11-20-2005, 10:57 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>UPA Govt hosts Prachanda to broker anti-King deal </b>
Kanchan Gupta / New Delhi
Senior politicians of Nepal's seven-party alliance leading a campaign against King Gyanendra are believed to have met top <b>Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias 'Comrade Prachanda' and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai at a Government guest house in New Delhi over last Wednesday and Thursday</b>. Â
Red-cornered guests of honour
The UPA Government brokered the meetings where a common anti-monarchy programme was worked out. Although the Ministry of External Affairs has claimed it has "no information" about the presence of the Maoist leaders in Delhi, BBC and Nepali newspapers have reported on the clandestine meetings.
This is the second time Comrade Prachanda, who leads a Maoist movement blacklisted by the US State Department and whose members are officially described by the Government of India as terrorists, has travelled to India for talks.
The Pioneer first reported his presence in Delhi on September 4. During that visit, he is believed to have discussed with his Indian interlocutors measures to corner King Gyanendra, who took over the reins of Government in a palace coup on February 1 and launched an all-out assault on Maoists.
The UPA Government has been steadfast in its opposition to the King and has taken several steps, including suspension of arms supplies to fight the Maoists, to convey its displeasure. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated his Government's pro-democracy - read anti-monarchy - position when he met King Gyanendra on the sidelines of SAARC summit in Dhaka last weekend.
<b>In a carefully choreographed operation, Nepali Congress president and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was first flown to Delhi, ostensibly for "medical treatment". Mr Koirala had a series of meetings with various leaders, including former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.</b>
The next man to fly in was Communist Party of Nepal (UML) chief Madhav Kumar Nepal, who arrived on Wednesday. He was in Delhi for three weeks, also for "medical treatment", and returned within five days of his last visit. His deputy KP Oli, accompanied him on this trip. Mr Nepal flew back to Kathmandu on Friday evening.
The deal said to have been worked out by the Nepali Congress, the CPN (UML) and the Maoists involves launching a joint agitation against King Gyanendra to push their demand for fresh polls to elect a Constituent Assembly and downgrade the status of Narainhity Palace to "ceremonial or truly constitutional monarchy".
It is believed that Comrade Prachanda, who announced a unilateral ceasefire on September 3 which has not been acknowledged by the palace as yet, has offered that the Maoists will lay down their arms "under UN supervision" and "join mainstream politics". Comrade Prachanda and the Maoists have been waging a ruthless insurgency for more than a decade to convert the world's only Hindu kingdom into a Communist State.
According to BBC, Mr Madhav Kumar Nepal has "confirmed that the dialogue with the Maoists had opened in recent days" and that "from now on the seven-party opposition alliance and the Maoists would have a common target of fighting the monarchy."
<b>King Gyanendra, at present on an African safari, is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on December 2.</b> Reacting to reports of the UPA Government-brokered Delhi deal, palace loyalist and Education Minister Radha Krishna Mainali told newspersons in Kathmandu that "leaders who have spoken to Maoists could be held under anti-terrorist laws... The frantic visit of some prominent political leaders and diplomats to Delhi is an unfortunate development, consultation will not yield any good result."
Curiously, US Ambassador to Nepal James Moriarty visited New Delhi early last week and met Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. The two are believed to have discussed the political situation in Nepal. "We discussed the continued need of the King to reach out to the political parties to find an effective way to work toward restoring democracy and to address the threat of Maoist insurgency," Mr Moriarty said in a statement on Thursday after returning to Kathmandu.
<b>As a precursor to the new strategy to corner King Gyanendra and win the sympathy of the American and British Governments - both of which have officially called on the Maoists to end their armed insurgency and join democratic politics - Comrade Prachanda and his colleagues have adopted a new strategy.</b>
After the Maoists' plenum in Rolpa, Nepal, in October, Comrade Prachanda claimed a decision was taken to "join pluralistic politics, allow unimpeded access to the heartland by the political parties, and seek UN involvement in overseeing the laying down of arms in the run-up to Constituent Assembly elections."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
UPA policy to keep Indian commie in good humor, so that they can stay in power.
Kanchan Gupta / New Delhi
Senior politicians of Nepal's seven-party alliance leading a campaign against King Gyanendra are believed to have met top <b>Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias 'Comrade Prachanda' and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai at a Government guest house in New Delhi over last Wednesday and Thursday</b>. Â
Red-cornered guests of honour
The UPA Government brokered the meetings where a common anti-monarchy programme was worked out. Although the Ministry of External Affairs has claimed it has "no information" about the presence of the Maoist leaders in Delhi, BBC and Nepali newspapers have reported on the clandestine meetings.
This is the second time Comrade Prachanda, who leads a Maoist movement blacklisted by the US State Department and whose members are officially described by the Government of India as terrorists, has travelled to India for talks.
The Pioneer first reported his presence in Delhi on September 4. During that visit, he is believed to have discussed with his Indian interlocutors measures to corner King Gyanendra, who took over the reins of Government in a palace coup on February 1 and launched an all-out assault on Maoists.
The UPA Government has been steadfast in its opposition to the King and has taken several steps, including suspension of arms supplies to fight the Maoists, to convey its displeasure. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated his Government's pro-democracy - read anti-monarchy - position when he met King Gyanendra on the sidelines of SAARC summit in Dhaka last weekend.
<b>In a carefully choreographed operation, Nepali Congress president and former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was first flown to Delhi, ostensibly for "medical treatment". Mr Koirala had a series of meetings with various leaders, including former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.</b>
The next man to fly in was Communist Party of Nepal (UML) chief Madhav Kumar Nepal, who arrived on Wednesday. He was in Delhi for three weeks, also for "medical treatment", and returned within five days of his last visit. His deputy KP Oli, accompanied him on this trip. Mr Nepal flew back to Kathmandu on Friday evening.
The deal said to have been worked out by the Nepali Congress, the CPN (UML) and the Maoists involves launching a joint agitation against King Gyanendra to push their demand for fresh polls to elect a Constituent Assembly and downgrade the status of Narainhity Palace to "ceremonial or truly constitutional monarchy".
It is believed that Comrade Prachanda, who announced a unilateral ceasefire on September 3 which has not been acknowledged by the palace as yet, has offered that the Maoists will lay down their arms "under UN supervision" and "join mainstream politics". Comrade Prachanda and the Maoists have been waging a ruthless insurgency for more than a decade to convert the world's only Hindu kingdom into a Communist State.
According to BBC, Mr Madhav Kumar Nepal has "confirmed that the dialogue with the Maoists had opened in recent days" and that "from now on the seven-party opposition alliance and the Maoists would have a common target of fighting the monarchy."
<b>King Gyanendra, at present on an African safari, is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on December 2.</b> Reacting to reports of the UPA Government-brokered Delhi deal, palace loyalist and Education Minister Radha Krishna Mainali told newspersons in Kathmandu that "leaders who have spoken to Maoists could be held under anti-terrorist laws... The frantic visit of some prominent political leaders and diplomats to Delhi is an unfortunate development, consultation will not yield any good result."
Curiously, US Ambassador to Nepal James Moriarty visited New Delhi early last week and met Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. The two are believed to have discussed the political situation in Nepal. "We discussed the continued need of the King to reach out to the political parties to find an effective way to work toward restoring democracy and to address the threat of Maoist insurgency," Mr Moriarty said in a statement on Thursday after returning to Kathmandu.
<b>As a precursor to the new strategy to corner King Gyanendra and win the sympathy of the American and British Governments - both of which have officially called on the Maoists to end their armed insurgency and join democratic politics - Comrade Prachanda and his colleagues have adopted a new strategy.</b>
After the Maoists' plenum in Rolpa, Nepal, in October, Comrade Prachanda claimed a decision was taken to "join pluralistic politics, allow unimpeded access to the heartland by the political parties, and seek UN involvement in overseeing the laying down of arms in the run-up to Constituent Assembly elections."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
UPA policy to keep Indian commie in good humor, so that they can stay in power.