IPDATE ON NC YOUTH LEADER DEATH

UPDATE ON NC YOUTH LEADER DEATH
Kathmandu, 17 Dec.: Main opposition NC is holding an emergency
session at the residence of President Sushil Koirala Saturday following the death
while undergoing treatment for head injuries at a hospital in the
capital.
Party strategy will be discussed following the death.
Sister organizations are also planning protests in the capital and the
rest of the country.
NC students have taken to the streets on Chitwan and are burning tires on roads blocking movement of vehicles.
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ARAB REVOLT THREAT TO NEPALI MIGRANT WORKERS
Kathmandu, 17 Dec.: Experts on Friday said the changing political dynamics in the Middle East could pose a serious challenge to the fate of Nepali migrant workers and urged the government to come up with a clear
strategy, The Kathmandu Post writes.
Addressing a conference organised by the Centre for South Asian Studies and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in the Capital, Prof Jaya Raj Acharya called on the government to prepare a strategy to deal with the unfolding situation.
Former Ambassador Sambhu Ram Simkhada said the implications for the country will be huge if a large number of the migrants working in the Gulf suddenly come home.
TU lecturer Resham Bahadur Thapa Parajuli said the remittances were not used in the productive sector and urged the government to formulate a policy so that a certain proportion of the remittance will be used for infrastructure development.
Dhan Bahadur Oli, under-secretary at the Foreign Ministry, said the government was working on creating a reliable database of Nepali migrants, but admitted that inter-agency cooperation was poor.
More than 2.2 million Nepalis work abroad as migrant workers. Though a significant portion of them is in India, the Nepali population in the Middle East is rising fast.
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BLANKET AMNESTY EVEN FOR THOSE WITH CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
Kathmandu, 17 Dec,: In what is sure to create a huge commotion among conflict victims and the human rights fraternity, the top two parties have agreed to grant blanket amnesty to all cases of crimes perpetrated by both the state and Maoist forces during the 10-year armed conflict, Kamal Raj Sigdel writes in The Kathmandu.Post.
In all post-conflict societies, opinions remain deeply divided over how the state should tackle past crimes. Still, there is near-universal acknowledgement that without ensuring reparation to the victims and their families, justice will not have been delivered and the society remains caught up in the trauma of the conflict. The top brass of the UCPN (Maoist) and Nepali Congress (NC) reached an understanding to opt for blanket amnesty late on Thursday night after discussing the pending bills on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission for Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances.
Though the CPN-UML is likely to voice strong reservations on the NC-Maoist position, NC and Maoist leaders sounded confident over bringing the third largest party on board on the amnesty issue. A majority vote in the parliament will get the bills through.
After a two-hour-long meeting on Thursday, PM Baburam Bhattarai, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula concluded that the country would “secure lasting peace only if it chose the path of reconciliation and amnesty to address all conflict-era crimes.” If the transitional mechanisms are formed in line with the agreement, the perpetrators of over 1,300 enforced disappearances, hundreds of cases of rape, and some 16,000 deaths reported during the armed conflict will be pardoned.
“We agreed to go for reconciliation and amnesty instead of prosecution for all kinds of crimes because this is what we believe is key to securing lasting peace,” Sitaula told the Post. “If we go for prosecution, no single person will be spared. From former king to the top brass of major parties, including Maoist and NC leaders, all will end up facing some or other form of prosecution. We just cannot single out those in the junior ranks in the parties.” Leaders, however, were not clear about how this would give way to a roadmap towards lasting peace, given the absence of provisions of prosecution.
Earlier, a technical panel comprising experts from all major political parties had agreed to deny amnesty for some crimes under universal jurisdictions—disappearances, murder of unarmed persons, murder in detention and rape. Later, when the draft bills reached the political level, the parties agreed to prosecute only rape and disappearance.
On Thursday, the scope of prosecution was further narrowed down to rape. But finally, they ended up agreeing to scrap the provision of prosecution altogether—after it came to light that most cases of rape were allegedly against the government security forces, including the Nepal Army.
“Any decision to prosecute rape cases alone would have been unfair to the security forces,” said a senior NC leader. “So we thought it was best to reconcile and pardon all outstanding cases.”
Maoist leader and advocate Ek Raj Bhandari, a member in the TRC technical panel, said it is possible to find prosecution within reconciliation too. “To realise one’s crimes is also a kind of punishment,” he said. “No one would have signed the peace deal had it spoken of punishing each other.” He added that reparation should be guaranteed to ensure peace.
Earlier, the Maoists and NC were for adopting a South African model of the TRC that emphasised on reconciliation, whereas the UML’s version of the TRC was more weighed on justice and gave greater say to victims in deciding amnesty for perpetrators. “We will not agree if the parties opt for total amnesty,” said Pradeep Gyawali, a UML leader and a member of a political task force that was assigned to iron out the inter-party differences on the bills. NC leaders said there are, however, still chances that the parties could agree to prosecute some of the crimes if the lawmakers demand so in the parliament.
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INTERVIEW IN THE KATHMANDU POST
PM BHATTARAI WILL CONCLUDE PEACE PROCESS; SITAULA


Of late, especially after the completion of the regrouping process, there is a sense of optimism among the opposition and ruling parties that a new consensus government will soon take shape in line with the November-1 agreement. The Maoist leadership and Prime Minster Baburam Bhattarai are confident that the peace process will soon reach an “irreversible stage” with the combatants poised to vacate cantonments. The “irreversible stage” has long been a condition of the Nepali Congress (NC) to accept a Maoist-led consensus government.
In this context, Kamal Raj Sigdel and Kamal Dev Bhattarai caught up with NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula, one of the key leaders who has been playing important roles in all peace negotiations with the Maoists since as early as 2005 when the seven-party alliance singed a 12-point pact with the then CPN (Maoist), which ended the decade-long war. Excerpts from the interview:
It has been over one-and-a-half months since the major parties agreed to form a national unity government. When will that happen?
I am hopeful it will happen soon. It was agreed that the parties would begin the process of forming the unity government once the peace process takes momentum.
Are there any specific grounds to be hopeful? NC had been saying that it will not discuss government formation before the peace process reaches an irreversible stage.
There has been some progress on the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants, but in totality it has not been as expected. Though the regrouping process has completed, the Maoists are yet to move forward on other fronts, such as in returning property seized during the conflict, dissolution of the paramilitary structure of the YCL and registration of illegal vehicles they are using.
If the parties agree to form the unity government, who will lead it? Will it be under Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai?
Our stand is that the Congress should get the leadership of the government before the promulgation of the constitution and that will continue till the general elections. So, till the time the peace process concludes, the current leadership can continue. It will be an NC-led consensus government that will promulgate the constitution.
Do you believe that the Maoists will hand over the government leadership to the Congress when the country will be ready to adopt the constitution?
This is what we have said. We are yet to discuss it, but what is true is we don’t want to keep on changing the government frequently. However, it is already agreed that the NC will lead the government during the elections. As the Maoists and the UML have already served their term, it is naturally the NC’s turn.
If so, is it the current government that will be expanded to a consensus one? Or will the parties form a new one with NC and UML in it?
This is yet to be agreed on but a general understanding is to form a new consensus government in which the Congress and the UML participate. It won’t be just an expansion of the existing one.
So, the Bhattarai-led unity government will conclude the peace process.
Yes, this is what we believe as of now. We have it that for NC to accept the
Maoist leadership the peace process must reach an irreversible stage, which means the cantonments should be vacated and weapons handed over to the government.
Do you believe the cantonments will be vacated anytime soon?
I do hope that it will happen soon, as there has been some progress already. Once the combatants opting for voluntary retirement return home and those opting for integration enter the selection process, the cantonments will be vacated.
There are claims from some Maoist leaders that the number of combatants to be integrated will go beyond 6,500 and the parties are yet to agree on some specifics of integration, such as the entry and training requirements and the ranks.
It has been already agreed that the combatants will be selected on an
individual basis and as per Nepal Army’s established norms and standards. The
combatants will have to meet all the requirements set by the Army. And on number, Prachanda has assured that it would not cross the 6,500 ceiling. The Special Committee will prepare an action plan and that will guide the remaining work of rehabilitation and integration.
It is said that the NC is demanding government leadership before the promulgation of the government in case it loses all credit of the peace process to the Maoists.
It is not about credit. It is a natural demand.
When it comes to credit, how do you observe PM Bhattarai’s role?
The major player of the peace process is Girijababu. If we are to talk about credit, it is Girijababu from the Congress who will get the credit if the peace process completes successfully. And from the Maoists, it is none other than Prachanda, who is still the kingmaker. Had it not been Prachanda, we would not have come this far.
You seem to have swung from one extreme to another when it comes to treating the Maoist leadership. A few months ago, you had a very had posturing.
Indeed, I took probably the most rigid stand against the Maoists when they chose the wrong path after the CA elections in 2008 as they tried to use the peace process as a strategy to grab power. We trusted them
with power but they started intervening in the Army. We should not be a silent spectator in activities against the peace process. Now, the Maoists have come back to the right track. What I believe is we should move in the path of peace and democracy we treaded on since 2005—the 12-point pact, the CPA, the agreement on arms and army management, the Interim Constitution and the declaration of republic … we should itag along.
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