cont.....At a time when we're being cornered and attacked from all sides by Maoists, it is important to keep in mind that it is still possible to win this war. However, we must be willing to confront our "big brother". It is about time we grasp the extent to which India is crippling our nation. While China and Pakistan feed the Royal Nepalese Army with fresh ammunition on one side, the Maoists are being fed by India from the other side. How long are we going to protest against ourselves? How long are we going to close down our own schools and our own shops? While our "astute" Nepali politicians journey to India for blessings from the Indian government, Dr Bhattarai will be giving his interview to the BBC Nepali Service from the comfort of Indian soil. While we read the grotesque news of more brothers being killed at home, we will switch on the TV and see Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the Maoist Spokesman, giving an interview to CNN, comfortably strolling through a University Park in India. How long are we going to be blind to the obvious? It's time to put the clues together. The solution to Nepal's grave difficulty is not with the King, nor is it with political parties. In fact, the answer doesn't lie in the country at all. The true pragmatic solution to our misery lies somewhere across the border, in India. Nishchal MS Basnyat is currently a student at Harvard University. If you have any comments, please respond: nbasnyat@fas.harvard.edu http://www.nepaleyes.com/read.php?topic=opinion&id=43 POSTED BY – AHMED KARIM ZAMAN RELATED ARTICLE – ‘India not doing enough on Nepal’ ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Nepal's War of Independence Intensifies By Krishna Singh Bam, USA The thorough confusion surrounding the latest memorandum of understanding between the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) and the Maoist rebels can now clearly be traced to the perplexity of its Indian sponsors. Indian newspapers were the first to pronounce the "talks near Delhi" as having faltered, if not completely failed. True, the SPA and the Maoist rebels have reaffirmed their commitment to last November's 12-point understanding. This time, on paper at least, they have agreed to form an interim government through a national political conference for the restoration of democracy. Such a government ostensibly would work to establish a nebulous "full-fledged" democracy through an equally esoteric constituent assembly. The duplicity is so obvious. The SPA and the Maoists have long claimed to be the sole representatives of the Nepalese people. Based on this delusion, both entities have ruled out talks with the royal government, which they refuse to recognize. Logically, therefore, a national political conference becomes redundant. Who remains to be brought into the conference? Certainly not that boisterous bunch masquerading as civil society! In any case, these individuals already have a co-sanguinary relationship with the two main political formations. On the surface, the SPA is reluctant to accept Maoist supremo Prachanda's offer to form a joint interim government and people's army, primarily because of the legitimacy issues that would raise. Despite all their hype that the royal regime is in utter international isolation, the SPA recognizes that governments and organizations still deal with the government. American, British and Indian delegations continue to hold substantive talks with government ministers. In reality, the legitimacy issue is the least of the SPA concerns. Each constituent is suspicious of the motives of the Maoists. The mainstream parties cannot forget how the Maoists, who have unleashed much of their violence against party cadres, rushed to hold talks with the first palace-appointed government. The Maoists, for their part, remember the haste with which the Nepali Congress and the Unified Marxist Leninists acted in unison in an effort to brutally suppress the insurgency in the early phases. The suspicions within the SPA have only deepened the dilemma. The Nepali Congress cannot forget how the Unified Marxist-Leninists ditched the mainstream alliance to join the palace-appointed government in 2004. The UML cannot have overcome so easily the humiliation inflicted by the Nepali Congress's last-minute refusal to accept Madhav Kumar Nepal as the consensus candidate for prime minister. For public consumption, at least, a gesture of goodwill was required. Hours after the SPA-Maoist memorandum was released, the rebels agreed to the opposition alliance's demand and withdrew a crippling blockade of Kathmandu. By reversing an action that was rapidly eroding their public image, the Maoists clearly made virtue out of necessity. The wily comrades did not stop at that. By ceding the protest arena to the SPA, which has called for fresh protests in the weeks ahead, the Maoists have cleverly absolved themselves from responsibility for further disruptions and dislocations in the capital. What next for Nepal? Nothing much until the Indian government – or at least the influential section that sees the Maoists as a welcome addition to its destabilization strategy – makes up its mind on the question of the monarchy. The split in the Indian establishment over its Nepal policy is becoming more palpable over time. Non-communist sections of the ruling alliance in New Delhi have become more vocal in opposing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's pandering to the communist parties. This unnatural coalition could not have evolved a coherent policy on Nepal. For someone whose enthronement was accompanied by politically inspired campaigns of calumny, perpetuated in large part by Indian satellite news channels, King Gyanendra evidently cares little for the haughtiness emanating from across the southern border. The monarch, after all, knows that India would have acquiesced in his takeover had he named Surya Bahadur Thapa or any other India-friendly politician as chairman of the council of ministers. To what effect? Allow New Delhi to continue its nefarious game? The inclusion of Tulsi Giri and Kirti Nidhi Bista, hardly known for obsequiousness vis-a-vis India, more than the king's chairmanship of the government, is really what has unnerved New Delhi. A year after the royal takeover, Nepal remains mired in utter paralysis. Undoubtedly, the government has lost much of the tacit support Nepalis were willing to give the palace. The parties, beholden to India, have been thoroughly unable to make decisions in the best interests of the country. The Maoists, too, have squandered much of their credibility. Having launched their "people's war," among other things, to free Nepal from the stranglehold of India, the top rebel leadership have established themselves as willing pawns of New Delhi. King Gyanendra, for his part, remains committed to the roadmap for national renewal he enunciated in the address to the nation on Feb. 1 2005. The reason behind the royal conviction is not too hard to spot. From the palace's perspective, this battle is one of life and death for independent Nepal. For far too long, India has only sought to tighten its stranglehold on Nepal in the guise of supposedly good intentions. If democracy were the principle concern of New Delhi, it would not have been so faithful to the destruction of the political career of B.P. Koirala, Nepal's first elected prime minister. Conventional wisdom has it that King Mahendra's personal dislike for B.P. was responsible for the Koirala family's subsequent exile or incarceration. Clearly, it was B.P .'s assertion of Nepalese sovereignty and independence that had alienated his one-time patrons in India. B.P. or any other democratic leader with nationalistic credentials was too dangerous for India. B.P. subsequently narrated in his memoirs how then-prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa scuttled his efforts toward a rapprochement with the palace. The Koirala family, with few exceptions, has learned the moral of the India-versus-B.P. story well. FULL TEXT – http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate=2006-03-20&hidType= EDT&hidRecord=0000000000000000095931 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Nepal Maoists, parties sign pact Kathmandu: Joining forces against King Gyanendra, seven political parties and the Maoists in Nepal on Sunday announced an agreement to launch a fresh agitation next month against his autocratic rule and find a political solution to the decade-old armed conflict by holding polls to the Constituent Assembly. Interim government The seven-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy also urged the rebels to end the blockade of roads connecting Kathmandu and the rest of Nepal. The Maoists and the Alliance agreed to form an interim government by holding a national political conference of the agitating democratic forces and to establish full-fledged democracy by holding elections to the Constituent Assembly, the parties said in a joint statement. Nepali Congress central member Shekhar Koirala said the Maoists agreed to withdraw the three-week-long economic blockade. But a rebel statement on this is yet to come. Peaceful protests The intensified agitation programme starting on April 6 includes a four-day general strike and civil disobedience movement, besides a massive public rally in Kathmandu on April 8. The leaders of the Alliance called on the people to participate in their peaceful movement to restore democracy and return sovereign power and state authority to the people through elections. The parties also called on the international community to support their initiatives to end absolute monarchy and find a political solution to the insurgency, the joint statement said. They reiterated their commitment to reinstate Parliament and form a powerful all-party government, which will hold a dialogue with the rebels. The parties have also agreed to continue a dialogue with the Maoists to seek common ground. Pact signed by Prachanda On behalf of the seven-party Alliance, Nepali Congress spokesman Krishna Sitaula and party treasurer Mahanta Thakur, Nepal Communist Party UML's senior politburo members Jhalanath Khanal and Bamdev Gautam, Janamorcha Nepal President Amik Serchan and CPN-Unity Centre leader Prakash inked the agreement while CPN-Maoist chief Prachanda signed for the rebels. — PTI