#404 13 - 19 June 2008 16 pages Rs 30 Weekly Internet Poll # 404 Q. What should be the priority for politicians now? Total votes: 4,516 Weekly Internet Poll # 405. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. How do you think the government handled the king’s departure from Narayanhiti? BILASH RAI/KIRAN PANDAY Home Same to same KUNDA DIXIT Minister Koirala. president’s post as not just integration of Maoist guerrillas The Maoists had shown ceremonial but a way to balance into the army should be on the ing Gyanendra may have flexibility this week by agreeing Maoist dominance of the basis of qualification as agreed in been a divisive force ever to a non-political president and a government. the peace accord. The Maoists K since he became king in simple majority to form and sack After the three-party task force want all their guerrillas to be 2001, but he was a unifying factor governments, but negotiations got failed to reach a deal, Prime integrated into the national army. in keeping the parties and Maoists stuck once more on the issue of Minister Koirala and Chairman A compromise can be reached together. With the monarchy gone, army integration and on who the Dahal met Thursday at Baluwatar under which some PLA are taken who will the parties now blame president should be. Both to give it another try. But by the into the army, when things go wrong? sticking points have to do with afternoon, all seven Maoist while the Two weeks after the the military: the army doesn’t ministers had handed their remainder are EDITORIAL declaration of the republic, the want to induct ex-guerrillas and resignations to Dahal. recruited into Level the debate over who should be the it doesn’t want a Maoist “The new government needs other security playing field p2 first president is deadlocked. Two commander-in-chief. to be formed so that it reflects the apparatus. “If months after the elections, the “It was just a tactic to show people’s mandate, which is why it was only up to us, we could Maoists have still not been able they were flexible. Actually the we have resigned from our reach an agreement, but there are to form a government. On Maoists are as rigid as ever on all ministerial positions,” outside stakeholders exerting Thursday they resigned points,” says Gagan Thapa, an NC said Minister for Forests and Soil pressure,” senior Maoist Ram from the government to put assembly member. Conservation Matrika Yadav. Karki told Nepali Times. further pressure on Prime The NC and UML see the The UML and NC insist that Subhas Devkota 2 EDITORIAL 13 - 19 JUNE 2008 #404 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda Dixit CEO: Ashutosh Tiwari Design: Kiran Maharjan part of a packaged deal. Who party to reach out selectively on Director Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Marketing Manager: Sambhu Guragain the ground and project itself as Asst Managers: Deepak Sangraula, Subhash Kumar, Tanka Sitaula becomes the head of state is Subscriptions: Nawaraj Guragain Tel: 5542535/5542525 inextricably linked with sincere in facilitating basic Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur We [email protected] GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu 5250333/845, Fax: 5251013 who joins the government in amenities. Indeed, this week www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5250017-19 what capacity. she took a group of journalists ain’t If the NC gives up the around town to show them presidency, it will drive a hard improvements. Pampha Bhusal bargain later for plum portfolios. at the ministry of women, LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD seen If the Maoists let Koirala stay children and social welfare was The king has been sent packing in a uniquely Nepali way. Unlike on, they will extract the in a position to provide the revolutions in Tehran, Addis Ababa or Bucharest, the maximum concessions claiming handouts as well as influence Narayanhiti Palace was also mobbed—but by journalists. In the to be the biggest party, as well as INGOs through control of the end, the king drove off quietly. Now the real work begins to make nothing for having been flexible on Social Welfare Council. Matrika democracy deliver development. other fronts. Yadav may rant against History repeats itself as farce. We have voted to power a After being perceived as an corruption in his ministry, but utopian ideology that the rest of the world paid for with the death yet establishment party despite the forest department helped of tens of millions. One could never accuse Nepali politicians of rarely having had a decisive say generate campaign funds. being ahead of the times, but we had never realised till now just in state affairs, the UML is But it was through Deb what a bunch of dinosaurs they are. That was just reluctant to join the government. Gurung’s handling of the There were socio-political reasons for the Maoist victory, of course. Perhaps contributing to it also was our collective blind the trailer; let But it remains to be seen Ministry of Local Development spot for history and the deliberate airbrushing of atrocities in the the show whether they can resist the that the party benefited the past century. temptation and pressure when most. The real battle for the But live with it we must as Pushpa Kamal Dahal becomes commence the chorus of a national new Nepal is being fought at prime minister, and as the largest party forms the government in government picks up. the VDC level. Before the the coming week. That is as it should be. But there is a nagging he debate over the The MJF is divided on the ceasefire, the Maoists had worry that he is going to Singha Darbar without completely giving presidency has stretched issue. Upendra Yadav has sent hegemony over most of these up his guerrilla ways, without disbanding his private army, without on for so long because the out feelers for the deputy prime- areas anyway. Now through reining in the men in YCL tracksuits, and while keeping his T ministership, but he will have legitimate control of the state options open for a violent takeover. NC and UML think of it not merely as a ceremonial post, but to convince other central apparatus, ably assisted by a Recent opinions in Maoist mouthpieces and the speeches of committee members that joining violence-prone cadre, the party their leaders haven’t helped allay concerns. These are one that can balance the Maoists. unreformed revolutionaries, in fact the very word ‘reform’ is a bad However, it is the way in which the government—and has only become stronger on word in their lexicon. Words that the world thought had been collaborating with Maoists— the ground. consigned to the dustbins of history are now staple fare in the will not mean losing their base In contrast, Sher Bahadur Maoist-controlled state media. At times the statements contradict TARAI EYE in the Tarai. He may therefore Deuba was happy to get his each other, but there is a consistent message: the end goal of a Prashant Jha demand the incorporation of a crony the lucrative ministry of totalitarian people’s republic hasn’t changed. few Madhes-related clauses in water resources. The only Our Maoists justify the Khmer Rouge genocide, saying it was an agreement or as a part of an achievement of the UML- “western propaganda”. Every Maoist mass meeting has, among the new government is formed amendment. The TMLP will controlled education ministry the portraits of international communists, the picture of Stalin, the wait for Indian instructions. was the appointment of vice- man responsible for millions of deaths in the gulags. Political and portfolios allocated which will have even more significance But there is one lesson all chancellors in the universities. indoctrination of Nepal’s Maoists includes the glorification of the the other parties must learn Sahana Pradhan did little to Cultural Revolution, forgetting that tens of millions of Chinese and long-lasting consequences on died in Red Guard purges and from starvation. the ground. from the Maoists. During the professionalise the foreign The international community should know that unrepentant Yes, the two processes are past year, Maoist ministers used service. Madhesi ministers were revolutionaries who refuse to learn from history are bound to interlinked and it will all be a their departments to consolidate thrilled with their monopoly repeat it, but there isn’t much they can do if Nepal does turn as well as contribute to their on industries and supplies and totalitarian. Regimes like North Korea and Burma survive party’s electoral success. The used it to dole out licenses. and continue to oppress their people in this day and age, party was supreme and the There is a danger that the despite international sanctions and the appointment of UN ministries provided the means debate over ministries will get Special Envoys. to make the party stronger. It is stuck around home, finance, India, too, is not going to stick its neck out for the protection of obviously not the right thing to defence and foreign. The home democracy when energy imports or hydropower are at stake. It is do, because one is a minister f ministry is especially eager to do business with the Myanmar military and Bhutan’s or the country and not for important, given the state of ethnic cleansers. The protection of our democracy, pluralism and the defence one’s party. lawlessness in the country. But of civil space rests with us Nepalis alone. In this, we have no Krishna Bahadur Mahara’s the other parties should realise option but to support entities that espouse these values even control of the state media that they can change things on though they may have not fared well in the polls.