Nepal's First Feature Film to Use Digital Techonology

#324 24 - 30 November 2006 18 pages Rs 30 Weekly Internet Poll # 324 Q. Are the peace accord deadlines set for the coming weeks realistic? Total votes: 2,842 Weekly Internet Poll # 325. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Do you expect the interim constitution to be an adequate and fair document? BILLI BIERLING PEACE BELLS Now to make peace deliver development to a ravaged land KANAK MANI DIXIT years of violence. Jana Andolan II. Going against be a measure of the success of the The peace agreement, though the populism which had made agreement signed last Tuesday he credit for the couched in language that appears the intelligentsia reluctant to evening. While Dahal has Comprehensive Peace balanced equally against the state challenge the Maoists, Koirala thankfully TAgreement goes to the and rebels, makes demands on followed his own course, turned out to be political parties of Nepal— the Maoists to abandon violence utilising the stature he had more politician Editorial p2 detested by the extreme right in word and deed. It is, finally, acquired even with the rebel than Making it work royalists, the Maoist supporters though not in so many words, the leadership. revolutionary, of the far left, and Kathmandu declaration of abandonment of And what of Pushpa Kamal we now have to await the CPN Valley's upper crust. As the ‘People’s War’. Dahal? He showed nerve and steel (Maoist) as a whole to convert responsible, elected people's This is Girija Prasad Koirala’s in turning his insurgency a full from a militarist force into a representatives, they reached a hour of recognition, having held 180 degrees, and bringing his political party, one that does not magnanimous compromise with out against international commanders along with him. extort, abduct, threaten, and act the CPN (Maoist), to keep the naysayers and standing steadfast Whether he can now bring along as if nobody would notice. latter from reverting to brutality against Maoist attempts to deliver his entire cadre as well is the next and saddling society with more a less-than-pluralistic finale to challenge, one which will truly Full story p4 2 EDITORIAL 24 - 30 NOVEMBER 2006 #324 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Editor: Sophia Tamot Executive Editor: Anagha Neelakantan Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Rupendra Kayastha Desk: Jemima Sherpa Vicepresident Corporate Affairs: Sneh Sayami Director, Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Subscription: [email protected] Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur The more things change [email protected], GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu 5543333-6, Fax: 5521013 www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5547018 The Maoists now trust India, but let’s not buy into the impression of reciprocity MAKING IT WORK epal’s Maoist party no represented a threat to the Nepali The peace accord this week is the formal declaration of a of multiparty democracy in the longer see India as the people when the government in name of the ‘Nepali people’. Now cessation of armed conflict. Nepalis are rightly euphoric. A ‘reactionary power’ they situation which seemed to get darker the longer you looked at it N New Delhi was supporting the New Delhi supports the SPA- now seems contained, manageable. railed against for some years, and monarchy and what was then Maoist government in the name of But the road in the months ahead will not be smooth or whose malign influence they called the Royal Nepal Army supporting the Nepali people’s straight. No matter how hopeful we are, there will be bargaining, sought to remedy in their initial against the ‘People’s War’. Now rights. waffling, and fighting out the details of a complicated process of 40-point agreement. that India seems to have New Delhi’s mantra is strange normalisation. Kathmandu’s elite is happy accepted his party’s claim to when it shows so little regard for In this space, we have always maintained that the Maoists with the change of heart. Most political power it no longer its own vast masses of poor, need time to convince their hothead commanders about the peace Nepalis do not believe a prime represent a threat to the people dalits, adivasis, and religious process. This is called giving the Maoists the benefit of doubt. of Nepal. But right until the deal was signed, the comrades gave us less minorities. New Delhi boasts of For decades, the Indian and less reason to trust them. Their recruiting spree to pad their being the world’s largest GUEST COLUMN ruling elite supported the Nepali democracy and an emerging cantonments and fool the UN into thinking they really have 35,000 Tapan Bose warriors included forced enlistment of school children, hotel monarchy, which behaved in a economic power but, bowing to workers, and young villagers. Just as there are reasons to doubt feudal, autocratic manner. The the dictates of the WTO, the the Maoists’ sincerity, it is also possible that residual royalists monarchy perpetrated a system World Bank and the IMF, it are still plotting a comeback. minister can annoy India and of government based on introduces agricultural policy But all sides and their leaders, no matter how far they believe still remain in power, and privileges and denial, and harsh reforms that drive thousands of they have come, can’t turn this into another political wrangle for political ‘realists’ believe the suppression of dissent. Yet farmers to suicide, strips labour of power and posts. change was inevitable. The India, the largest democracy in rights, and virtually gives away We cannot afford to lose sight of what is really at stake here. integration of the CPN (Maoist) the world, supported it. New vast tracts of farmland and We need to move forward, not slide right back into the old ways of into the ‘mainstream’ is almost Delhi continues to support the thinking, complete with selfishness, parochialism, and lack of hundreds of villages for ‘Special complete. autocratic king of Bhutan and is vision. Nepalis have sacrificed and suffered far too much to settle Economic Zones’ where Indian Pushpa Kamal Dahal has friendly with Myanmar’s citizens will have restricted entry. for that. thanked the Indian government Second chances don’t come around often. We’ve got one now, military dictators. The Indian If India does in fact accept the but it’s also a last chance to get this right. Outside of party for allowing them and SPA ruling elite supports ‘official’ Maoist party’s ideology, it could agendas, what should a future Nepal look like? How can we move representatives to meet on Indian killers and abusers of human be faced with more than just a past Kathmandu and think for the nation as a whole? How can soil. He’s also said that without rights, and frowns upon ‘non- logical disconnect in having a Nepalis move out of the shadow of fear: of guns, discrimination, India’s tacit consent the12-point official’ or ‘non-state’ armed socialist society next door. hunger, and hopelessness? Some of the answers are obviously understanding of November 2005 struggle. The Comrade has also said that political, but others concern social justice and reaching out to the would not have been possible. The CPN (M) no longer the real threat to socialism is the forgotten, the hungry in Karnali, dalits who barely survive on the The Comrade says India espouses Marx’s dictum that United States. He warns that the fringes of life in ‘force is the midwife of every old Saptari. neo-conservative-ruled US might society pregnant with a new Yes, the peace create a Nicaraguan Contra-type process is important, one’. Instead, the Maoists appear force in Nepal with the remnants but there is nothing to have accepted the theory of of the royalists and renegade stopping the interim ‘peaceful’ transition to a ‘new elements of the RNA to overthrow government from also social order’ through the new government and create moving quickly to ‘competitive democracy’. In political chaos. restore this country’s making this switch, they have It seems unlikely that India, momentum on become acceptable to India. as it follows the neo-imperialist education, healthcare, The CPN (M) say it expects path of the US and strives to microcredit, and India will support a republican become a strategic partner, would investment to create Nepal, should the constituent jobs. That’s what this support its socialist regime in its assembly decide on it. Let’s put has been about all backyard. And if the US did along. The parties all realpolitik aside, and look ahead. decide to support armed gangs lost sight of it once. The class character of India’s in Nepal, what would New Delhi We can’t make the ruling elite cannot have changed do? same mistake again. overnight. New Delhi supported the monarchy and the ‘twin Tapan Bose is Secretary General of the South Asia Forum for Human Rights. DEEPENDRA BAJRACHARYA pillar’ theory during the 13 years The future of the past 21 November was fraught with meaning, now we need more than symbols ‘Wonder’ was the oft-repeated word at the humbly sat at the back as the decade-old have to deliver, as their secretaries in the home to face those they had until recently signing ceremony of the Comprehensive civil war was declared over. The Nepali districts face the wrath of sympathisers, coerced, abducted, fleeced, and oppressed. Peace Agreement on Tuesday evening. Congress had reasons to celebrate on supporters, followers, part-timers, and full- The anger of people whose near and dear Everyone seemed surprised. Prime Wednesday. time cadres. Comrade Chairman’s have been tortured, maimed, or killed by the Minister Girija Prasad Koirala claimed he But ground realities have to change organisational ability will need to kick into military or militants will require more than had stunned the international community significantly if the rest of us are to feel free high gear.

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