UN Criticises Nepal's Maoists

The United Nations says Nepal's former Maoist rebels have failed to keep a promise to allow people displaced by a decade-old civil war to return home.

The Maoists, who joined an interim government earlier this year under a peace deal, had promised to allow thousands of displaced people to return home, and to hand back property including land, homes and cattle seized by the rebels during the war.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal says the rebels are not allowing the safe return of internally displaced people.

It says there are reports that people who are trying to return are being chased away and says there are also cases in which returnees are being beaten by local Maoists.

The UN says it has observed an absence of neutral and independent law enforcement in many areas, and says there is widespread de facto Maoist control of government and society as well as limited freedom to associate with political parties other than the Maoists.

New Nepal New US Envoy

The United States Thursday said that it plans to appoint Senior Foreign Service member Nancy J. Powell as its new ambassador to Nepal.
The outgoing ambassador James F Moriarty's tenure ends on July 15.
Issuing a press release today, the US Embassy said that US President George W. Bush intends to nominate Nancy J. Powell, of Iowa, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Nepal.
According to the release, Powell--a career member of the Senior Foreign Service--is currently serving as the National Intelligence Officer for South Asia at the National Intelligence Council.
"Prior to this, she served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the Department of State," the statement said.
Powell, who has served as US ambassador to Pakistan, Ghana and Uganda earlier in her career, received her bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa.
It is said that she likes to put her priorities in a very strong manner.

Nepal: Is there any altranative than posponding CA elections?

MJF dismisses addition of constituencies

A senior leader of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) has dismissed the whole constituency delineation exercise claiming that it does not meet their demands.

On the day the government-formed commission submitted report advising to increase number of constituencies by 35 – including 28 for Terai districts - Kishore Kumar Biswas, vice president of MJF, told BBC Nepali Service that their demand was not for re-constitution of constituencies of Terai, hill or mountains but that for "fully proportional representation-based elections."

"We never demanded this Electoral Constituency Delineation Commission (ECDC). We had, in fact, called for its disbanding," said Biswas, adding, "Instead of solving Terai problems, this will further flare-up the agitation."

Biswas said that MJF had three major demands – fully PR based elections for Constituent Assembly; guarantee of ethnic self determination rights with the formation of Madhes autonomous region; and declaration that Nepal is oriented towards federal democratic republican set-up.

He also termed Prime Minister's two addresses to resolve Madhes agitation as "incomplete, inadequate and unclear." Biswas said that the MJF still wants to resolve the problems through dialogue.

He also refuted charges that MJF was heading towards criminalisation of politics on the backdrop of March 21 Gaur carnage when 28 Maoist activists were killed. He accused the Maoists' arrogance of weapons and government's indifference as being responsible for all the incidents of "Nepalgunj, Lahan, Bhairahawa leading up to Gaur."

The MJF leader's reaction to the reconstitution of electoral constituencies has come in the wake of submission of report by the ECDC, which has advised increasing the number of constituencies for the "First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)" system to 240 from existing 205.

The Commission headed by former judge of Supreme Court Arjun Prasad Singh has fixed 116 constituencies for Terai districts and 124 constituencies for hilly and mountainous districts. Earlier, in Terai districts there were 88 constituencies; in hilly districts there were 95 constituencies; and in mountain districts there were 22 constituencies.

Mountain Region Also Piqued

Singh Commission, however, did not increase the number of constituencies in mountain districts. This has also touched the nerves of leaders from mountain region. A UML leader from Humla district Gorakh Bahadur Bogati told Kantipur FM that this has "devalued" the geographic distinction of mountain region. "Even in my constituency, it takes me three months to visit all villages," he said, adding that these difficulties were ignored while increasing the constituencies.

The Commission has made the recommendations as per the decision of eight parties and subsequent amendment of interim constitution to increase the number of electoral constituencies in Terai as per the first amendment of the interim constitution. The first amendment was made in the wake of agitation in Terai led by MJF in January and February this year.

As per the first amendment of the interim constitution, the CA elections will be held on mixed system – half the seats through FPTP and other half through the PR system. In addition to them, 17 seats would be nominated to include personalities from various walks of life. This actually means that there will be 497 seats in total for the CA.

Martin doubts of timely CA polls

It is not only the election commissioner even the Chief of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin reiterated his doubts regarding the prospect of holding the elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) on June 20. During a meeting with CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal Tuesday in Kathmandu the UNMIN chief wondered how the CA elections could take place in such a short time frame since a lot of concerns had to be fulfilled before going to the polls.

Martin inquired as to how the elections could take place by the stipulated time even when the arms storage process, formation of necessary laws related to the elections were still not completed.

Everybody including the eight party alliances agree at this moment a sense of security is yet to be instilled in the nation.

Nepal’s reply in this tregard seems to be like conducting the CA elections by hook and crook in the stipulated time. The UML chief said that timely elections would take place since the interim government's primary duty was to hold the CA elections.

Kantipur reported that Nepal argued the elections would have to take place on time "if just to prevent the nation from going through a difficult situation by the protraction of the present transition phase."

It is learnt that the two people in the half hour meeting at Nepal’s residence in Koteshwore discussed various aspects of the CA polls.

The duo held discussions on the peace process after the formation of the interim government and various other political issues as well.

Can CA polls be conducted on the stipulated Time?

The Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM) led by Jaya Krishna Goit has said it has kidnapped District Education Officer (DEO), Nibh Raj Joshi of Saptari district as part of its campaign to disrupt the upcoming constituent assembly (CA) poll.
According to media reports, JTMM-Goit, Saptari coordinator Shyam, informed Joshi was abducted as a signal not to conduct constituent assembly polls by Nepal Government in the Tarai as the region has been declared independent.
Saying that there is no need of a constituent assembly for the people of Tarai origin, Shyam said they abducted Joshi after he did not meet their demand of providing Rs. 5 million donation for the JTMM’s people’s war.
However, the ruling eight parties ruling alliance have agreed to hold the elections of the constituent assembly on 20th June.
The JTMM has been involved in violent protests in Terai region demanding independent Terai state. It is the splinter from the Maoists party.
With such uncertainty in the Terai region and lack of proper arrangement necessary to conduct CA election how can the forthcoming CA poll be free and fair and conducted in the stipulated time?
Even the election commission has publicly demanded the speedy actions from the government regarding the needed policy clarifying the modalities of the election as well as the number of constituencies for CA.
Why do we need the election of CA? Is not it for sake of sustaining peace and democracy and to guarantee the people their rights? If it is conducted without proper arrangements and in a hurry can not it become a bone of contention to flare up further bloodshed? Can Nepal just conduct CA election for sake of conducting election only? Did not we watch election conducted by the King's regime last year?
Does not the eight party alliance government need to act seriously to solve problems of the terai, chure vaber and other areas before conducting CA election?

Who to lead Nepal after Koirala's six decades of politics?

Girija Prasad Koirala, the leading figure of Nepal's democratic movement, has been elected the Prime Minister of Nepal unanimously from the interim Parliament. This is the sixth time.

Koirala Prime Minister Koirala was born in 1925 in Tediya of Saharsa district in India while his father Krishna Prasad Koirala was in exile.

GP Koirala has been active in the democratic movement of Nepal for more than six decades. He was the commander of last year democratic movement. Koirala, who is also the President of Nepali Congress, was appointed Prime Minister of the Interim Government by the Parliament Sunday as per a political consensus in accordance with the Interim Constitution.

He had also been collectively elected the Prime Minister of the Government constituted under the leadership of the Seven Party Alliance following the success of the historical movement last year.

Koirala has become successful to bring the Maoist Party who was indulging in the decade-long bloody conflict for capturing state power to establish one party communist rule to a political mainstream for competitive multiparty politics.

Prior to this, Koirala had become the first elected Prime Minister following restoration of democracy in 1990 and served as Prime Minister many times.

Koirala is the youngest son of renowned social worker of Nepal, Krishna Prasad Koirala. His two brothers Matrika Prasad Koirala and BP Koirala have also served as the Prime Minister of Nepal.

Prime Minister Koirala, was attracted to politics in an early age due to political environment in the Koirala family and with the inspiration of BP Koirala who was considered as the most popular and the charismatic leader of Nepal.

Koirala led the historical Biratnagar Jute Mills strike held in Falgun 20, 2003 B.S. and was later unanimously elected President of Biratnagar labour union. He is also the founder member and President of Nepal Trade Union Congress.

Following the dissolution of parliamentary system in 2017 B.S. Koirala along with then Prime Minister BP Koirala, NC leaders Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai were imprisoned. He served a seven-year jail sentence before being released following a 21-day hunger strike in 2024 B.S.

Popularly known as 'Girijababu', Koirala was a source of inspiration for thousands of revolutionaries dedicated to the long struggle against the autocratic king’s direct rule.

A skilled organizer, Koirala along with other congress leaders served many jail sentences and house arrest during the struggle for restoration of democracy in Nepal.

Koirala played a decisive role in all struggles such as "satyagraha"(peaceful movement) of 1985 and the historical popular movement of 1990.

He has been continuously elected member of parliament from Constituencies 1 and 5 of Morang district in the General Elections-2048 B.S., mid-term elections in 2051 B.S. and general elections in 2056 B.S.

GP Koirala’s mission to transform Nepal in a full-fledged democracy with the participation of all seems heading towards its goal. After the formation of the interim government including the Maoists, Nepal has crossed a great leap forward in the process of Peace and Democracy. However, there are still a lot of challenges ahead.

Majority of the people in Nepal believe that in the able leadership of GP Koirala country will achieve its stipulated objectives. But at the same time people fear about his aging body and ill health. At this juncture and the dire time of the nation everybody in Nepal wishes for Koirala’s long life and sound health.

Continuation of Koirala’s leadership is necessary for the country for some years to come for the logical conclusion of all the political questions that has come in Nepal for centuries.

Although the people of Nepal do not want to discuss on whom to lead the country after Koirala right at this time, but is not this the right time for this discussion? Nobody can predict the health of an aging leader. The effort of Koirala should not go in vain. If his direct leadership interrupts because of his ill health his legacy is a must.

Therefore Nepali congress cadres must be very smart to elect one who can succeed GP Koirala and lead the country with a full legitimate legacy of Girijababu. There can be many leaders who would claim to continue the legacy of GP but among many one has to be elected who knows him from in and out and can carry out his mission without any interruption.

Who can be this? Can we name a few? Can we start this debate now? Is it necessary that someone should be out from the Koirala family? Can someone from the family be acceptable? Who can be ones from out and in the family? What are the positive points of the entire aspirants?