#215 24 - 30 September 2004 20 pages Rs 25 A dove of peace and the dogs of war loiter outside Singha Darbar on Thursday. ADRIFT KUNDA DIXIT around the corner and the festive of political opportunism at a time mood will set in by next week. of national crisis, and hope that if ow that the rains are over, the Koirala knows his demand for the power is handed to a second tier of N four parties protesting King restoration of the house isn’t leaders, a reunited NC could be a Gyanendra’s October Fourth grabbing people. Most still see the bulwark against the Maoists. are back on the streets. agitation as being motivated by But rumours of a rift between Girija Prasad Koirala can’t power. Singha Darbar and Naryanhiti over stand this government because it is Koirala loyalist Narahari the India visit are rife, and some lead by the man he blames for Acharya denies this, and says the coalition ministers admit things are splitting his party. Also, Sher NC wants the street agitation to looking shaky ahead of King Bahadur Deuba was made prime push the government to begin Gyanendra’s own India visit before minister by King Gyanendra peace moves. “We want to give the Dasain. invoking the ‘regressive’ Article government no choice but to All this is a sideshow to the real 127, and Deuba’s coalition negotiate with the Maoists,” he issue of resolving the Maoist includes the UML, which ditched adds. question. The political forces are him. But the belief among partners all bent on depriving each other of So, Koirala wants to use any that Koirala is offering himself as the reward for restoring peace, and pretext to bring Deuba down: prime minister under Article 127 the military has leaned on accusations of selling out to India, has frayed the opposition alliance. peaceniks in the Deuba coalition to the double-whammy oil price hikes, The other reason to resume the tone down talk of truce. The rebels failure to curb the 1 September street agitation could be Koirala’s have declared a two-day banda arson, even the airport incident need to flex muscles after his run-in Monday and Tuesday prompting when a soldier stopped him from with the CIAA and the Supreme speculation they may be up to a driving to his plane. Court over a probe on his alleged dramatic offensive to force the But time is not on the rump ill-gotten wealth. government to talk. l four-party alliance's side, Dasain is Nepal’s donors blame Koirala (With reporting by Navin Singh Khadka) MIN BAJRACHARYA Weekly Internet Poll # 155 Q. How would you characterise Prime Minister Deubas India visit? Total votes:871 Weekly Internet Poll # 156. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Should the petroleum distribution and sales in Nepal be privatised? 2 EDITORIAL 24 - 30 SEPTEMBER 2004 #215 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Desk Editor: Jemima Sherpa Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Bhushan Shilpakar Advertising: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Subscription: Anil Karki, [email protected] Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Target: the army and India Tel: 01-5543333-6, Fax: 01-5521013 [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 01-5547018 The rebel strategy is to make the cost of not negotiating unbearable NOT THE PEOPLE’S WAR ne week before Prime communiqué that the Maoist their peoples war in Feburary Minister Sher Bahadur insurgency in Nepal was a 1996, the Maoists had stepped young Nepali boy came late for the candle-lighting ceremony at O Deuba travelled to New common problem but that there up their anti-Indian rhetoric. Maiti Ghar on the eve of the World Peace Day. The congregation A Delhi with the Maoist crisis at was no military solution to it, While still aboveground, their was going home, but the boy lit his candle as we watched, held it in the cup of his hands hands for a long time and prayed. A violin the top of his agenda, the rebels New Delhi seemed reluctant to leaders poured scorn at Indian mourned the passing of ten thousand Nepali souls since the start of stick its neck out any further. hegemony and expansionism in the Maoist insurgency. GUEST COLUMN Still, Deuba came back with a public meetings in Kathmandu. The country’s overpowering yearning for peace was displayed in Puskar Gautam new spring in his step and a After that, the Maoists reserved moving ceremonies this week: a large gathering against violence at commitment for new Indian their strongest tirades for the Basantapur, the release of doves and balloons at Ratna Park and diyo themselves launched a salvo military hardware. AFter eight Nepal Congress which was in lighting at Baudha. against India. Indian years, Indian intelligence is power. And after the royal These were spontaneous events by city citizens, a response to expansionists are the main finally admitting that Nepali massacre and October Fourth, the violence that shrouds the whole country. They represented the obstacle to revolution, the Maoists are training in the targets of vitriol have been moral rejection of violence and reasserted the belief that peace is rebels said in a statement. Jharkhand and elsewhere. the monarchy and the king. second nature to human beings—that is why the words ‘humane’ and Aside from stating in a joint A year before they launched Now, it looks like they are ‘humanity’ mean what they do. The spontaneity back to attacking India displayed by citizens’ groups this week in politically, while fighting the Kathmandu and elsewhere were the result of the Royal Nepali Army militarily. inability of the political parties as well as civil And for the first time in ten society organisations to fully represent them, their years, the rhetoric is again fears and hopes. venomous. The Maoists may Nepalis are by nature disorganised. We tend to have concluded that if the suffer in silence, waiting for a better day. At a time Indians are tempted to intervene when representative politics has vanished from in Nepal, the threat to galvanise the land, we struggle to find a collective voice. nationalistic forces against And when civil society is itself programmed to only foreign invaders would be a rise up with support from donors or on partisan useful deterrent. issues, the people have nowhere to turn to. Political parties that used to at least speak with After the arrests of their one voice for the restoration of representative senior leaders in Siliguri and democracy are now divided. One major party is in Patna, the Maoists have government and the another at Ground Zero in admitted that it is getting Ratna Park. Neither seems to be doing much to difficult for them to be based in fulfill the overwhelming national desire for peace India. The Maoists command has and national progress. There were about 200 told its forces to be ready for a participants taking part in the dove releasing tunnel war againt India. A ceremony at Ratna Park on the World Peace Day hyped fear of Indian interven- on Tuesday, but there were thousands rallying tion and preparations to build nearby to demand an end to ‘regression’. tunnels to hide in future air When are our political parties going to unite raids is a way for the Maoists to against war? When will they stop using the keep its guerrillas battle-ready. conflict to undermine each other, and instead learn It has been more than six to respect the Nepali people’s longing for an end to months since their last major this senseless conflict? attack on Beni in Feburary and As the monsoon gives way to Dasain, let us the rebels need to strike another give the people back their voice. major blow soon. Their strategic offensive phase may involve L ETTERS PEACE CORPS up to the Maoists. We gave them existed in the Middle East where 12 here. The American Centre is hit by hazards by many international It is unfortunate that the US has guns and training to fight the rebels. Nepali workers would be killed for a small blast, and the Americans bodies have clearly shown that there suspended its Peace Corps And when a small blast goes off in nothing! Without the conditions that pull out in droves. We don’t really is no basis for presuming that base program in Nepal (Peace Corps the American Centre, we pack up our are the result of the backwards need much proof of who Nepal’s real stations or wireless phones generate pull out, #214). Although the US bags and leave! American double Foreign Policy of the Bush Regime, I friends are. radiation that is harmful to human ambassador has stated that this standards around the world we believe those young men would be J K Panday beings. A finding by the UN World action would attract Washington have come to expect under the alive today. Kathmandu Health Organisation (WHO), has DC’s attention to help Nepal fight Bush administration. But to make Now we read that the Peace concluded: ‘because of low power against the Maoist problem, it is the Peace Corps the pawn in our Corps has been suspended and NO HAZARD emitted from wireless likely that this may not be the ‘global war on terror’ is repug- evacuated and that the US has We wish to bring to your kind notice telecommunications base trans- case. The attack at the US centre nant. At a time when America promised $1 million more for arms that there is considerable receiver stations/towers, neither and the suspension of the Peace needs to reinvent itself and and war in Nepal.