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#200 11 - 17 June 2004 24 pages Rs 25 Deuba tries to cobble Sharan to Dilli together a government Shyam Sharan, Ambassador of India five weeks after Surya in Kathmandu since October 2002, was appointed Indian Foreign Secretary Bahadur Thapas and is expected to take up his post in Bumpy road early July. During his time in strife- resignation torn Nepal, the Bihar-born Sharan built a reputation for plain-speaking even as the Indian military assistance to NAVIN SINGH KHADKA Nepal grew by leaps and bounds. His SCENT OF SUCCESS: His spouse term saw the path cleared for the or a prime minister known for takes for the party leadership to agree prepares Bimalendra Nidhi for the Birgunj dry port and swearing-in ceremony at Narayanhiti he lobbied New Delhi jumbo cabinets, Sher Bahadur to join Deuba, the less likely it is that Thursday. to develop transport F Deubas past week was spent they will do so, as naysayers begin to infrastructure on waiting to hear from interested parties, build up opposition. both sides of the most importantly the CPN (UML). Indeed, the delay in building a tarai border. The 57- year-old career When the phone did not ring, he cabinet fuels speculation that Deuba diplomat was tipped announced the name of two ministers may follow the failed footsteps of his for the top job in from his own Nepali Congress predecessors Lokendra Bahadur South Bloc by the earlier BJP (Democratic) at press time Thursday. Chand and Surya Bahadur Thapa. If government and he was the first diplomat called in for consultations by He left the other posts dangling before this happens, the primary responsibility the new Foreign Minister, Natwar would-be ministers in the UML, but will lie with King Gyanendra for not Singh. In New Delhi, Sharan is it seemed unlikely that they would giving his third nominee prime minister expected to work closely with India’s bite. a free hand. Deuba needs independence recently appointed National Security Adviser JN Dixit. The anointed two were Deuba from the palace in order to build Congress stalwarts Bimalendra Nidhi credibility among politicians and and Prakash Man Singh who stood by public alike. the prime minister right since his split In essence, the new prime minister Weekly Internet Poll # 140 with the Nepali Congress nearly two is forced to speak the same language as Q. Should the five parties have met the kings deadline for a common prime ministerial years ago. Nidhi received two his nominee predecessors Chand and candidate? portfolios, Commerce, Industry and Thapa because his terms of reference Supplies as well as Education and from the palace are identical: create Sports. Singh got stewardship of the an all-party government, seek peace Ministry of Works and Physical (with the Maoists) and plan elections. Planning. Neither predecessor managed to get Total votes:1,192 The lame appointment of just two past the first stricture. Weekly Internet Poll # 141. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com ministers indicated obstacles in The Nepali Congress declined to Q. Is Sher Bahadur Deuba likely to get the MIN BAJRACHARYA Maoists to agree on a ceasefire? Deubas efforts to get a major party to support Deuba, even though the join him. Burdened with mandates courtesy call he paid Girija Koirala One factor that made the left party to a government with Maoist assigned by the palace, as well as upon being appointed prime minister wary was Deubas slip in his first press participation, an election and possibly credible rumours that Narayanhiti was on 2 June hinted at rapproachment. conference two days after his elevation, a new constitution. also incongruously pushing its choices, The CPN (UML), gung-ho about when he announced he was not for a In his radio and television the prime minister found it difficult to joining government, immediately constituent assembly. This was an idea address to the nation on Wednesday woo parties still committed to fight withdrew from the streetside anti- he had found favour with during the evening, Deuba was in damage royal regression. regression agitation. But after four demonstrations. That was when I was control mode saying he would do There remains the possibility that days of wrangling, its Central party president, but now I am prime what the major parties wanted. He the UML leaders will push through a Committee decided to leave the minister, he said. The UMLs trust also refrained from specifying poll marriage, particularly the two who decision to the smaller Standing in Deuba was further eroded after he dates. But those who hoped for some have eyes on the post of deputy prime Committee. Madhab Kumar Nepal, began to stress elections and not dramaan announcement of a full minister (Bamdev Gautam and not in the running for a ministerial the peace process. The leftist party cabinet or perhaps a ceasefirewere Khadga Prasad Oli). But the longer it berth, is said to be reluctant. desires an all-party roundtable, leading sorely disappointed. l 2 EDITORIAL 11 - 17 JUNE 2004 #200 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Desk Editors: Trishna Gurung, 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 Tel: 01-5543333-6, Fax: 01-5521013 [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 01-5547018 Same difference As the demands of the political parties and the Maoists are OUT OF THIS MAZE converge, there is no need to kill any more Nepalis t is our current misfortune that many analyse King Gyanendra’s appointment of a new prime minister last week in terms of victory or ow that the republican The student unions and the political leaders, I slogans on the streets sound defeat for the palace or the parties. the parties hijacked the intellectuals, the international N more radical than Maoist Actually, both lost. There are no winners in a confrontation between republican slogan from the community and civil society forces that are supposed to be on the same side, especially when they are graffiti on school buildings across Maoists who have now lost who are pressing for talks fighting so close to the edge. Nepal, it is getting increasingly their raison detre. There is no should look ahead at who will It is wrong for the palace to rub its hands in glee about breaking the difficult to see a difference five-party alliance. The job of a constitutional monarch is not to divide need to keep spreading terror in benefit and who will lose. Until and rule over political parties, it is to persuade them to work together to between the political agenda of the the name of a peoples war. that is clear, talks dont make resolve the more threatening crisis that has engulfed the nation. parliamentary parties and the It is true the present sense and may even mark the One wouldn’t be surprised about an unprincipled politico eating rebels. constitution doesnt completely start of another war. humble pie. But it must be said that for someone with King Gyanendra’s encompass Nepals plurality. A In a statement last month, reputation for haughtiness, it was a major climbdown to bring Deuba back. new one will have to be crafted But there is no need for the Sher Bahadur camp to pop champagne GUEST COLUMN Prachanda called on the king, corks. The third-time prime minister better start doing some serious Man Mohan Bhattarai soon, and it will have to the political parties and civil homework on his three-point checklist. His first order of business is to get a contain provisions to include society to work towards united can-do team off and running, not another lazy and greedy jumbo cabinet More than 10,000 Nepali our multiethnic, multilingual negotiations at an all-party that is hell bent on plunder like last time. The indefinite nationwide have been killed in the Maoist war, reality, geo-politics and include political conference that lays the education strike called by the Maoists is the initial major challenge. but not a single person died in the marginalised Nepalis. groundwork for the formation Clearly, this is a rebel tactic of disruption to force the government to street agitations by the political negotiate. How is Deuba going to juggle that with the military’s current If Comrade Prachanda of an interim government and a aversion to a ceasefire? parties. Yet, both are fighting for agrees to this, there is no need new constitution. Prachandas The prime minister also has to be much more precise when he opens the same things! to kill and destroy anymore. All reasoning is that strategic parity his mouth. Any waffling like we saw in media interviews and at the between the state forces and his National Human Rights Commission anniversary on Saturday will send guerrillas makes it imperative to the wrong signals. He received another chance to set things right and, for the country’s sake, he better not bungle again. agree on a political resolution Deuba’s arch-nemesis, Girija Prasad Koirala, is through a new constitution. circling like a vulture waiting for him to do just that. But there are grounds Which brings us to the question of the second to doubt whether a Mr G: this man also has attitude. What he sees as strategic parity has consistency others see as stubbornness, what he perceives as a struggle against regression most actually been reached, and Nepalis see as a self-seeking effort to put himself whether the military and his coterie back in power.