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The week that was

Blow-by-blow account of the days after February First

February First, 10AM. King Gyanendra?s 28-minute royal proclamation is broadcast to the nation.

The king read through a teleprompter in a special studio inside the Narayanhiti Royal Palace. The set included the national flag, the royal standard and a backdrop of the royal seal, there were three ?jump cuts?.

The monarch criticised political parties for misusing their parliamentary privilege, lambasted the Maoists for their criminality and terrorism, sacked Sher Bahadur Deuba (without naming him) for having been incapable (once again), and announced he was taking over the chairmanship of a new council of ministers for a period of up to three years.

Even before the broadcast had finished, telephone lines to and within Nepal and the mobile network went dead. The airport was closed and international flights diverted. The army?s signals corps shut down satellite links at ISPs and radio stations.

The royal proclamation was followed by an announcement from the home ministry declaring a state of emergency and the suspension of the freedom of speech, assembly, the right to property, information and against preventive detention.

Before, during and after the address, political leaders, student leaders and activists of political parties were rounded up. Many of the seniormost were under house arrest. Deuba was kept in his official residence at Baluwatar, Girija Prasad Koirala and Madhab Kumar Nepal respectively at their homes in Maharajganj and Koteswor.

Some welcomed King Gyanendra?s move, hoping this might help bring the raging Maoist war to a finish. Flag-waving motorcycle rallies went around the capital on Thursday in support of the royal move. There were also fears for democratic values, but the few students who defied a ban on rallies on Tuesday were quickly dispersed.

The situation outside Kathmandu Valley is difficult to gauge because of the communication blackout. A three-day Maoist banda fizzled out in the capital.

Except China, international response was negative. India, Britain and the United States and the United Nations conveyed concern about the impact on parliamentary democracy. On Wednesday, King Gyanendra announced a 10-member cabinet that he is to chair. They include four former office bearers from the Panchayat era. Three of the ministers were powerful administrators during the pre-1990 partyless Panchayat system.

On Thursday the government announced a ban for six months on articles, interviews, news, notices and opinions against the ?letter and spirit? of the royal proclamation and providing ?direct and indirect support? to terrorism and ?destruction?. Those who went against the stricture would be subject to action.

The newly appointed ministers gave interviews to the state-run media. Home Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi told Radio Nepal the government would soon urge the Maoists to come for talks. ?The rebels have always said they wanted to hold talks with the king, now that the king is chief executive, they should have no problems coming for negotiations,? he said.

On Thursday, daily papers carried advertisements from some business houses and individuals welcoming the royal move.

Notice in Gorkhapatra on 3 February from His Majesty?s Government Ministry of Information and Communication

Invoking Sub Clause 1 of Clause 15 of His Majesty?s Print and Publication Act, 2048, and considering the nation and national interest, His Majesty?s Government has banned for six months any interview, article, news, notice, view or personal opinion that goes against the letter and spirit of the Royal Proclamation on 1 Feb 2005 and that directly or indirectly supports destruction and terrorism. In line with the arrangement in the Print and Publication Act 2048, action will be taken against anyone violating this notice.

state of the state

by CK Lal
DATE: Friday, 4 Feb 2005

A brave new world
Just as well we?re not going for elections anytime soon

Two years after October Fourth, the Royal Address of February First came as naturally as winter follows autumn. Other than the most foolhardy UML politicos nobody was really taken by surprise. In a good part of the speech the king renewed his commitment to multi-party democracy.

For well over a week, the ouster of Sher Bahadur Deuba and his cabinet had been a foregone conclusion?it was a matter of when rather than if or how he and his government would be shown the door. So he suffered the ignominy of being sacked all over again.

With his second dismissal, Deuba has the dubious distinction of being the only head-of-government in the world to have been sacked by a head-of-state twice in such quick succession.

In his address the king repeatedly referred to the realities of the 21st century. Ironically, even as the address was concluding, the phone and cellphone lines went dead, ISPs were shut down, the airport was closed, senior politicos were put under house arrest and security forces posted at all media outlets.

King Gyanendra suggests a three-year period to transform Nepal into a democratic, peaceful and well-administered kingdom pursuing free-market policies of good governance, transparency and structural reforms to achieve the goal of sustainable development. The key word, often used, was ?discipline??. The king also assured his subjects the monarchy did not need to seek populism to prove itself.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, a global neocon tsunami is sweeping across countries. In this new scheme of things, property rights are presumed to precede political rights. Several political experiments are being conducted in different parts to ensure that free-market fundamentalists come out on top.

It began in Pakistan in 1999 after a coup was staged from an aeroplane. That test-case has since progressed to a stage where the Chief Executive says he will keep his uniform on.

Meanwhile, his banker-premier Shaukat Aziz has been in Davos to push his economic ideology. In more anarchic societies like Afghanistan and Iraq, stage-managed elections are the processes of choice to install hand-picked favourites. The polls in Iraq and Afghanistan were, as The Economist put it ?democracy at gunpoint.? With international monitors mostly staying away for fear of personal safety, it was impossible to assess the fairness of the poll or accuracy of the turnout estimates. But the US-led forces have already got what they wanted: an opportunity to install their favourites in symbolic positions of power.

In slightly more settled societies, the modus operendi of neocons is to install or unseat rulers through a combination of pre-poll and post-poll political engineering. The method has worked exceedingly well in South America. Now it is being implemented with some success in post-Soviet republics of Central Asia where a string of velvet revolutions are being staged to seat or unseat democratic rulers. So, in that sense it?s probably a blessing in disguise that we?re not going for elections anytime soon.

Thank Ashu for update!
Susant

under my hat
Kunda Dixit

DATE: February 4, 2004

Don?t you dare laugh

Two items of news last week from the world of rats was proof that lower mammals have an acute sixth sense that warns them of impending disaster. Rats are in fact known to have abandoned the Titanic even though it hadn?t even struck an iceberg yet. Our rodent friends seem to have a built-in early warning system.

In the first incident, reported nationwide by the media before it was forbidden to tell lies, a mouse reportedly got inside the trousers of a cook in a Darbar Marg caf? that shall remain nameless. The cook panicked and crashed into the bar, breaking several bottles of Kingfisher which gashed him and he had to be rushed to the hospital (don?t you dare laugh).

The second occurrence took place the next day at a famous New Road eatery when a hungry customer about to wolf down a vegetarian samosa discovered that it contained a baby rat (Latin name: Rats Us). As reported by the local media, other patrons then raised slogans against the restaurant management, demanding their money back. Thank heavens we?re not a litigious nation, otherwise people would be suing the pants off the rats.

All this just by way of preamble as the country resumes its long march towards attaining Asian ISO 9002 standards by 2050 by unleashing four-directional development and go back to the village. Even as I write those words, I am swept by a heady feeling of nostalgia and d?j? vu. The good days are back again, let?s rock.

And now, the international headlines to those of you who missed watching important events unfold around the world. It?s a pity you didn?t get to watch BBC and CNN this week because you missed a lot of earth-shattering events around the world. There is nothing like 24-hour television news to keep us abreast of what is happening globally. So, this is what you all missed:

1. Pope John Paul catches a cold but is getting better as we hear live from our correspondent outside his hospital in Rome.

2. Breaking news that jury selection in the Michael Jackson trial is finally complete even as the genderless, raceless and ageless king of pop says he?s not a bad man, just a weird one.

3. Mugabe calls for elections in March: the West is sceptical

4. Iraq elections over: the West says it was a roaring success

5. Thailand elections next week: voting just a formality, says Thaksin

6. Captains of industry met in Davos and some of them slipped on ice in the sidewalk outside their hotel

7. Lords of poverty junket in Puerto Alegre winds up amidst fanfare and belly-dancing

8. Hillary Clinton faints, recovers and gives another speech

9. Tony Blair is kissed by party supporter at rally who is surprised he doesn?t have a stiff upper lip. ?They are rather soft,? Tony?s kisser told reporters.

10. SAARC summit postponed again, leaders to meet ?at latest? by 2025 by which time, member nations will have hopefully run out of excuses not to attend.

We have more international news in just a moment after the break. Don?t go away.

A MESSAGE from friends in Kathmandu.

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FEBRUARY 4 2005

Dear all,

Nepal is under complete censorship.

All contacts through phone and internet within Nepal and with outside world have been severed since Tuesday. There is no sign of immediate opening.

The following articles (see above) appeared in Friday?s Nepali Times dated February 4, 2005 under conditions of absolute censorship. All websites have been closed down including Nepali Times.

EDITORIAL

The NEPALI TIMES
4 February 2005

Published EDITORIAL:

Hariyo ban Nepal ko dhan

The sudden epidemic of tree-felling along Kathmandu?s streets is drastic, misguided and not consonant with the needs of the population. In an increasingly congested valley, foliage provides both utility and aesthetics. It gives us fresh air that allows us to breathe freely. The role of trees is to introduce oxygen into the atmosphere and to ingest the carbon dioxide that human and mechanical activity spews into our enclosed airspace so prone to inversion.

They provide shade to the pedestrian, a demographic category which today is highly neglected by our increasingly motorised urban populace. Tree-lined boulevards and parks are the mark of any civilised society and the colour of leaves and bark have associations in the human mind with the very evolution of the species. Take away the trees from our sight and senses and our very existence suffers.

Trees reach down to the grassroots and hold the soil together, they reach up to the sun and use their chlorophyll corpuscles to convert that energy into food useful to itself and to other animals. The sun and the trees, together with the supportive action of water, soil and air, make possible photosynthesis, the driving mechanism of life on earth. The action of cutting down trees that have lined our streets seems to have been hasty.

True, Kathmandu?s poplars and eucalyptus are imports and that they do not have the strength of indigenous varieties. But the fact is that they have provided cover and beauty for a long time now. They have become our own, like so many other exotic species that dot the landscape. It is said that these imports are vulnerable to strong winds due to loose root structures but our analysis shows that the maligned arbours have not been guilty of destruction to the extent that they have to be done away with. All in all, the trees should not have been axed. Because the damage has been done, can we ask the concerned authority to promptly correct the move and bring back greenery?

Dear Editor,

Let use draw evryone's attention to the fact, what the environmentalists have been saying for long, those who cut trees do not survive at the end. Why not then cut the tree cutter, and let the tree live green and healthy!!

Thanks for the update. How did you get through with phone line down? Oh, never mind.

Looks like it is an reenactment of PANCHAYATI BEWASTA II.

How long can the people be kept under the censorship? With all the rumours floating, the result could even be more dangerous than the challenge of the Maoists.

whoa, nepal ma phoon service aayo?
ashu, how did you post?
internet chalyo ki you're using one of those satellite ones??

Ashu is NOT in Nepal. Anyway, the editorial was good. Lets kill the lumberjack 1st.

- http://www.petitiononline.com/CoupKing/petition.html

not in nepal re! i thought he was in nepal!