माओवादीले कब्जा गरेको र्सवसाधारणको जग्गा उनीहरूलाई नै फिर्ता गर्ने भनी सात दलसँग केन्द्रमा पटकपटक भएको सहमति बर्दियामा माओवादीका स्थानीय नेताका लागि टाउको दुखाइ बनेको छ । केन्द्रका विरुद्ध बोल्न उनीहरू सक्तैनन् तर बन्दुकको भरमा कब्जा गरिएको हजारौँ बिघा जग्गा त्यसै छोड्न पनि तिनलाई मन छैन । उनीहरू अनेक बहाना बनाएर आलटाल गर्ने, देखावटी रूपमा एकदुई जनालाई जग्गा दिएजस्तो पनि गर्ने, मानिसहरू साँच्चै जग्गामा बस्न आए भने तर्साउने, धम्क्याउने र आतङ्कित पार्ने, गाउँमा टिक्न नदिने र जसरी पनि जग्गा भोगचलन गरिरहने रणनीति लिएर अघि बढिरहेका देखिन्छन् ।
जग्गा फिर्ता गर्नेबारे केन्द्रीय तहमा सहमति भएको नौ महिनापछि बल्ल गत साउन १२ गते बर्दियामा माओवादी र सात दलबीच पार्टीकार्यकर्ताको कब्जा गरिएको जग्गा फिर्ता गर्ने र विस्थापितहरूलाई ससम्मान घर फर्काउने भनी सहमति भयो । तर सोही सहमतिका आधारमा मोतिपुरस्थित आफ्नो घर फर्किएका काङ्ग्रेसी कार्यकर्ता सुशील ज्ञवालीको भदौ १ गते माओवादी कार्यकर्ताले हत्या गरे । सुशील हत्याकाण्डको विरुद्ध हजारौँ जनता सडकमा उत्रिए र माओवादीको विरोधमा खनिए । वर्षौंसम्म आतङ्कित बनाएर राखेका जनता आफ्नै विरुद्ध सशक्त ढङ्गले सडकमा उत्रेपछि उनीहरू स्तब्ध भए । त्यसपछि जनतालाई तर्साउन उनीहरूले सात दललाई चर्को गाली गरे । माओवादीका स्थानीय नेता अथकले त युद्धविराम नै भङ्ग गर्नेसम्मको चेतावनी दिए । उक्त घटनाका सम्बन्धमा सात दलले माफी नमागेसम्म वार्तामा पनि नबस्ने बताउँदै माओवादीहरू अहिले ढुक्कसँग बसेका छन् । त्यतिन्जेलसम्म कब्जा गरिएका जग्गा फिर्ता गर्ने र विस्थापितहरूलाई घर फर्काउने कुरो थन्किएकाले उनीहरूको टाउको दुखाइ केही हलुका भएको छ । बर्दियामा एमालेका उपसचिव हरि ज्ञवाली भन्छन् “सहमति कार्यान्वयनको कुरो अहिले टाढा पुगेको छ ।” Read the rest of this entry »
नेपालगन्ज, २५ असोजः बन्दुक बोकेर सशस्त्र युद्धमा लडेका माओबादी जनसेनाहरु कुचो र कोदालो लिएर सरसफाई अभियानमा लागेका छन् । माओवादीको नगर परिषद नेपालगन्जको आयोजनामा शुरु गरिएको सरसफाई अभियानमा माओवादीका जनमुक्ति सेनाहरु कुचो र कोदालो लिएर लागेका हुन् ।
सरसफाइ अभियानमा माओवादीको जनमुक्ति सेना, पार्टी सत्ताका कार्यकर्ताहरु विभिन्न समूह बनाई नेपालगन्ज नगरमा खटिएका छन् । माओवादीका जनमुक्ति सेना विजय, बन्दुक बोक्ने हातमा कुचो र फरुवा बोक्दा युद्ध बिराम पछि आफ्नो भुमिका बद्लिएको बताउनुहुन्छ - हामी जनताको हितको निमित्त सबै कुरा गर्र्छौं । अहिले कुचो र कोदालो बोकेर जनताको हित हुने देखेर यस अभियानमा लागेका छौं।
चार सय भन्दा बढी जनमुक्ति सेनाहरु खटिएको माओवादीको घोराही सतबरिया ब्रि्रेड कमिसार साकारले बताउनु भयो । उहाँ भन्नु हुन्छ - हाम्रो जनमुक्ति सेना जनताको सेवाको लागि हो, जनतालाई आवश्यक पर्यो भने बन्दुक बोक्न पनि तयार हुन्छ । तर यो सधैको लागि बन्दुक बोक्ने सेना भने होइन, जनताको सेवा गर्ने सेना हो । उहाँले जनमुक्ति सेना रक्षाको लागि मात्र होइन राष्ट्रिय र समाजको सेवाको लागि सधै निर्माण भएको बताउनु भयो । माओवादी कार्यकर्ता विपना आफुलाई नगर सरसफाई गर्दा जनताको सहयोग पाइने, शहर पनि राम्रो हुने र आफुलाई पनि राम्रो लाग्दो रहेछ । अहिले नेपालगन्जका सडकहरुमा कुचो लगायत सरसफाई गर्ने, नालीहरु सफा गर्न माओवादीका जनमुक्ति सेना लगायत कार्यकर्ताहरु खटिएर लागेका छन् । सरसफाई अभियानमा लाग्दा जनताको सहयोग र हौसला समेत पाएको माओवादीका बाँके सेक्रेटरी हिमालले बताउनु भयो ।
जनआन्दोलनको क्रममा वैशाख ५ गते भत्काइएको राजा ज्ञानेन्द्रको शालिकको भग्नावशेष समेत हर्टाई सोही ठाऊमा जनआन्दोलमा सहिद भएकी सेतु विकके शालिक निर्माण गरिने माओवादी जनाएको छ ।
The issue of arms management has created a deadlock in the ongoing peace talks between the seven-party alliance (SPA) government and the Maoist rebels, with both sides failing to reach a concrete conclusion.
“The peace talks are “stuck” on the subject of managing the rebels’ arms,” ekantipur journalist Suresh Nath Neupane quoted a minister on condition of anonymity.
Though the SPA and Maoists reached an agreement to hold the constituent assembly elections by mid-June next year, during Tuesday’s high-level talks held at Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s official residence at Baluwatar, several issues still need to be sorted out.
The government wants the Maoists to give up their weapons before joining the interim government in order to assure that the rebels do not have an army when they are in the interim administration, while the Maoists have expressed “strong dissatisfaction” over the SPA’s proposal.
“The Maoists have agreed to put their arms and armies in the temporary cantonment, verify their arms and be put under UN monitoring but the government has insisted that their (Maoist) weapons should be removed after verification and put under supervision,” the minister said.
see full article: http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?nid=88261
Chandra Prasai of Radio Everest had a brief conversation with NC Vice-president Sushil Koirala during the latter’s recent visit to Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.
This may not be of interest to every one of you, but this is where I spent my Labor Day weekend (Sep 2 - 4) with my family and a host of wonderful fellow Nepalese at the Crowne Plaza near O’Hare International airport in Chicago.
Here’s the link to the ANMA-NASeA Joint Convention 2006 photo album. The convention was held in Chicago, IL during the Labor Day Holiday. In case you are wondering what the heck is ANMA-NASeA, you can find the details at their official web site.
I will upload a few video clips as soon as I am done with the editing.
Here’s a preview of what I hope is going to be a permanent feature of this forum.
Note: To view/listen to these clips, you will need the RealOne player or above, preferably RealPlayer 10. Make sure your connection settings are correct. Go to Tools => Preferences… Select the “Connection” category and then click “Test Connection…”. Press “Perform Test” in the window that pops up. If your current settings for internet connection speed is correct, just press Next, otherwise press the “Update” buttton. Then press OK to close the Preferences window.
The first test candidate is plain vanilla, with no whistles and bells.
What else but the all-time hit “Wari Jamuna, Pari Jamuna”.
Encoded at 64kbps single stream stereo audio, it should sound nearly as good as most 128kbps mp3 streams available on the net.
Test clip # 2 is also 64kbps single stream stereo audio, but it comes with extra goodies. The audio is sychronized with the lyrics, which scroll up the main window as the music progresses. Be patient, the lyrics appear exactly 24 seconds after the clip starts playing. On the context sensitive window on the right, online information about the current clip including cover art, if available, is displayed. The information has live links that you can follow to get more information about the song, the artist, or the album.
As there is no online database of Nepali songs, we will need to build our own database as we add songs to the catalogue.
The third and last example is set up like a playlist. In this particular example, the playlist comprises four Bob Marley songs encoded at 44kbps stereo. As the first clip plays, the associated cover art is displayed in the main window while the lyrics are loaded in the context window on the right. You will need to manually scroll the lyrics window. The second clip starts playing automatically after the first one and the related cover art and lyrics will also load simultaneously. And then the third and the fourth clip in that order.
However, at any time, you can skip to the next clip by pressing the >| button. Alternatively, you can press “Now Playing” and select or edit your playlist from the window that pops up.
Enjoy the music and send us your comments and feedback as usual.
As the debate over the issue of disarming the Maoist rebels heats up, Maoist atrocities against the civilian population across the country are once again on the rise. In fact, the Maoists never gave up their terror tactics even after Prachand and Baburam finally came out of the hiding. However, if one were to make an inference from the recent upsurge in atrocities committed by the Maoists, one would be inclined to conclude that Prachand has ordered his militia to hold the civilian population hostage in order to drive a hard bargain with the SPA. So, abduction, torture and brutal killings of defenceless Nepalis have become the order of the day for the Maoists. The Maoists are determined to show that they are in control and so bands of heavily armed rebels are seen “patrolling” the streets across the nation.
If the government appears to be in breach of the code of conduct, Maoist leaders from Mechi to Mahakali hold rallies to take the government to task and threaten to take up arms again, but when their own cadres commit heinous crimes against unarmed civilians, they keep quiet. Perhaps only the government is expected to honor the code of conduct to the letter and the Maoists have granted themselves sufficient leeway to do whatever it takes to turn the situation in their favour.
Killing unarmed civilians is in your code of conduct?
Seriously injured Mitthu Gyawali: The Maoists killed her husband Sushil Gyawali, who was an active member of Nepali Congress and injured her seriously. According to local residents, the Maoists despatched Sushil fearing he would expose their timber smuggling racket.
Photo: Janak Nepal via TKP
Torturing 12-year-old girl in accordance with the Geneva Convention?
Mamata Dawadi, 12, who managed to escape from Maoist captivity bursts into tears as she tells the story of her torture at the hands of the Maoists, Friday.
PHOTO: DAMODAR NEUPANE via TKP
Is this called arms management?
Armed Maoist militia “patrol” the East-West Highway at Chandranigahapur in Rautahat, Friday.
PHOTO : SHIVA PURI via TKP
The Maoists also took the CDO of Bara district along with some security personnel, engineers and media persons under control for about two and a half hours. According to journalists, the rebels misbehaved with them, snatching their cameras, money and diaries but returned them later on.
Matrika Prasad Yadav, 49, is a senior Maoist leader, chairman of the Tarai Mukti Morcha and president of their Tarai Autonomous Region. I interviewed him on a recent morning in Kathmandu, in a small spartan flat at Satdobato. The room was bare with no furniture, and only a pile of old newspapers in a corner. We sat down on the floor to discuss Madheshi issues. Here is the excerpts. (An abridged version of the interview was published in the Nepali Times, issue # 310)
Q. Goit is fighting for secession in the Tarai and harassing Pahadiyas. How do you see this?
A. We deplore the harassment of Pahadiya community by Goit and his group. We are not in favour of secession. Madheshi people don’t want secession. We want a democratic republican state based on federal autonomy and proportional representation. But when these rightful demands are not addressed, then the country will break up on its own. Read the rest of this entry »
The Tarai is catching fire, and none of the mainstream parties are paying attention. Major portions of the Nepal Tarai, where 48 percent of the nation’s population lives, is slowly descending into chaos. Over the past year, Jaya Krishna Goit’s Tarai Janatantrik Mukti Morcha (TJMM), which has been battling Maoists since late 2004, has also been hounding the “Pahadiya” community, mainly in Saptari and Siraha districts but also in adjoining areas. Madheshi sources say that Pahadiya families are rushing to sell off their houses and land and migrate to the safer environs of the hills.
“This trend has picked up recently,” says former Nepali Congress minister Jayprakash Prasad Gupta ‘Anand’, who is now general secretary of the Madhesee (sic) Janaadhikar Forum, an organization active in 16 of the Tarai’s 20 districts. “Many of my own friends from Rajbiraj have resettled here in Kathmandu. They fear going back.” Read the rest of this entry »
There is no doubt that the Nepal Army (NA), still loyal to the Palace, is full of “power thirsty” people and to rise above the rank of colonel you need to be connected to the Shahs and Ranas either by birth, or marriage or a proven track record of loyalty that goes back several generations.
The NA has, for the most part, been run like a family-owned business by a closely-knit inner circle of mostly Ranas and Shahas. The army has for generations provided the Shahs and Ranas of Nepal with an elevated social status and clout and associated benefits - monetory and othewise. If you belong to one of these ruling clans you can be assured of a job in the army even if your IQ is barely 50.
However, if you just happen to be an ordinary Nepali lad eager to see yourself in uniform, chances are you’ll not be let in unless you happen to know, personally or through a link, at least an officer not below the rank of colonel or somehow cough up a few hundred thousand rupees even for the lowly job of a private “recruit”. If you’re taken in, you’ll end up at the house of the officer who helped you get selected, doing his chores and running errands for him as his domestic helper. Read the rest of this entry »
Strongly objecting Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s attempt to decommission Maoist arms written in confusing language and sent secretly to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan more than three weeks ago, Maoist Chairman Prachanda on Monday said his party disagrees over certain crucial points of the letter.
Prachanda has his first disagreement over the government way of sending letter secretively without consulting them, secondly the crucial points (3), which (the govt. letter requesting the UN to) says-”Assist in the monitoring of the combatants of the Maoist and decommissioning of their arms in order to ensure a free and fair election to the Constituent Assembly, and (4) monitor to assure that Nepali Army is inside barrack and is not being used for or against any side in order to ensure free and fair elections to the Constituent Assembly. Read the rest of this entry »
HARNAMADHI VDC, Makwanpur – In the official jargon of current Nepalese politics, rebel Maoists who have fought a vicious insurgency are no longer “rebels.” They are, in the words of several mainstream politicians, “partners” and “fellow travellers” in the mission to establish a new Nepali state.
This denotes just how far the image of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has changed in recent days. This country of 26 million has struggled since 1996 with a deadly insurgency that has so far killed more than 13,000 people and turned Nepal into one of the bloodiest countries in Asia. But since April when a peoples’ movement led jointly by the Maoists and an alliance of seven political parties forced an autocratic King Gyanendra to recede into the background, Nepal has been witnessing a rare bout of peace.
And now, if all goes according to plans, the Maoists will soon be part of an interim governing coalition with the Seven Parties Alliance (SPA). The task of that interim government will be to institutionalize the fragile peace process and hold elections to a new constituent assembly that could, in theory, deliver to the Maoists what they have been fighting for so long: a republican state.
But before it comes to that stage, the Maoists face the difficult task of surmounting growing opposition from political parties to their radical agenda. Despite the softening of their public image, peace talks between the SPA government and Maoists have sputtered in recent weeks over Maoist demands to dissolve parliament, and their refusal to decommission and demobilize armed fighters ahead of the constituent assembly polls.
