as members. The cantonment site chief will oversee the funds. At the centre, the funds will go through the Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction headed by Maoist leader Yami. Finance Minister Dr Mahat informed the Post that his ministry has already released Rs 90.3 million for cantonment construction.
On Monarchy
The NC and the Maoist leaders haven’t discussed the monarchy much since they were preoccupied with “more pressing issues”. The Maoist public stance still remains that the monarchy should be abolished by the interim legislature before the nation goes to the constituent assembly (CA) poll. But NC sources say the Maoists haven’t raised the issue with the same vigor during closed-door negotiations. In all probability, the leaders are likely to agree on amending the constitution — a bill for which is already in the legislature — giving powers to the interim legislature to abolish the monarchy if it were found to be meddling with the CA poll. The implementation of past agreements on monarchy such as nationalization of the king’s property, scrapping of the army secretariat at the royal palace and further severing of the army’s ties with monarchy are other likely agreements.
MPRF, Govt near deal
The government has made significant progress in its negotiations with the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF). In its negotiations, the government has conceded the major demand of the MPRF — formation of a judicial commission to investigate the loss of life and property in the terai during the Madhes movement. The Commission, however, will also investigate the Gaur incident. The MPRF has demanded that the commission be led by a judge of Madhes origin but the government has told the Forum not to stick to any individual name. Once the government forms the commission the two sides will hold a formal dialogue and seal the deal. “Whenever the next cabinet meeting takes place we will form the commission,” Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel told ekantipur.
Significantly, the MPRF has dropped its demand for the resignation of Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula but has raised seriously the issue of security for its leaders since it fears retribution from the Maoists. “We are confident of resolving the rest of the issues with the MPRF when we sit for a dialogue the next time,” said Minister Poudel.
(Ameet Dhakal is the news editor of the Kathmandu Post where this article originally appeared.)
United We Blog 
Comments
94 responses to “Latest on Nepali Politics: Four Key Points”
Yes manan the infrastructure worth USD 800 million was destroyed during war, but it is clear now that it was not a war the people wanted it was Prachanda’s personal war. Many wars are fought for the right cause but Prachanda’s war is like the Iraq war – contrversial to say the least, and infact it is worse as it is against one’s own people. The Nepal govt. did not start the war, the Nepal govt. did not go underground, a party with miniscule seats after democratic elections decided to wreak havoc to gain power that is all. Their startegy worked but at the expense of the nation.
It’ s like saying if a man is sick let’s not give him medicine to try and make him better, let’s just kill him, that will solve th problem completely.
Manan,
I do not think ADB is corrupt, but people like you and your father are certainly corrupt.
As for Severn Trent, yes it is true they were mixed up in an accounting scandal and found guilty and charged. But this is the thing with democracies and free economies, people are caught for even minor things and they pay the price and move on. Severn Trent is doing well in the stock market now. What is the alternative, our own “clean and green” Nepal Water supply – when is the last time any of these government agencies were audited? When was the last time we had water running from our taps? What’s the use of paying for water that does not flow? What does Yami mean by public – private partnership? Where has she made it clear what her alternative is and who will manage the supply? Again our own Nepal Water, will any of you buy shares of Nepal water if it was floated publically? Which Nepali private firm would take up the management? And if there are some, do you really believe they will be doing transparent accounting? This is either Yami being stubborn to please her commie pals or Yami looking for a pay off from another management team.
Severn Trent was the ONLY bidder. There was noone else. Again, they were charged for accounting faults, and again when was the last time the govt. of Nepal was audited? When was the last time Minister’s were audited? Let’s not mix up accounting fraud with mass scale corruption.
Yami is not getting it from Baburam….thats the problem…she needs to try the other YCL goons and thugs.
Hishila Yami,
The ADB is going to cancel the Melamchi Project because of your stupidity. Now, what are you going to drink? Urine of the citizens of Kathmandu !! You are really a f’cking beach.
Nothing that’s going on in Nepal right now makes sense- the house passing legislations, the goonies talking about declaring Monarchy “extinct, the golpets asking for some other things to be “declared”. I believe all these exercises in futility are the result of people trying to prolong the drama, to justify their existence and to come out as the “hero of the day”. If you look at it from a rational perspective, you’ll see my point.
Since we are going to have a constituent assembly to supposedly “draft a constitution more in tune with people’s aspirations” (where the terms “in tune” and “people” can be bent to accommodate only the “special interest groups” that the golpets/goonies feel accountable for), doesn’t that mean that any and all pieces of laws will have to be compatible with the new constitution? Since the assumption is that the elections to the constituent assembly is going to be held in proper manner (although how that will happen with the looming rowdy rabble remains to be seen), doesn’t that mean that there cannot be any preconceptions about the nature of the constitution? How can these golpets assume that when the constituent assembly elections take place that the pieces of paper they have pushed through with their quasi-legal “legislative branch” will be compatible with the new constitution? That is, HOW CAN YOU ASSUME THE RESULTS OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY? What if the people vote for a ceremonial monarchy (hypothetical situation, hold your torches and your tyres). Doesn’t that mean that the bollocky piece of paper that they want to pass saying that Gyanu kaka is to go will be null and void?
Conclusion: Don’t waste time trying to predict the future. Rabble power does not equate to Legal power… If you truly want a “no-holds barred” constituent assembly, that means any and all topics are open for discussion… which logically means that making any “declarations” at present is a waste of everybody’s time. It’s about time the bloody elections were held to let the “people” decide. People we voted for several years ago and people we didn’t even vote for make up this unwanted House- it has far less of a legitimacy than an assembly we will vote for fearing for our lives if our “votes” aren’t in tune with groupthink.
PS: Your audience here seems to be very literate. “beach” :). If you want to curse AT LEAST use the right words.
Reading the above comments, i can’t HELP but be obliged to post this:
Nepal when PN Shah came along:
“Down with the petty states, Hurray for Shahs! Hurray for a unified nepal”
Nepal when JBR came along:
“Maybe this guy has some courage to do what the senile monarchy and the inept prime minister stooges couldn’t”
Nepal when Tribhuwan came along:
“Down with ranarchy, hurray for Monarchy”
Nepal when BP came along:
“Hurray for democracy”
Nepal when Mahendra came along:
“Down with corrupt democracy, YES TO PANCHAYAT”
Nepal Circa 1990 AD:
“Down with corrupt panchayat, YEAH TO democracy”
Nepal Circa 200X AD:
“Down with the corrupt “politicians”, Yes to Gyanu kaka”
Nepal Circa 2005 AD:
“Down with Gyanu, YES to SPA” (SPA = seven party “alliance” :))
Nepal Circa 2006 AD:
“YES TO SPA + Maoists, Yes to republic”
Nepal Circa 2007 AD:
“WE NEED AUTONOMY. LET US HAVE OUR PETTY STATES”
wohoo the cycle of life repeats.
Mr. manan’s post caught my eye “Nepal pays 154 million for nepali army, 18 million for maoists”
This is why we need to disband the white elephants. There is absolutely no point in having an army. There’s no way our screwed up economy or our antiquated weapons is going to withstand any invasion. Since the point of a standing army is to precisely to prevent invasions, and it is so utterly incapable of doing that, the solution is to disband it.
We are now in an era where invading countries for territory is passe. There are better (and bloodless) ways of achieving hegemony, as our neighbor down south has so clearly demonstrated. Plus no country in their right mind would invade us. There is just no incentive. yes yes, i hear the parrots yelling they want our land, our resources, our hydropower, Mt everest, gautam buddha, .
Now look at it rationally. Did we really “win” the british? No. They decided there was no bloody point in invading this wretched country if they could have whatever they demanded without bloodshed– i’m talking of course about installing stooges in the government (suffice to say, Indians have learnt well from their colonial masters). The result of the anglo-nepal war was that british got a steady supply of dimwitted mercenaries who did not think rationally (or as economists would call it did not do “cost benefit analyses”) and hence were “brave”.
To conclude, spending exorbitant sums of money on an institution that is prone to be manipulated by people to further their political ambitions, but otherwise useless, is unjustified. We need roads, schools, hospitals… not ridiculously named weapons like “minimi”.
-we are being shut-down our mouth and writing
-we are being kidnapped
-we are being threatened for donation
-our lands and properties are being seized
-We are being tortured
-Our family are being killed
– Our infrastructure costing to billions are being destroyed
Inreturn we Nepali with the instruction of Girija gave them
-83 sits in the parliament without election
-5 ministerial posts without public vote
-Rs.3,000 + Rs. 1800 with shelter to their 31,000 people
-government power to YCL to take law and order in their hand
400 free vehicles with hotels and shelter
And nominated them for noble peace prize
carry on….next rebels also expect the same
What a brilliant idea from Kanak…Nepal should stop having a military. A country of 30 million (after the latest illegal citizenship episode) with no military. Nepal should have no military because we are no match to Indians and China. And by same comparison India should have no military because US will blow up India in 3 damned days. Just 3…not a single day more. That was even accepted by a big Indian columnist in The Telegraph (of Calcutta) or somewhere. So why have military when India can get raped anytime? I know of no other nation in this world that does this. Not even Japan. Oh yes, there is Vatican city…surrogate territory of Italy that’s into this.
I think we need to really disband the 31,000 strong white elepahnts/YCL militants and terrorists and the SPA criminals and their cadres. What do you say Kanak? After all these white elephants have been responsible for killing at least 30,000 Nepalis. Their heads have link upto Al Qaeda. At least until RNA was and is there we can talk about not being annihilated completely by SPAM terrorists. Without the RNA we would all be killed and you would definitely be making roads, water, electricity, etc. for us.
I strongly believe that prevention of criminal activities should be the realm of trained policemen, and not of armies. No other country is into this? your limited knowledge doesn’t mean what i said is false. there ARE countries without standing armies.
What makes you think india can’t stand up to china? The threat of nuclear deterrance is very powerful. The cold war may be over, but Mutually Assured Destruction is still a strong deterrant against warfare.
As for your initiative to disband the “seven party” members, they are NOT drawing their salary from the governemnt… atleast not legally. So disbanding them will benefit/hurt/whatever the parties and shouldn’t affect the country. I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to these golpets… . disband, let them stay, double, who cares?
Kanak you lost your brain with your ability to read. India can’t Actually stand up to China. Just compare the ballistic missile ranges of China and India. And no, ballistic missiles don’t always carry nuclear weapons. China will probably take 7 days to capture India. But anyway, I said…USA (and not China) will subdue India in 3 days. And no, US won’t need nuclear bombs to subdue India. 3 day continuous pounding by 1,000 stealth bombers would be enough.
But again, US wouldn’t attack India. US wouldn’t use nuclear weapons on India. Neither would China.
Similarly India and China wouldn’t make a military attack on India…India was/is/will give Nepal a slow poisonous and painful death.
You stupid fool..;didn’t even take the case of SPAM warlords and criminals and how they are killing Nepalis…
Now, you are out of your nutts and cases to say that Police can control criminal activities. Police can absolutely control the SPAM warlords and their cadres and comrades?
An Army’s task is not only to defend country from foreign attack…an Army does a lot of other things. Go and decipher out ‘what are the tasks of an army’ before blabbering…
And yes, do count the number of times the army of any nation around the world has been used internally and externally.
Kanak, don’t waste your time talking to this noname idiot. He is a royalist psycho. I don’t think he understands the concept of ‘nuclear deterrence’. Anyone who disagrees with him, in his opinion, is a maoist!
You are right that the prevention of criminal activities should be a role for the police. But have you noticed the state of our police? Most of them are crooks themselves. The tarai problem, because of the present context here, needs the army to control it. Ofcourse whether they could do the job competently or not is anyones guess.
LOL @ Kirat. There you go. Anyone who is against the SPAM warlords should be silenced.
I guess you do not know the meaning of War without Nuclear weapons so you blabbered about Nuclear deterrence without being welcome in the entire discussion. Shock and Awe you see, shock and awe…that’s how wars are fought now.
By the way Kirat, what do you say about the Swords episode at the NSU’s convention? Democracy is thriving in your Lokantrik Nepal.
shock and awe…at how stupid you can get noname. really you are too ‘intelligent’ for me to get into a discussion with…so pi!$s 0ff!
LOL. No justifications. Only piss. SPAM warlords and their cadres and comrades…Kill and kill and kill even more.
And by the way, now that I will tell you what Shock and Awe is…you will come back and tell here that you already knew it…
Shock And Awe…the 2003 attack on Iraq…Perhaps we may need to get back to the 1990 invasion of Iraq??? Perhaps the battle between Alexander and Porus at the banks of Jhelum to talk about the Shock and Awe in the battle zone?
STFU because you can’t discuss with sanes.
this noname just wont quit. he gets weirder by the day. i have a strong feeling hes G himself typing away in desperation from his narayanhiti palace.
I’ve been warned against trying to reason with this no name person, but i’ll give it a shot anyway.
1. Nuclear deterrance.
It doesn’t matter whether india can totally destroy china (or the world) with its nuclear weapons. What matters (to china) is the fact that india has the capability of destroying a couple of its cities and in the process, wiping out a significant amount of infrastructure, civilians and resources. This fact that China is not “immune” from India acts as a deterrant against China for trying anything in a large scale (minor border infractions will not warrant nuclear use because the backlash will be extraordinarily harsh. A full scale invasion might, however, elicit some sympathetic ears).
one sentence summary: even a single bomb can do wanton damage. This is enough to be a deterrant against any large scale invasion.
2. army’s task is not only to blah blah
What else is the army’s task? Relief in times of natural disasters? That can be done by the police/militia given the resources that the army has. The army is in essence a bunch of people we feed just so they’ll prevent us from invasions. Invasion is not going to happen anytime soon… you seem to have understood this point at least with your “slow and painful death” rhetoric.
one sentance summary: 1. no country is interested in full scale invasion. 2. even if they were, our army is hardly a deterrant. Hence, no point in feeding this white elephant.
3. seven party, maoists and other bollocks
This simply means that the police has to be made more professional. This in no way justifies the continued existance of either the Maoist “militia” or the army. Taking weapons away from all “warring” parties and only allowing policemen to bear arm will be a significant stride. Maybe the army which is reputed to be more “professional” could be “partially merged” or be used to train the police?
Regardless, there is no justification of the army as either a defensive force or an offensive force.
4. “shock and awe”
Yes flinging a few key words here and there may make you “appear” to be smart, but unless you can substantiate your claims, or demonstrate its relevance to the discourse at hand, you are only making a fool out of yourself.
Too sad for you that I am not presently in Nepal. I burst your bubble. By the way patriot, your SPAM warlords and maoist cadres in particular have kidnapped a teacher in Siraha. Were you personally involved in the kidnapping? I hope not.
The counting is on…
Okay Kanak…as you want. Let’s rename the RNA as RPA (royal police force) but the tasks still remains the name…to wipe off criminal terrorists aka SPAM warlords and bring back some sort of sanity and peace in this country.
And “shock and awe” is just a small battle strategy. America brought down Iraq in 2.5 days with Shock and Awe strategy without nuclear weapons. Similarly it can do that to India…this is in no way I am saying that America will attack India. Read this in conjunction with my earlier comments where I try to rubbish your idea that Nepal should not have a military. One of the most ludicrous comments I have found in this blog.
You are giving it a shot Kanak…I will take your shots but remember I am a hard nut to crack and I don’t give in easily…not at least to SPAM criminals…none of them. I will take your words depending on which side of sanity you live.
History is a proof that an Army has never given up weapons…it just passes from one hand to other
Situation looks pretty bleak to me.
Apr 19, 2007
Are you optimistic about the outlook for the economy for the rest of the year?
Result
23% Yes
21.2% Cautiously
52.2% No
3.5% Don’t know/ can’t say
noname – unfortunately for you, I didnt kidnap the teacher, yes I did kill countless flies in my lifetime, if that makes me spawn of SPAM warlords go ahead, revel in it.
Shock and awe is not the new military paradigm. Its basis is the huge technological lead that one country has over the other… only the US and countries like UK, China, etc. have that much of a technological lead to actually make it feasible.
If the iraq war has shown anything, it’s that assymetric warfare is the new paradigm. Armies are fallible; “invisible” guerrillas operating in dense urban centers (where the “shock and awe” is useless because of the potential civilian casaualties) are the new “workhorses” of defense.
Briefly consider this: should any country, ANY COUNTRY, choose to invade nepal, what kind of a resistance can the army mount? It will only be a matter of time before we’re invaded.
Even if we need an army for “domestic” defensive purposes. The army in its current size and budget is useless.
PS: what’s all this talk of SPA warlords? who are they? where do they have the “militia”? More details please.
Nepal should keep a small token army. Sometimes armies prove to be useful–in natural disasters, etc. Plus, if we didn’t have an army, we’d have had the Maoists take over Nepal entirely.
But we can do without a huge, bloated army. Have a small, lethal force. We could do what the Brits do and look for the best fighters among our so called ‘martial races’–Rai, Gurung, etc. Make a small and professional army which would be able to respond to emergency situations.
“Severn Trent was the ONLY bidder. ”
Isn’t that suspicious ?
No it is’nt suspicious. Infact I was amazed that there were bidders at all.
This Hsila Yami is a disaster. One cabinet approves the ADB proposal another rejects it within a year. This surely is going to create a real good precedence for ADB/World Bank to fund more projects in Nepal.
matribhumi-
Your suggestions are absolutely correct, I agreed with you. Nepalese must leave the country as soon as possible. ONE DAY NEPAL WILL BE FOR SALE FOR SURE
Welcome to Nepal, the land ruled by Koiralas, Dahals, Bhattarais,Nepals and their ilk. Really with their self serving culture of ‘me, myself and mine’ what can be expected?
Likes of Yami are too excited over new found power that they’re desperate to implement their communist ideas on everything they can lay their hands on often surpassing all rationales.
Now “Upper Seti” (127 MW power secotr) is going from the hand of these crooks Dahal (Prachanda), Nepal, Bhattarai, Koirala, Sitaula ilk brothers.
matribhumi,
Almost all people are suggesting all their friends and relatives to leave the country if possible. We don’t see any good scope from spaM government. They only became successful to divide our nation into two groups Madhesi and Pahadia. Among the spaM, Sadbhavana (anandi devi) already threatened to divide the nation if maoist, UML and NC tries to give support to Chure Bhabar instead of addressing the genuine demand of the madhesi. Here is no rule of law and security in Nepal, rule of law is in the hand of culprits.
“Almost all people are suggesting all their friends and relatives to leave the country if possible. We don’t see any good scope from spaM government. ”
Go, Go, Go, all losers go away. We shall be better off without you. Mother Nepal will be happier without all Mandales.
well the plan of maoists is to chase intellectuals, and the educated people away by making it difficult to stay hear so they can dictate poor helpless farmers and rape and pillage as they want, and say what a success they have been. I’m afraid this “mandale” is staying here to make sure that is not the case, comrade junior.
By the way junior why are you so bitter ? Did you get refused a US visa recently or maybe you are the Subedi guy himself who was refused? people get refused these visas for all types of reasons whether educated or not, there are many technicalities. Of course it does not help strengthen the case for US visas if you are a comrade as well.
I think mother Nepal will be happier without killers and dividing the nation.
realitybites (20:28:38) :
Welcome to Nepal, the land ruled by Koiralas, Dahals, Bhattarais,Nepals and their ilk. Really with their self serving culture of ‘me, myself and mine’
what can be expected?
Answer: Nothing, things are just as it is.
If possible, apply for the presidentship and be the first president of nepal. and then devast all culprit bahun leaders. and send them to the hell alive.
To whom it may concern: whoever the present government that is: resign!!! Like the most politicians do, when you find yourself so pathetically helpless to do anything to controll the mess and atrocities that have been going on in Terai and around – the best thing to do is resign and let someone who can handle the situtions take over. Give a young and able leadership a chance!
You can not allow Nepal to become ethinically devided country, get the madheshi to sit and talk – they can not indiscriminately go after law abiding, hardworking folks and do whatever they want. That is insane! Every Nepali citizen must be treated with respect and dignity regardless of their ethenicity.
how useless can a goernment get than the kind of government we have in place (BTW, do we have a govt?)– now, they are blaming India’s elections for having no petrol supply for the next three days— saturday being closed in Nepal, Sunday closed in India, Monday elections in Bihar so we will get our supply only on Wednesday– and if your not one of the corrupt thugs or are a terrorist, then you will not get passes to get petrol under the most favored client scheme/ Bihar elections were annouced six months ago, and Saturdays and Sundays have been closed in the respective countries for god knows how many years, so, why wait till May 25th Friday to deliver the bad news of the people, people holding certain positions are supposed to plan ahead- and sadly, these SPAM thugs and their political appointees are anything but responsible to people. Oh wait, I think there is another excuse that can be thrown in– Nepal is in transition on the way of becoming a New Nepal… well, at the rate we are going, this might be a transition waiting to be NO Nepal…..
I think it’s time for another Janandolaan. This time to chase these Maoists and their affiliated scum like YCL, their trade unions, student and teachers unions out of the country. Despite their high sounding rhetoric we can see that all they will end up doing in the end is to destroy our country.
Well at least the Quasi Republic we have has no King that just wants war and death, and who tortures his people. The government should declare a republic now, so that the king can not use time to get allies who can make shenanigins that get him dictatorial power, that causes a proper war again. He is the big fear, the real killer of many many Nepalis. We need a republic as it least that is one cahievement getting rid of the king and his corrupt lineage
It’s very simple to find out any matter on web as compared to textbooks,
as I found this paragraph at this site.