Dedicated to Daniel Pearl

Today, I heard that seven Maoist combatants who were camping in the satellite camp of Yangsila of Morang district fled the camp along with weapons on Friday.

Although the Maoist leadership has been denying defection problem, it looks like it has been a really serious problem in the Maoist. If the Maoist combatants continue leaving the camps, I am sure it will invite serious crisis to the Maoist leadership. I guess the recently increased sercurity arrangement for the Maoist leadership is due to the threats from the Maoist’s dissatisfied groups.

Interestingly, the Maoist leadership feels much safe, as the number of security personnel for them has increased. But how about other local level Maoist leaders and cadres? Can the Maoist party provide security to those local leaders and the cadres who were actually involved in commiting serious crimes in villages?

Today’s news says the fleeing Maoist guerillas took sophisticated weapons, including an Insas rifle, with them. The seven, including a one-time district level commander of Tehrathum, made the escape following an internal dispute.

The incident comes at a time when the resumption of verification process of the cantoned Maoist combatants has hit uncertainty due to persisting differences between the Maoists and the UN.

Another group of Maoists camped there had also followed them to bring them back. However, they had to return empty-handed as the fleeing combatants had already crossed Beltar of Udaypur.

When contacted, commander of the Maoist first division, Parwana, however, denied that any of the combatants fled the camp. He maintained that the movement of the combatants, out of and toward the camp, was a regular occurrence. “No one has escaped with weapons from the cantonment,” he claimed.

Of late, the ministers have intensified meetings with representatives of civil society, human rights organizations and political parties in terai to settle the escalating violence in the region.

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra, who has set out on a visit to violence-stricken terai districts, on Sunday said in Sarlahi that the government has received signals from various armed groups for a dialogue.

Poudel, chief of the government’s negotiating team, said, “I have received signals for dialogue from various armed groups.”

He however, didn’t divulge the details of such signals.

“I am sure the armed groups will soon come to a negotiating table,” he said.

He also called on all the agitating groups in terai to come for an unconditional dialogue.

In line with Poudel’s claim, Ranabir Singh, a leader of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha-Jwala Singh (JTMM-J) said his party was ready to hold talks with the government.

“We strongly condemn the 15-day deadline set by Home Minister for dialogue,” Singh said, adding, “But the statement by minister for Peace and Reconstruction Poudel has opened the doors for talks.”

Minister Poudel on Thursday had said that the government had no any policy to suppress the agitating groups in terai.

Minister Poudel held a roundtable consultation with various civil societies, political parties and the rights organizations in Janakpur on Saturday to settle the violence in terai.

Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula in Saptari said the government was committed to settle the ongoing violence, unleashed by various armed groups, through dialogue in a month.

Speaking at a program, organized by BP Memorial Day in Saptari, Sitaula said, “The government is committed to settle the violence in terai, as in case of otherwise, it may be difficult to conduct the Constituent Assembly poll on scheduled date.”

Minister Sitaula held a discussion with the representatives of civil society, various human rights organizations and the political parties in Rajbiraj to find out a solution to the violence in terai.

He urged all the agitating groups to come to a negotiating table for a common interest of the country. “Nobody should think to divide the nation and national integrity,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Defense Minister and Nepali Congress Central leader Mahesh Acharya strongly criticized the government for failing to maintain law and order in the country. Speaking in Biratnagar today, Acharya said, “The security situation is deteriorating everyday.” He said the possibility of conducting the CA poll on scheduled date is pushing further due to deteriorating security situation in the country.

The greatest threat to peace in Nepal is military impunity

Britain is wrong to roll out the red carpet for the head of a defiant army that so gravely imperils the path to democracy

Isabel Hilton
Friday July 20, 2007
The Guardian

On Monday, Lt General Rukmangad Katuwal, the head of the army in Nepal, is scheduled to arrive in Britain for a red carpet visit organised by the Ministry of Defence. Nepal is inching through the long process of normalisation and reform, following a 10-year Maoist insurgency that cost 10,000 lives. Now the Maoists are part of the peace process and a constituent assembly will be elected in November to design Nepal’s future democratic constitution.

But the peace process could be derailed by a number of factors, including the lingering influence of a king who still dreams of a return to feudal absolutism and, crucially, the willingness of Gen Katuwal to lead his army into a democratic future. Until last April, when King Gyanendra’s absolute rule was overthrown from the street, the Royal Nepal Army was under his direct command and its officers saw their prime duty as the protection of the monarchy. Gen Katuwal himself was brought up in the palace after being collected, like a souvenir, by the late King Mahendra on one of his visits to his people. Katuwal owed everything he had to the monarchy and played a key role in King Gyanendra’s savage war against the Maoist insurgency. If Nepal is to achieve lasting peace and stability, Gen Katuwal, and the army he commands, must be willing to change loyalty and adapt to the command of civilian politicians.

Under the terms of the peace agreement, the army will have to incorporate 30,000 Maoist fighters, something the caste-bound officers find hard to swallow, and to cooperate with the demands for justice for the civilian victims of army and police violence. Amnesty International estimates that more than two-thirds of the 900 who disappeared in the conflict were victims of the security services.

With these challenges at home, it’s easy to see why Gen Katuwal might want to come to Britain for a break. It is less easy to see why the MoD should choose to honour him with an invitation. In a situation as delicate as that of Nepal at present, an invitation with full honours should be reserved for those of whom the British government has reason to approve - and Gen Katuwal does not quite make the grade.

There is, for instance, the case of the 16-year-old Maina Sunwar, from the Kabhrepalanchok district in east central Nepal. On February 17 2004, a 12-man covert army team broke down the door of her house looking for her mother, Devi, whom the army claimed was suspected of Maoist sympathies. After a fruitless search of the house, they took Maina away for “questioning”, reassuring her father that she would be sent home when the interrogation was finished.

Seven military personnel witnessed what happened to Maina in the barracks: an appalling catalogue of torture that began with submersion in water and ended with electric shocks to her wet feet and wrists until they bled. Three hours after her arrival, she was dead. The officers’ response offers some insight into the army’s attitudes to torture and to the civilian population. Maina was stripped of her clothes and buried in a pit near the officers’ mess, but not before her dead body had been shot several times and the police, then under army command, had been instructed to report that she had been shot while attempting to escape from the custody van. In response to the repeated inquiries of Maina’s parents and teachers, the army stonewalled that she had never been in the barracks.

But Nepal was changing, and Maina’s parents did not give up. Nine months after her disappearance, they had mobilised enough pressure to force the army to conduct an inquiry. Seven months later it ruled that “she was not affiliated with the Maoist party”. The officer in command was confined to barracks for six months and barred from promotion for two years. Gen Katuwal’s army congratulated itself on keeping “a clear perspective on the promotion and protection of human rights”, adding that “the image of the Royal Nepali Army must be maintained high in national and international arenas”.

There was not, nor has there been since, any commitment to refrain from the use of torture on civilians. The case remains a scandal, and many have called for the officers to be put on trial. Last September, Foreign Office minister Kim Howells raised it with Gen Katuwal. Nothing has happened. Maina’s case is not an isolated example, and the army’s impunity for the crimes it has committed against the civilian population continues to threaten Nepal’s fragile peace process. As Khagendra Sharma, a Nepali analyst, wrote: “The army had an obvious role in suppressing the public during the April [2006] uprising and the high-level probe commission had recommended punitive action against a number of senior army officers. But the government did not take any action … The army not only took it as an amnesty for the past crime but also as an encouragement for future acts of a similar nature. There is a feeling of defiance. There is a lack of respect for the transition to a full-fledged democracy from the rule of a feudal monarchy.”

Gen Katuwal’s record on security services reform, in which the UK is to play a part, is equally dismal. In June local press reported that the modernisation of the Nepali ministry of defence had begun, with the help of a security sector development assistance team from Britain’s MoD. After six months of research the UK team had identified four major problems: torture and murder were not among them. Instead, overcrowding at headquarters, a lack of adequate officers, poor communications and a lack of incentive to employees were reported. The remedy, the British team suggested, was a “new building with adequate facilities, establishment of computerised network, development of human resources and the development of the ministry’s website”. For this purpose the MoD, on behalf of the British taxpayer, will generously provide more than £150,000.

Gen Katuwal’s reforms to date include the change of name to the Nepal Army, allowing soldiers’ wives to join the association previously reserved for the wives of officers, and a ban on officers swearing at their men. On the integration of former Maoist fighters into the army, torture, the education of the army in the principles of democracy and constitutional rule, it’s business as usual.

isabel.hilton@guardian.co.uk

It’s much scary situation in Nepal. The whole peace process has already received a roadblock. The Maoists are not willing to allow the UNMIN to resume its verification process. It’s already clear that the Maoists were surprised to see the findings of the first verification of its cantonment in Ilam. It is assumed that the UNMIN has disqualified some 40 percent combatants, who were below 18 years of age and who were recruited after May 25, 2006, the cut off date to qualify the combatants.

As the Maoists refused to resume the verification process, it’s sure that the peace process will receive serious crisis. Not only this, the irate Maoists have started accusing the UNMIN of trying to collapse the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by applying the DDR (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation) method, the allegation, which the UNMIN has already refuted. The verbal exchange between the rebels and the UNMIN has increased the crisis of confidence and the peace process is at risk. After sensing the problem, UNMIN Chief Martin held a press meet in Kathmandu on Monday.

Read the following news:

Chief of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin on Monday said the Maoists are not willing to discharge the combatants, who were disqualified during the verification process.

 In a press meet, organized at UN house here, Martin said, “Yes, discharge is not taking place. We need a discussion with Maoists and the government to settle the issue.”

 He said Maoist Chief Prachanda, during his recent meeting, wanted to have discussions with the government and with the UNMIN before resuming the verification at the second cantonment site at Sindhuli.

 He said Prachanda indicated that the discussions include the issues beyond the verification—the issues of supervising, integrating and rehabilitating the combatants. “UNMIN recognizes the importance of such discussions, which must lead to eventual decisions regarding the future of Maoist combatants within the context of the future of the security sector, and we look forward to discussions with the special committee about the arrangements for those who leave the cantonments,” Martin said, adding, “The important issue of security sector reform is primarily relevant to the future of those who remain in the cantonments after verification; it shouldn’t be a pre-condition to verification itself.”

 He said the Agreement on Monitoring the Management of Arms and Armies was negotiated between the Maoists and the then Seven-party Alliance government. “It was they who agreed upon the criteria which UNMIN has been asked to apply and it is their responsibility now to enable us to do so in a spirit of cooperation,” he said.

 He further said the international community, in accordance with the Agreement, expects that those who have been found to be under 18 on the relevant date must be discharged promptly.

 While stating that he would soon hold a meeting with Prachanda, he said he would discuss orderly discharge and reintegration of those found ineligible at Ilam.

 Martin said the UNMIN has begun destroying the explosives at the cantonment sites. “Last week saw the first destruction of explosives remnants of the conflict at the cantonment sites, and this will now go forward in cooperation with the Maoist army,” he said.

 
Holding polls, a major challenge

Martin said holding the Constituent Assembly (CA) poll in a conducive climate still faces major challenges. “Creation of public security and conditions conducive for the election in all districts and villages requires above all political cooperation,  not just in Kathmandu but even more crucially at the local level,” he said.

 He said the UN will assist in coordinating international observers through UNDP during the CA polls.

 Prachanda speaking in Butwal on Monday said the government should use the Young Communist League (YCL) along with the Armed Police Force (APF) to maintain law and order situation during the Constituent Assembly poll. It’s not the right argument as the YCL is not the legitimate security force in Nepal. However, Prachanda says the YCL, which is its youth organization, is the Maoists’ police. Prachanda forwarded the proposal intentionally to disrupt the verification process.

Landslides in two districts in western Nepal killed 21 persons on Friday, officials said.

 At least 16 persons were killed in Baglung and five in Bajura districts.

Lal Prasad Sharma, a correspondent of Kantipur, said the landslide buried nine houses in in Jaljala and Gwalichaur of Baglung.

The government officials in Baglung couldn’t be contacted and details on the incident are expected to come soon.

Sharma said 17 persons were injured in the landslide in Baglung.

The incident site is some 60 kilometers from the district headquarters.

The rescue team of Nepal Army has reached the site. However, heavy rain in the district has obstructed the rescue operation.

Similarly, a landslide killed five people and buried three houses of a village in Bajura, another western district in Nepal on Friday, officials said.

The landslide covered the houses in Bratola village in the morning while the victims were sleeping, said Bajura district’s senior official, Rana Bahadur Bista.

He said a rescue helicopter with a rescue team from Kathmandu have reached the village. “The rescue team has dug up only two bodies and the search for other three bodies is going on,” Bista told the AHN.

He said other five persons; three critically, were also injured in the landslide. The helicopter will soon lift those injured to Nepalgunj, another western town for treatment.

Bratola is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of the capital, Katmandu.

Scores of people are killed in this mountainous country every year during the rainy season due to landslides and floods.

I am proposing all the students, their parents and media friends to sue the education ministry for the trouble it has given to all by not publishing the SLC results on time. My point is the examination board always publishes the results late night. It’s a big trouble to all. Why can’t the board publish the results during day. These stupid guys spend their time having tea and coffee, making nonsense talks whole day and publish the results late night. Unfortunately, it’s been a tradition in Nepal.

 Now it’s 11 pm and I am in my newsroom waiting for the results. My colleague Anjali Subedi is at Sano Thimi waiting for a press release announcing the SLC results. Dozens of media persons and hundreds of students are at Sano Thimi waiting for the results. Isn’t it a trouble to all? I don’t understand why the ministry doesn’t make arrangements to publish the SLC results during day time. These stupid guys at the board can publish it by 8 pm. 

They are least concerned with the troubles the common people have to undergo.

Therefore, I am proposing to sue the education ministry for giving pain to all. 

Published in The Berkshire Eagle, a newspaper based in Massachusetts on July 30, 2006

Pearl’s friends hope for accurate movie
By Ghanashyam Ojha, Daniel Pearl Fellow
Berkshire Eagle Staff, July 30, 2006

PITTSFIELD – Sixteen years ago, he left Berkshire County and later started at The Wall Street Journal. Four years ago, he was killed.

But people here still cherish their memories and friendships with Daniel Pearl, especially when they hear something new about him.

Pearl, who started his journalism career from the North Adams Transcript and The Eagle, made his comeback into those old memories of Berkshire County residents when they heard that Hollywoodactress Angelina Jolie would play the role of Pearl’s wife, Mariane, in an upcoming Hollywoodmovie. Jolie’s husband, actor Brad Pitt, is a producer of the film.

The movie, based on the book “The Mighty Heart,” written by Mariane soon after her husband was killed by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002, is supposed to reflect Pearl’s life, his love for Mariane and his life as a journalist.

Glenn Drohan, editor of The Advocate in North Adams and someone who remained a lifelong friend after working with Pearl in his early days at the Transcript and The Eagle, said he is skeptical but hopeful about the upcoming film.

“Hollywood has a way of trivializing truth and glorifying spectacle, and I doubt that Angelina Jolie, however glamorous, can match Mariane Pearl’s natural beauty and intelligence,” he said. “Still, if this movie brings some recognition of Danny’s integrity, humor, zest for life and compassion for all humanity — and with luck, much-needed money to the Daniel Pearl Foundation — it will be worthwhile.”

Drohan said he is still coping with his grief over Pearl’s brutal death, which was reported by his captors on Feb. 21, 2002.

“Danny brought joy wherever he went and taught me a lot, not only about good journalism, but also about appreciating life on so many levels,” he said. “I’ve always said Danny collected friends like cooks collect recipes — and kept all of them. That is evidenced in part by the music festivals throughout the country on or near his birthday. His memory lives and is cherished in the Berkshires, Atlanta, Washington, California – wherever he lived or worked.”

John Barrett III, the mayor of North Adams, who calls Pearl the brightest journalist he has ever met, said he hopes the movie will tell the complete story of Pearl.

“It should reflect Danny’s life, beginning from graduation to the tragedy he met in Pakistan,” Barrett said. Barrett fondly remembers Pearl’s “mischievous” side. The mayor recalled one humorous event in which Pearl disguised himself as a woman so as to report on a male dance revue and then broke the story in the Transcript.

“I just loved his sense of humor,” Barrett said. “Therefore, I find ‘mischievous’ as an appropriate word to describe him.”

Barrett, who has served as mayor for more than 20 years, said, “Lots of journalists came and went in my 23-year career, but Danny didn’t go. He is still in North Adams.”

Daniel Bellow of Great Barrington, another of Pearl’s friends who worked with him at The Eagle, is pleased to hear about the movie but concerned how the film might define Pearl and how it will negotiate his death.

“I am interested to see how they will handle it,” Bellow said.

Although Bellow began his journalism career with a dream to become a foreign correspondent, he changed his mind after Pearl’s death.

“Danny’s death changed my life. It changed my perspectives [in how I] look at the world,” said Bellow, who worked at The Eagle and is now a real-estate agent and potter. He is also a freelance writer.

Lewis C. Cuyler, who was the business editor at The Eagle when Pearl joined as a reporter, said Pearl’s story should be told to the world.

“I am so glad he is being celebrated, and the world should know about Danny as a journalist,” he said.

Unfolding those past memories, Cuyler said, “You know, I was in my late 50s and he was in his early 20s. … To my surprise, he got it. He was very respectful.”

Nick Noyes, who became Pearl’s friend when they worked at the Transcript, has been organizing an annual musical program coinciding with Pearl’s birthday in October ever since he was killed.

Noyes invites Pearl’s friends, some people who know Pearl and some who want to know about him.

“It’s a kind of informal gathering,” said Noyes, who works as the public relations director at the Berkshire Visitors Bureau in Adams.

“I just want to keep the memory of Danny and hold this kind of musical program because the entire world celebrates it as the World Music Festival in Danny’s memory,” Noyes said.