#349 18 - 24 May 2007 16 pages Rs 30 Weekly Internet Poll # 349 Q. Do you think there will be talks between the MJF and the eight-party government? Total votes: 2,828 Weekly Internet Poll # 350. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Do you expect that the government can pay the country’s petrol bills and ease the supply crisis any time soon? SAGAR SHRESTHA RUNNING DRY: Many Kathmandu residents are already facing a Fluid situation crippling water shortage. The limbo will last a little longer and create more complications ANALYSIS by SHIVA GAUNLE difficult the November scenario district administration offices. projects. Schools remain closed looks. The violence between the because the government could not verywhere you look, there is In any case, agreement on poll Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha’s implement an agreement its uncertainty. There is no dates must come after Goit and Jwala Singh factions immediate predecessor signed E consensus on any major consultation with the other six claimed its fourth life this week with protesting teachers. political issue. The will to find parties too, and there is no sign of yesterday. In the cantonments, The bargaining between and political solutions to problems the much-discussed eight-party the Maoist fighters are getting within parties looks set to seems to be at an all-time low. meeting either. The coming week restless, while the verification continue, as does the inability to The follow-up to Girija Prasad could see the interim parliament process remains stalled. Madhesi, find political, rather than Koirala’s visit to Biratnagar was sitting again, and an all-party janajati, adibasi, and tharu groups lackadaisical. Yesterday the prime government meeting, but issues across the country are stepping up such as minority representation, demands for representation. New Editorial minister met with UML leader Same old Nepal p2 Madhab Kumar Nepal, and the ensuring a reliable petrol supply, groups, some of them militant, two are said to have agreed and reopening closed schools are mushrooming, further Nation tentatively on dates for the appear to be on the back burner. destabilising the state. Talk shop to political party p4 election to the constituent The vacuum in decision- The fuel crisis will not go assembly. What those dates are is making is exacerbating the already away until the subsidy-supported bureaucratic or law and order not yet certaib. The longer a fragile law and order situation. price differential is removed. solutions to the myriad issues decision on dates for the The YCL continues its Until then, the erratic supplies being thrown up. The longer the election is delayed, intimidation, could prove be a flashpoint for country remains in limbo, the the more ransacking more street action. The murder of more political, ethnic, social, and a World Bank engineer yesterday economic problems rear their by the JTMM (Goit) is a serious heads. The process to get back on setback to the energetic track is becoming even more resumption of development difficult and complicated. z 2 EDITORIAL 18 - 24 MAY 2007 #349 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda Dixit And please, send the kids home. Executive Editor: Anagha Neelakantan Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Rupendra Kayastha Without acknowledgment, Director Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Circulation Manager: Samir Maharjan [email protected] punishment, and compensation Subscription: [email protected],5011628/29 Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur (truth, justice, reparations) for [email protected] GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu 5543333-6, Fax: 5521013 crimes committed, insecurity www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5547018 Got Plan B? will remain. After the war in The onus is on all Nepalis to Guatemala, vast impunity led to steer the country back on track the mushrooming of gang SAME OLD NEPAL activity. That’s where the YCL is So Girija Prasad Koirala has paid another flying visit to Biratnagar. or three years, since first have perhaps enabled the going. If not them, who is next? Every time this happens it is followed by some dramatic visiting Nepal in 2003, I elections to the constituent Impunity is rampant here, and pronouncement. This time the only drama was that he made a Fworked to stop US aid to assembly. blatant. Maoist leader and statement about how declaring a republic is not ‘easy’, which Narayanhiti. With the Nepali It is clear that the same issues Minister Matrika Yadav recently pleased neither the republicans nor the monarchists in his party, nor diaspora, we campaigned in underlying the conflict said: “all prisoners must be the NC’s fellow travellers, the CPN-M and the UML. Washington DC on human rights, permeated into the peace process. granted general amnesty in the This is what Koirala should be spending his time and energy on: started a website, lobbied the US The tarai uprising changed the wake of a new Nepal.” No one has 1. Resolving the deadlock in parliament Congress, organised forums, power equation and also ever been prosecuted for war 2. Finding a comprehensive framework to address the demands for worked with the media, and highlighted the need to crimes or crimes against representation most prominently from the madhesis democratise the peace process so humanity in a court of law in 3. Getting his government to get cracking on delivery all marginalised communities Nepal or elsewhere. Deals have 4. Devolving powers and finding another way to run the nation. The GUEST COLUMN Daniela Ponce can feel ownership of it. been made to keep it that way, as situation is getting just too complicated for the country to be The lack of inclusion is felt is clear in the secrecy governed from Koirala’s bedroom in Baluwatar. The non-inclusive structure of the political parties, their lack of across the board. Within the NC, surrounding the Rayamajhi consensus-building within parties and between them, as well as the protested in front of the White the Koirala dynasty still kicks. report. Violators didn’t just walk inability of the 7+1 to prove to Nepalis that there is government and House. I say this to hopefully get It’s business as usual that Prime away unpunished, they were that it can deliver have given the governing alliance a major your ‘okay’ in allowing yet Minister Koirala took his rewarded with positions of credibility handicap. What we are seeing is not a promised ‘new’ another arrogant foreigner to talk. daughter Sujata, and not his power. Nepal but an ‘old’ Nepal run by the ‘same old’ faces. Come up with a plan B, that is. foreign minister to meet Sonia In Latin America we’d never The one party that fought and suffered long and hard to liberate Don’t expect the UN to tell Gandhi at the SAARC summit dismiss airily the forces the ‘people’ with violence has been unable or unwilling to make a smooth transition to mainstream politics. Its ministers in you that the peace process is last month. Or that the party controlling an army. And as government are perceived to be no different than past ministers who failing. There are jobs, and a district presidents’ meeting democracy day in Dakshinkali loved to pontificate from the pulpit rather than show by actions that world reputation to keep. But it wasn’t able to ask for more than pointed out—with the army’s 21- they are serious about improving the living conditions of the people. is no small matter that UNMIN’s “clarity on the monarchy”. The gun salute, band, and fanfare for Nepalis, long used to being let down by the thulo manchhes in the second phase of arms/ armies UML isn’t much better. Despite the king—you shouldn’t either. capital, are not surprised. But they are deeply disappointed. registration and verification has the lack of consensus within the In addition, there are new Sometimes it’s not real implementation but the perception that been ‘delayed.’ Neither is the lack party, Madhab Nepal does not advisories for US citizens the government is serious about implementation that will satisfy the people. Given how little we have come to expect of Singha Darbar, of political will in parliament to seem bothered by an un-elected, travelling to Nepal. The CPN-M is launching a few fast-track infrastructure schemes or a national pass basic legislation that would un-representative parliament still on its list of terrorist campaign to raise the quality of government schools or upgrade deciding the fate of the organisations. And that’s a legal staffing in all district hospitals would do the trick. monarchy. basis for Washington to funnel But there isn’t even the collective intelligence to do Why do the leaders feel so money to the king’s allies again. such showcase activities. empowered to speak on behalf of I advocated against US aid to And who will believe all the rhetoric about the people? Ironically, though the palace—military and inclusiveness from the Big Eight when their own internal party structures are so dominated by high most Nepalis tend to associate otherwise—because I was castes? As the most revolutionary member of the with one political party or encouraged by the Nepali alliance you’d expect the Maoists to at least show another, those very parties are people’s determination to shape tokenism, but they are even worse than the NC and generally dismissed as corrupt their own future. Now, again, the UML. Of the 35 member CPN-M central and irrelevant. Why not make there are serious issues to committee 25 are bahun-chhetri. Even in the them accountable instead? address. The Nepali people must western region where the Maoists declared The Maoists have never come up with a plan B: make autonomous Gurung and Magar zone, nine of the 13 districts have bahun or chhetri chiefs.