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#309 4 - 10 August 2006 16 pages Rs 30 Maoists are on a public relations offensive out west Weekly Internet Poll # 309 Q. How hopeful are you that the UN mission will be successful in overseeing arms management? Total votes: 3,359 Sword into ploughshare Weekly Internet Poll # 310. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Rate the performance of the seven party alliance government after 100 days in office. RAMESWOR BOHARA RAMESWOR BOHARA help us in the fields, so we are power comes from the people. “If Many still think the ceasefire in SURKHET not as afraid as we used to be.” the leaders decide to disband the is another Maoist ploy. But Just three months of ceasefire, PLA we will go along with it,” Comrade Ramesh appears contrite, s he readied his paddy and it is hard to to tell that these says Comrade Pratik of the rebel's “We will now turn from terrace for planting last lush green hills have been soaked Sixth Division. destruction to development.” z Aweek, Ram Bahadur Gurung with blood the past ten years. The of Gumi VDC in Surkhet got a Maoists murdered party workers, pleasant surprise. A group of teachers, traders. More died in armed Maoists volunteered to help brutal crackdowns by state Farewell to arms? him. security. The high-level UN mission lead by Staffan de Mistura returned to New Some comrades ploughed the The rebels cut suspension York Thursday without being able to persuade the Maoists and the field, others used the hoe and the bridges, blew up telecom towers, government to come up with a common position on demilitarising before women guerrillas waded knee-deep roads, radio transmitters, elections. into the slush to plant paddy. The hydropower stations, making this “There is a lack of trust on the techniques of arms management,” de People's War now has a different isolated region even more remote. Mistura told reporters at the airport on Thursday, but focus here in western Nepal: to win Development has been set back added, “on this the UN can help.” Editorial p2 hearts and minds. decades, as VDC buildings, health The visit did provide a sense of urgency to the peace process which was stuck because of a The peace riddle Aware that the people blame posts, schools and drinking water deadlock over arms. De Mistura tried to hurry things them for past brutality, the rebels systems were demolished. up by hinting at a Thursday deadline, but analysts said it may have been are on a public relations offensive. “We were at war and had to too much to expect a breakthrough so quickly. Ram Bahadur had got used to being obey party decisions,” explains “We’re hoping there is a momentum, I’m not disappointed,” de forced to give shelter to Maoists Comrade Jitendra, “we won’t Mistura said, “if they come up with some kind of consensus while we are and feed them. Now he doesn't make that mistake, the focus now back in New York we will take that into account.” SUBSCRIBERS know whether he can trust the is not the war.” The UN team spent a week in Nepal and actively tried to bring the two sides together. It will now report to Did your paper arrive on time this guerrillas who still have rifles It is clear that comrades who Secretary General Kofi Annan and morning? If not, call our slung over their shoulders. “They till recently believed that power discuss a possible future UN Complaints Hotline 9841405820 say there will be peace now,” says a came out of the barrel of a gun monitoring mission to oversee the and talk to Radhe Shyam. wizened 70-year-old farmer, “they now seem to be convinced that peace process. Full story p13 2 EDITORIAL 4 - 10 AUGUST 2006 #309 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Associate Editor: Anagha Neelakantan Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Bhushan Shilpakar Vicepresident Corporate Affairs: Sneh Sayami Advertising: Sambhu Guragain [email protected] Subscription: [email protected] Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur [email protected], GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu Tel: 5543333-6, Fax: 5521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5547018 Nepal’s high noon www.nepalitimes.com The reel life relevance of the classic western PEACE RIDDLE to today’s Kathmandu There is a Nepali folk riddle that goes something like this: a escribed by many as the er, politicians we are told (how and the suspense as the clock farmer needs to take a goat, a tiger and a pile of grass across a definitive western, High about that, isn’t that a shock?). tick-tocks away towards high narrow bridge to the other side of the stream. He can only take DNoon was made in 1952. His three partners (one of noon is managed with finesse. one thing at a time, but if he takes the grass first the tiger will eat Ok, that’s a while ago, pardner, them a very young high- The dialogue (very little action in the goat. If he takes the tiger, the goat will eat the grass. What even before an old geezer like me. cheekboned Lee Van Cleef who this movie) makes it great. Take does he do? When movies today are plays “Bad” opposite Clint this nugget of a response he The UN’s de Mistura mission must have encountered a churned out for either maximum Eastwood in The Good, Bad, and gets as an old friend declines to similar problem while dealing with the government, army, Maoists, pyrotechnic effect or pretend to the Ugly) are waiting for him at help him: parliamentarians in Kathmandu this week. Of course, it would be the train station where he is to “You risk your skin catching great if you could trust the tiger not to eat up the goat, or if explore tough issues but come up arrive at Noon. They plan to killers and the juries turn them you could talk the goat into not being greedy and leave the with the usual answers (ie, Bush grass alone. proceed to town and kill Will loose so they can come back and It would be lovely if everyone trusted each other, but it doesn’t Kane, the town’s marshall, shoot at you again. If you’re GUEST COLUMN played by the legendary actor honest you’re poor your whole work that way in the real world. So you have to resort to what Pravin Rana conflict resolution experts call ‘sequencing’. De-escalation Gary Cooper, who put Frank life and in the end you wind up carried out in proper order so that there is no need for the two Miller away in the first place. dying all alone on some dirty sides to distrust each other. is bad and the clueless and News spreads amongst the street. For what? For nothing. For Luckily, the Nepal conflict is still a political one, and at the Americans are behind all the ills townsfolk of Frank Miller’s a tin star.” moment there is political will on both sides to resolve it through of the world) High Noon is a imminent arrival and there isn’t a One knows exactly how the negotiations. As de Mistura himself said when he arrived, this has relevant blast from the past. soul willing to stand up to Miller Nepali security forces and some made his job much easier because the UN is usually being called and the boys. The judge skips plain-spoken diplomats feel right to firefight in wars where the blaze is out of control. Well at least Thucydides, town, the deputy sheriff is too now. And then there is his wife The sticking point is still that the Maoists don’t want to lay Hobbes, and Churchill might down their arms immediately because a) they don’t trust the army agree as might many of the Nepali self-absorbed, would-be posse Helen’s alternative take: and b) five of their own seven field commanders have expressed security forces that fought so members are either too cynical or “My brother was 19. I watched reservations. And the Nepal Army, as the armed force of a hard the last ten years. believe Frank Miller can’t be him die. That’s when I became a legitimate state power, doesn’t want the Maoists to be put on the Minimalism is the movie’s defeated, and the town criers and Quaker. I don’t care who’s right or same pedestal and is against any kind of arms quarantine. strength. Shot in grainy black leaders think it best that Marshall who’s wrong. There’s got to be Intractable as these two positions may seem, a formula and white, the story unfolds in Kane get the hell out of town. some better way for people to acceptable to the army and the Maoists is possible: both sides the span of a few hours in a town And Kane is ready to get out live.” confine troops to barracks and keep weapons under monitored called Hadleyville. Frank Miller, himself. The theme of High Noon is storage while the UN supervises the ceasefire and the runup to a brutal killer, was sentenced to You see, he just got married classic and therefore withstands constituent assembly elections. The only disagreement is about that morning and plans to ride the test of time. Stand up and whether those weapons should be under lock and key. death some five years ago but off into the sunset with Helen, fight the bad guys because you There is a consensus among the international community that manages to receive a pardon from, the Maoists can’t be a part of an his Quaker wife, played by yet see them for who they are even in interim setup while still openly another beautiful legend, Grace the face of massive resistance carrying arms.