A summary of the email forwarded by one of our contributors regarding another article by Ms Sandhya Jain which follows afterwards:

Although, we believe that a ‘Federal Nepal’ is another disaster…this article makes for an interesting read. I have followed the writers article since long and she writes correct things from the Macro point of view. The Macro level problems are, correctly, well defined and illustrated in all the articles by writer. From the micro point of view it is on us Nepalis itself to decide how we want the things to work.

The only thing that the writer fails to understand is that SPA is not a part of the solution but a part of the problem.

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The Pioneer (20/02/2007)

Shifting the goalposts

- Sandhya Jain 

The stoning of King Gyanendra’s cavalcade on the auspicious occasion of Shivaratri, supposedly by egalitarian Hindu devotees objecting to the custom of royal precedence, suggests growing Maoist fears that the forthcoming election to the Constituent Assembly may not give them a winning mandate. Reports from Nepal indicate that the institution of monarchy continues to exert a mesmeric influence over ordinary people in the Himalayan kingdom, and the prospect of its abolition may be eroding the Maoist grip over popular imagination.

Certainly the ground reality has changed sharply since the so-called peace accord gave Maoists almost a third of the seats in the interim Parliament. Despite such a precipitous political tilt in their favour, Comrade Prachanda has not felt confident of surrendering arms as per the accord, and wishes to join the interim Cabinet without adhering to his part of the bargain. His people are now claiming that they see no need to fulfil any precondition set by the Government, and are threatening to ‘delay’ the June election unless immediately accommodated in the interim Cabinet. Government sources are dismayed at the delay in arms surrender and legitimately fear that arms may play a role in the forthcoming election.

During a visit to New Delhi last week, Nepali Congress leader Sujata Koirala complained that the Maoists have gone “out of control” and are an obstacle to her country’s transition to a full-fledged democracy. She claimed the Maoists have resiled from all promises, have not surrendered all arms or returned lands seized previously. Indeed, she said, the Maoist cadre is still threatening the people, the police and even foreign diplomats. Even former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has charged the Maoists of breaking their promise to return seized public property; he fears this could affect the Constituent Assembly election (The Rising Nepal, February 8, 2007).

Although Ms Koirala was too polite to express dissatisfaction with the UN’s handling of the arms issue, in the light of India’s sad experience with the UN mission on the Indo-Pak border, I can only surmise that a devious international game is afoot to give an unrepresentative bunch of thugs the control of this strategically vital nation. Not surprisingly, Ms Koirala, who is known for her political candour, has asked India to perceive the Nepal situation as a “fire in the neighbourhood”, and take appropriate action before it engulfs us in turn. Given the grim situation in States battling Naxalite violence, not to mention ISI presence in both countries, the warning is apt. It remains to be seen if it has been well received; it is not clear which UPA leaders she succeeded in meeting during her stay.

Ms Koirala revealed that Nepal’s greatest problem is law and order and that Home Minister KP Sitaula is widely perceived as being ‘too friendly’ with the Maoists, and hence unable to act decisively against them. She took public opinion by surprise when she defied her father, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, and openly demanded Mr Sitaula’s resignation on the issue of the Terai violence. It appears that many political parties in Kathmandu are waking up to the reality of the ‘coup’ that has gifted the Maoists a major share of the interim Parliament, without any proven ability to truly represent the people. With arms surrender inadequate, and suspicions about UN collusion with the Christian leadership of the Maoists rampant (even if unstated), the constituents of the Seven-Party Alliance have found a heaven-sent escape route in the Terai flare-up.

The trouble in Terai broke out unexpectedly on January 19 this year, when the escort of Maoist leader Ram Karki shot at and killed Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum activist Ramesh Kumar Mahato in Lahan district. The situation deteriorated when the Maoists seized the dead body and forced the family of the deceased to immediately cremate the body. The resultant public anger boiled for three weeks, taking at least 38 lives and leaving several injured in police action, before a truce was called.

This brought international spotlight on the Terai’s gross under-representation and forced Prachanda to agree to a draft Bill to amend the interim Constitution. Once approved by the interim Parliament, Articles 134 and 154 of the interim Constitution will be amended to provide a federal state structure and new constituencies in the Terai, as also additional seats for proportional representation according to the percentage of population growth. It is thus envisaged that 20 constituencies will be added in Terai and four in the hill regions. An additional 20 seats will be increased for proportional representation.

According to The Kathmandu Post, this means that the 20 southern districts, which comprise 48.4 per cent of the population, will receive 49 per cent seats in the Constituent Assembly. The remaining 51 per cent seats will be divided among the 55 hilly and Himalayan districts, which constitute 51.6 per cent of the population. This appears to be an equitable distribution, and it is to be hoped that the aged and sick Prime Minister will be able to execute the delimitation exercise properly.

Political empowerment of the aggrieved and anti-Maoist Madhesis, however, is unlikely to go down well with Prachanda, who is again busy shifting the goalposts, violating the spirit and substance of the November 21, 2006, accord. Indeed, less than a month after declaring peace, Maoist goons had resorted to large-scale violence and intimation in Kathmandu on December 18, 2006, to force the Government to cancel the appointment of Ambassadors to 14 countries, including India. Now they are trying to muscle their way into the interim Cabinet without surrendering arms.

Given their unreliable nature, the original seven parties of the interim Government would do well to seize the political initiative, rather than let Prachanda dictate the national agenda. The SPA should dissociate from the plan to abolish the monarchy, and emphasise a truly federal polity. It should support retention of Hindu supremacy in the Himalayan kingdom, with safeguards against fraudulent conversions currently being pushed among border and marginal communities; already a major portion of Nepal’s Buddhist community has been converted to Christianity in the past few years. The SPA should also call upon the Nepal Army to ensure free and fair elections in June, as it is virtually certain that the UN will fail to control the murderous People’s Liberation Army.

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( Source of above article: DailyPioneer.com )

Ascent of the anti-Hindus

The following article was originally published in the newspaper The Pioneer (of India) and has been reproduced here from the BJP website. Some of the facts mentioned here and the grand designs of Indian National Congress (yes, that has ruined India’s relationship with all it’s neighbours) send you crying for Nepal and the Hindus in general. Think logically and all the bits and pieces start falling in place.

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NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS
The Pioneer: July 11, 2006

Ascent of the anti-Hindus
By Sandhya Jain

 

Barely a month after his visit to New Delhi for support in rebuilding his Maoist-ravaged country, Nepal’s appointed interim Prime Minister GP Koirala has delivered his unhappy nation into the hands of its worst tormentor and retired to a hospital bed. Whispers from Kathmandu suggest that Prachanda, would-be President-King of the former Hindu kingdom, is a Christian. There is little reason to doubt these voices, as similar murmurings about LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran proved correct, and Sri Lanka’s Tamil Hindus admit that the organisation does not serve their political, economic or cultural interests in any way. Its objective is to provide its covert Western backers a foothold in the region.

With Prachanda’s ascent in India’s hinterland, the West has executed a far greater coup than the secession of East Timor from Indonesia. If South Block is unmoved, it is only because an Italian Roman Catholic has successfully subverted the national ethos and subjugated the country to American geo-strategic interests. It is truly shocking that New Delhi has refused to react to the fact that an aged politician, appointed for an interim period in the wake of a popular agitation, has inaugurated the most audacious changes in Nepal’s polity without any mandate from the Nepali people.

Instead of supporting Hindu Nepal, its civilisational ally, the Sonia Gandhi-dominated UPA regime is shamelessly working to accomplish the West-sponsored Maoist agenda. The centuries-old Hindu character of the country has been tossed aside, and the monarchy and the Royal Nepal Army which symbolise the nation discredited. Though the supposedly popular uprising (the cognoscenti say the streets were crammed with paid lumpens) aimed at electing a government and restoring the democratic process, it now transpires that Nepal is going to be subverted through a new constituent assembly, which was never on the people’s agenda.

It is true that King Gyanendra is not respected like his late brother. Yet realisation is beginning to dawn in some quarters that the political parties that constituted Nepal’s fractious democratic process have been rendered completely irrelevant by plans for a new constituent assembly. This is because the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) regime is being blackmailed by Maoist threats of renewed violence and bloodshed, and this threat may impact upon the results whenever elections are held. Prachanda, dreaming of the Nepali version of the Imperial Presidency, is advocating United Nations supervision of the polls, when everyone knows that the UN is an agent of the West, especially under Kofi Annan.

America is seeking to enthrone Christian stooges wherever it has strategic interests. Ideology is a ruse, mere washable distemper. This will become apparent when the new constitution officially abolishes the Hindu nature of the State and espouses minority rights, despite the fact that there were no minorities in Nepal until the West and the ISI jointly evangelised the region as part of a policy of containing India. Nepal’s new constitution will offer freedom of religion (sic), a euphemism for the freedom to convert Nepalis to Christianity.

Eradication of the Hindu character of Nepal is the sole raison d’etre for the present de facto regime change, and its instigators are the American-led West, operating through anti-Hindu communist groups in both India and Nepal. Notwithstanding their pretended anti-imperialist rhetoric, there should be no misunderstanding that Communists serve any power other than the West. Russia is officially non-Communist and China is Communist in name only. Left radicals enjoy untold luxury and wealth solely in America, populating its elite universities and NGOs. They are Christian America’s natural allies in hurting the native civilisational ethos in non-Christian countries targetted by the West, and are doing a thorough job in Nepal.

The great Pashupatinath mandir, as critical to Nepal’s cultural traditions as India’s Vishwanath temple at Varanasi, has been singled out for secular assault. It has been asked to submit its accounts for scrutiny by unelected unbelievers. This is an outrage, an act of iconoclasm as grave as the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the American-trained Taliban. If Nepalis fail to respond to this insult with the ferocity it deserves, they should be prepared to witness the cross replacing the shikar over the sanctum sanctorum.

Prachanda has made several revealing statements. Last year, he told Time magazine that when he launched the so-called people’s war in 1996, he did not have a single modern weapon or any trained armed cadres (April 18, 2005). Anybody who has observed the insurgency in India’s North-East would readily identify the religious affiliations of the international sponsors of such ‘people’s movements.’

More importantly, Prachanda is determined to keep his arms and armed cadres intact even after elections to the proposed constituent assembly are over. This is obviously to secure an advantage (sic) which the elections might deny him. He could then emulate Lenin and enact a Winter Palace-style of coup against the country’s effete politicians, who have so far behaved with sheep-like stupidity. This has emboldened him to suggest that his Maoist insurgents could join and take over the Royal Nepal Army (RNA)!

Ms Sonia Gandhi’s supremacy having ensured an unfriendly India, it is not known what kind of cards the King and Army still retain to defeat this virtual colonisation of Nepal. But it is almost certain that they cannot beat back this challenge alone. Nepal’s notoriously divisive political parties have not shown any awareness of the nature of the threat facing the nation, so it is too early to say if they can unite with the King and Army for a larger purpose. If Prachanda formally seizes all power in Nepal, there is little doubt that America will seek bases on Nepali soil, in order to ‘contain’ China. This does not augur well for India. Yet we must prepare for this eventuality, as there is no other reason to plant a Christian in Kathmandu.

The 21st century seems set to witness a major geographical realignment with old national boundaries being merged into larger conglomerates. America already calls the shots in Pakistan and through it, in Bangladesh. It has bases in Afghanistan, and Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, has been cultivated and controlled through a Hollywood star. Christian supremos have been put in place in India and Nepal, while Christian protégés are being promoted in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. That gives you a new political entity already christened by the US State Department – South Asia. Not a nice thought; not one that can be readily dismissed either.
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( Source of above article: bjp.org )

Royal Nepalese Army On Frequency Modulation

The Scoop website from New Zealand always has some very very interesting articles. In fact some highly wily and skillful Nepali writers have submitted their articles there. So here is what we found while digging through the web.

The following is a very interesting observation by the writer on the Propaganda War that the Maoists (and SPAM as a whole) have played. The article looks at one aspect of the propaganda war and how RNA and the Actual Government of Nepal back then should have won it!

We are putting the article on the front page now, but we will soon backdate it and archive it.

Over to the article from Scoop now:

Royal Nepalese Army On Frequency Modulation
Monday, 3 April 2006, 11:51 am
Opinion: Guest Opinion

Royal Nepalese Army On Frequency Modulation

By Purbasi Chhetri

During press briefing, RNA spokesperson revealed that RNA will operate six FM radio stations across the country to counter Maoist propaganda. Earlier Minister for information and communications had said that the government has issued licenses to Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) to run FM radios. He has also assured to the visiting International Advocacy Mission for Press Freedom in Nepal that “it would not limit the independent freedom of expression” as “it is not unconstitutional and undemocratic for the army to run FM stations”.

There are many countries in the world including UN Peace Keeping Missions where army has been running not only FM but also AM and TV stations to support mission accomplishment. There are many instances where military contingents of western rich countries deployed in UN peacekeeping missions run their own FM stations. Nowadays, UN Peace Keeping Mission HQs run its own radio stations in host country territory in international and as well as local languages. The US Army use strategic, operational and tactical radio and television broadcast transmitters to conduct psychological campaigns. These involve from long range AM radio, TV to short range FM radio broadcasting stations. The US and UK Army run radio stations in all theatre of wars. British Gurkha in Hong Kong had its own radio transmission station. Therefore it is not a new introduction in Nepal.

Nepal is embroiled at conflict. At abnormal situation no one should expect normal state It is a known fact for everyone that Nepal has been fighting a war against violent Maoist insurgency/terrorism since 1996. The Maoists run their own mobile FM radio stations to spread communist propaganda and psychological terror. In Nepal most private print media freely publish material put out by the Maoists including the interviews, statements, articles and bandh programmes called by the Maoists. Because of this, people change their attitude and behaviour in favour of the Maoists. Bandh called by the Maoists become successful primarily due to some media publicise them without giving serious thoughts about its impact on national life. The Maoists conduct mass indoctrinations through organising mass meetings in the countryside and use private electronic and print media to indoctrinate the urban educated middle class. To counter all these government was lacking an effective media campaign that could effectively neutralize Maoist propaganda and remove sense of psychological fear among the populace.

RNA’s plan to run FM stations with the goal of countering Maoist propaganda as part of integrated response plan against the Maoists sounds very natural and encouraging. The necessity was seemingly corroborated by the fact that existing private FM stations did almost nothing to counter baseless propaganda and psychological terror spread by the Maoists. Rather in many occasions they were successfully used by the Maoists. Not only at countryside but also in cities including the capital, the Maoists used its FM stations to spread communist propaganda with the theme of demoralizing the security forces and the people to fulfill their objective.

However, just by running the FM station in itself is not going to be an achievement. It depends on how effectively it could jam Maoist FM broadcasts, and counter the Maoist propaganda by putting out its own effective psychological campaign products.

Taking lessons from other countries, it can be recommended that Army FM radio stations operating in conflict/combat zones should indeed aim to function to effectively jam insurgent mobile and static FM station broadcasts, counter insurgent propaganda & terror campaigns, raise morale of its men and destroy insurgent’s will to fight, inform achievements of the government and security forces to the people & broadcast recreational materials preferably on local languages for the benefit of local communities.

Some quarters in Nepal maintain the view that Army should be sent to fight a war alone only with guns and bullets by restricting all other means that would require help win the war. All would agree that integrated approach is the only best solution for countering an insurgency. Such integrated response plan to counter insurgency should indeed encompass media campaign, political campaign, social-economic development campaign, military campaign and so on. The fact remain is that counter insurgency campaign is not a stand alone military campaign rather military is only one of the instruments of government. Government run radio and televisions could also be utilised to counter the propaganda spread by the Maoists and other internal and external ill elements.

Last year when government banned FM radios to broadcast news then they challenged the government to rather stop Maoist FM stations from broadcasting news. Now RNA got that job. Again some private FM stations have shown their anger and dissatisfactions over the decision on the ground that RNA FM radio would curtail their business profit. But question is how a non-profit making FM radio station having entirely different objectives could harm profit oriented private FM stations? By creating secured environment through gradual victory over insurgency would indeed help private enterprises to grow.

( Source of above article: Scoop.co.nz )

India: Charm that Hurts Nepal

The following article appeared on Newsblaze website. The writer only makes it more clear the SPAMmer (terrorist) and Indian propaganda being spread by Kantipur (some of our readers have being talking to us regarding money and media and propaganda). Also, India’s interference in Nepal’s politics are highlighted.

India: Charm that Hurts Nepal

By Munna Singh

For me the hardest thing to digest has been India’s role in all this – heretics such as S.D. Muni and Yechuri all make trips and consult their henchmen (SPA and Maoist), in India – we all seem to know about this but act nonchalant. Nepal is becoming a remote controlled nation.

I read Kantipur sometimes, I abhor it, and find news as if doctored by the South block. For me they represent India rather than a credible newspaper. A friend who works in a Himalayan Bank innocently squealed that Kantipur Publishing House deposited Rs. 64 crore in four banks, one being his.

More or less, most people agree that the way things are, it only means a civil war. Even if Maoists stay on the backs of SPa take over, resistance will crop up, to defeat unilateralism and draconian laws and policy that the Maoists espouse, with definite curtailing of speech, freedom and individual rights. The endgame for them and to COMPOSA is to make a Nepal a model communist state. Now, the quandary is – knowing all this India is hell bent on supporting the Maoists and SPA. What gives? The logic can be only one thing – Nepal is not a country but a puppet regime under and by South Block. It shows that for India, anything is ok and can be handled except the Monarchy. In their eyes, a true Nepal is one without the King, and the rest is within their realm by hook or crook.

It is quite naiive to chit chat only about the SPA and Maoists because at the end of the day – it is India who is running them both. I do not suspect this, I take this to be the truth. Nor is it a question of India bashing or being anti-India! But somewhere in retrospect – I see a well defined map by India with total disregard for the people of Nepal. Not a good move even by the standard they have set for themselves with all the neighboring countries.

If there is a concerted effort by the powers-that-be then I see Maoists making a hasty retreat with compulsion to join the main stream without arms. The effort must be on making a level playing field for everyone, not just big parties or a renegade party but for all without the chance of affording parties (big, renegades) to hijack the better interest of the nation on behest of a Foreign country.

I see less chance of better judgment prevailing in India in regards to Nepal and the necessity of Monarchy in Nepal. So it is upon us to set the stage whereby in a gradual process we create a platform that propagates nation building from within, practically putting our house in order that can rebuff unwarranted and unnecessary foreign intrusions. To achieve this, I assume we must share the burden in all aspects to formulate a charter that is all-encompassing in terms of ethnicity, social, political and economic aspects. The task is uphill but the time to start is now before it is too late.

The resurgence of Nepali nationalism

The following article appeared on Nepalnews.com . We at Oh Nepal are a big fan of Ms. Koirala. She writes sense and most importantly makes sense. Humour and irony are both evident in the following article. We will try and put on over here some other articles by Ms. Koirala, in times to come.

The Resurgence of Nepali Nationalism

Maoist supremo is now on the threshold of refolding and re-writing Nepal’s history

By Preeti Koirala

If there is anything that the present government ministers have succeeded in doing is creating chaos and confusion among the people. One is just amazed to look at the mess that they have managed to create in such a short span of time. By giving a red carpet welcome to the Maoists in the capital city, which according to Prachanda himself his guerrillas could have otherwise never managed to overcome by military means, the seven party alliance is dismantling every institution, legal edifice and constitutional procedures that has taken over a decade to build and that are so essential for any democratic, modern nation of the 21 st century.

There has been a commission formed to probe intro atrocities committed during the people’s movement in which altogether 21 people died while the perpetrators of a violent insurrection in which thirteen thousand have lost their lives were welcomed and cheered into the Prime Minister’s official residence. They have declared that the lower house is sovereign and have ordered all chiefs of constitutional bodies to come and take oath before it not realizing that the same supremacy of the parliament could be used by a future dictator to transform himself from a democratically elected Prime Minister to a modern day Hitler. If the parliament is regarded as “sovereign” then a Prime Minister who is selected from a political party that secures the most number of seats can easily declare himself sovereign just like Adolf Hitler. Justices of the Supreme Court publicly declared that they will not go to the House for oath-taking and shamelessly the House proclamation was “revised” to go well with the warning given by the Justices. They have formed a small committee to draft an interim constitution but haven’t given the ToR nor the appointment letters to its members. Now, the committee is being expanded to induct a few women members. Questions are being asked by the M.Ps themselves on how can two odd coordinators of the peace talks have the authority to announce the formation of a committee to draft an interim constitution of the country. One of the members Shambhu Thapa has publicly said that by not inducting a royal palace nominee in the committee, we have already opened the possibility of one of the three sides of the conflict to remain infuriated for a long time to come. Another member is a Maoist cadre while Sindhu Nath Pyakurel is supposed to be very close to the Maoist leadership. Purposefully, we have already dismantled the 1990 Constitution hailed by many as being one of the best in the South Asian region for its liberal provisions on freedom of citizens and fundamental rights, while blindly entering into another without even knowing whether we can safeguard the fundamental rights enshrined by the 1990 Constitution itself.

Without giving up arms, the Maoists are set to join the interim government and some of the ministers are happy that the Maoists are finally going to join the mainstream. But the last time a political party with arms joined the government was the Fascist Party of Benito Mussoloni in Italy. Only in Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq the ruling parties also have their own private armies. If the Maoists join the interim government without giving up arms, they will practically be controlling two armies at the same time-the Nepal Army and their own People’s Liberation Army. Thanks to SPA, we will soon get a glorious opportunity to join the community of nations under the ‘axis of evil’.

The Nepal Army was infuriated by the reckless comments by the Maoist boss and naturally it had to speak aloud on its balconey only to be told by the Minister of Agriculture that it was not the business of the Army to comment on political matters. But what authority did the Minister of Agriculture himself have to comment on the remarks of the national army which essentially comes under the ministry of defense? One of the two Deputy Prime Ministers thought that the army was compelled to give a statement as none from the government said anything on this regard while the other Deputy Prime Minister thinks that the army’s conduct wasn’t proper. General Secretary of the CPN (UML) sensed “nothing wrong” in it while the Home Minister was not happy. Finally, the Maoist boss himself “corrected” his words in an interview with the state-run Nepal Television.

Amidst this confusion, U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, James F. Moriarty, said that his country would not recognize a government in Nepal if it inducts Maoists without them giving up arms. Indian Marxist leader, Sitaram Yechury, on his occasional visit to Kathmandu bounced back at the American envoy saying that Moriarty was clearly crossing diplomatic norms. But, what diplomatic norm is Mr. Yechury himself following by coming to Kathmandu repeatedly and pressurizing the government to yield more to the Maoists? If an envoy of the Indian government in the form of a leader of the CPI (M) has to land in Kathmandu every now and then, what is the use of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu which is regarded as one of the biggest of Embassies in the world? Besides, Prime Minister Koirala has just been to Delhi and had substantive talks with his counterpart including other Indian leaders. Yechury’s recurrent visits and his overtures to coerce the Nepal government to induct the Maoists with arms into the government or even to have an interim government headed by the Maoists is in fact a gross interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.

Only in Syria, North Korea, Cuba and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq the ruling parties also have their own private armies…. Thanks to the Seven Party Alliance, we will soon get a glorious opportunity to join the community of nations under the ‘axis of evil’.

Interestingly, it is said that Yechury’s party was actually on the side of China during the Indo-China war of 1962. After 45 years, the two blocks of the leftist parties of India are experimenting another variety of armed conflict that will definitely have long-lasting effects on the national security interests of their own country. Quite a few articles are being written by Indian authors that suggest that India could well annex Nepal as it did with Sikkim in the eventuality of a Maoist takeover of Nepal. They feel that “Nepalese in the broadest sense would welcome India’s invasion of Nepal as the Maoists are hated and disliked for their atrocities committed for over a decade”.

But the Maoist leadership is smart enough to recognize which way the wind is blowing and whom to betray when. Just after a few days following Prachanda’s statement inside the Prime Minister’s residence in which he criticized the Nepal Army for betraying the proud Nepali nation ever since the Sugauli Treaty of 1816; a senior leader in the LTTE Mr Balasingham, one of the oldest confidants of LTTE supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran admitted the LTTE’s role in the killing of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It is indeed an irony that the LTTE which had received training, resources, material and moral support from India under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi ultimately accepted the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. This same destiny is in some way repeating in Nepali politics by Prachanda publicly mentioning about the Treaty of Sugauli in which Nepal lost much of its territory to British India. Prachanda has thus made himself the one and the only politician in contemporary Nepal to voice his resentment against this treaty which was inked in haste after Nepali Army’s defeat with the then British Empire. Over 5 million Nepalese speaking diaspora continue to live in various parts of India but still consider themselves as being part of the Great Nepal which stretched once upon a time from Tista to Kangra.

Thanks to the facilitation by New Delhi primarily by the two Indian leftist parties to bring the Maoists into the mainstream, New Delhi has repeated its LTTE fiasco and the Maoist supremo is now on the threshold of refolding and re-writing that part of Nepal’s history which is regarded as disgraceful and shameful by every nationalist Nepali. Prachanda could well be a leader of not only the Nepalis living inside Nepal but also those Nepali brothers and sisters that have been living outside. None after King Mahendra and Madan Bhandari have been able to enthrall the Nepalis on the self-respect that we were never colonized. If he wants to rectify his image tarnished by the killings of innocent Nepalis since 1996, Prachanda can and must use the nationalism card once again and get inducted in an interim government. The days of proud Nepali nationalism are visible here.

(Ms. Koirala is an insurance executive based in the U.S. and can be reached at preeti72koirala@hotmail.com)