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Laws of Attraction
Will the seven opposition parties join hands with the Maoists? The recent developments indicate that they are coming closer to each other.
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GP Koirala |
Political manoeuvering continued also in June with none of the sides in the ongoing conflict coming near to any solution.
Early in the month, the King visited Doha to attend the summit of G-77 countries and in his address to the summit he blamed the 15 years of democracy for all the trouble that the country is now facing. This was the first time since assuming the throne that the King was so severely critical of the political parties and the democratic system.
On their part, the seven opposition political parties formally announced boycotting the proposed municipality elections, while reports said that the Maoists proposed an alliance with the opposition political parties and promised to avoid attacking unarmed people even including those whom the Maoists have identified as their enemies. The political parties welcomed the Maoist proposal cautiously and said that they would consider the proposal if the rebels shun violence, but the Maoists attacked the Khotang district headquarters in Eastern Nepal the very next day of the report of the alliance proposal. Nevertheless, the parties say that they are trying for a dialogue with the Maoists. Meanwhile, the government spokesman and the Minister for Communication Tanka Dhakal warned that the government would treat the political parties and the Maoists equally if they join hands. The former Chief of the Army Staff Satchit Sumsher JB Rana, one of the members of the Raj Sabha Standing Committee (King's advisory council), even suggested declaring the political parties anti-national elements, as they were declared under the Panchayat period.
Another development of the month was what is known as the successful golf diplomacy by the Crown Prince. When the US ambassador made some remarks that went against the ongoing movement of the seven political parties and in favour of the army's activities against the Maoists, it was said that such a change in his attitude was after the chitchat he had with the Crown Prince on the golf course. If the ambassador's remarks were indeed influenced by the Crown Prince, it indicates that the Crown Prince has really developed important skills in diplomacy.
But the image of the US government was restored in favour of democracy and political parties towards the end of the month when Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the US government for South Asian Affairs visited Nepal and said in clear terms that Nepal's return to pre-1990 political situation would not be acceptable to the USA.
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Prachanda |
Meanwhile, the government officials continued being critical of the foreign concern about Nepal's situation. Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Dr. Tulsi Giri lashed at the international human rights groups, including the UN Human Rights Commission representatives, for their criticism of rights abuse in Nepal. Late June, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the British Ambassador and asked for clarifications for his remarks criticising the rights situation in Nepal. The British government retaliated by communicating to the Nepali Ambassador in London through a junior officer of the British Foreign Ministry that what the British Ambassador had said was a considerate opinion of the British government.
In another development in the opposition political parties' front, the Nepali Congress decided to hold its postponed General Convention during August 30-September 2 and it is reported to have approached the Nepali Congress (Democratic) camp to unify both the parties in the convention.
One very important development in Maoist movement came in late June, when it was reported that the Maoists of Nepal and India jointly launched a serious attack on a police post and two government banks in Madhubani district in Bihar, India about 40 km south of the Nepal border. That was taken as an indication that the Maoists of the two countries have started joint operations and it was expected to force the Indian government to be more serious about controlling the insurgency corridor running from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh of India via Bihar and Jharkhand states. However, the Nepali Maoists immediately denied their involvement in the Madhubani incident, in an obvious attempt to pre-empt such activism from India.
Another important development of the month was the clean chit provided to former Prime Minister Deuba and his cabinet colleagues by the RCCC after the hearing on the charge of wrongly distributing festival expenses to some political workers. Deuba is, however, still under detention by the order of RCCC facing corruption charge on a decision about the multi-million dollar Melamchi drinking water project.
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