More pictures. . .

Nepe,
I am glad you acknowedge your political stubborness and I for one am not in any way impying that you compromise on your political conviction. If I remember correctly all I was saying is that you need to respect other people thoughts and ideas as being different from your own. Whether you agree or disagree with them I dont care. What is important is NOT to reciprocate to someone with vengenful attitude (even though you may not agree with them) and I think you are incorrect when you say you reciprocate with respect. You need to realize that this brings the worst in people and in no way are you contributing to a healthy discussion forum.
As for chasing someone out of sajha, it is a closed case now and I have no comments on the matter; I just hope it never happens again.

Silent reader ji,

You can always rely on Nepe for his brutal honesty and deadly frankness. That is all I can avouch.

As forthe mannerism, although I am an old dog, I believe I still can learn new tricks provided I find a good trainer.

I agree with you that hostility brings the worst in a person and humility does the opposite.

That said, frankly speaking, I neither believe that I am qualified nor I am really in a mission to bring the best in every kind of people in Sajha.

Sajha is a small fraction of my weekly and sometimes monthly routine and in the time I can afford, expressing my own views, as I said, with a brutal honesty and deadly frankness, gets priority over any other unselfish jobs.

Yet, I believe that I have been always careful to reciprocate politeness with more politeness and hostility with less hostility or, if they are trivial to me, with the policy of 'ignore it'. This very thread should illustrate these things to you.

If there have been occasions where I have slipped, as I said earlier, I will appreciate if you could remind them to me. For some reason, you chose to keep repeating the allegation that I do not reciprocate politeness with politeness, without producing the 'evidence' !

And also, you failed to admit that your assertion that I have chased away somebody from Sajha was actually your assumption rather than an inside knowledge. FYI, the poster you most likey were talking about is still active in Sajha.

Finally, I appreciate the fact that you chose me, of all diverse posters of Sajha, to share your words of wisdom and start posting in Sajha after being a silent reader for a long time. I welcome you on behalf of all posters in Sajha and look forward to having more interesting conversations in future.

I so wish I could debate in this thread in Nepali too, but neither do I have the Nepali font software in my computer, nor am I skilled in typing in Nepali. Lengthy politcal debates in Nep-angreji (Roman Nepali) may not seem too appealing either. Hence, here I go yapping in my second language...

Dodhare,

First of all, I admire your departure from personal smear campaign (with regards to Homraj Acharya's picture, for which you have duely apologized already) and I respect your willingness to engage in a healthy, civil debate over issues.

It would be an act of great injustice if ANYONE chose not to associate him/herself with your sentiments on how our beloved country has been embroiled in a downward spiral, and how we ALL wish peace and prosperity prevailed in Nepal. We may disagree on HOW to achieve our common patriotic goals, but our differences in means should not, as it sadly has in many occasions in Sajha, give way to arbitrary accusations of betrayal, and to name-callings.

Your desire for peace and prosperity in Nepal, with an acute sense of EQUALITY and JUSTICE for all cannot be questioned. Where I choose to differ from you is on HOW we go about achieving it. You seem to believe peace should come first before democracy, and you obviously have placed your trust in KingG to bring peace and prosperity in Nepal. Debating whether peace or democracy should precede the other would be like arguing whether the chicken or the egg came first. But here's my arguments on why democracy ALWAYS precedes peace -- without first achieving profound equality and freedoms, I cannot fathom the idea of true peace beginning to take shape.

I don't think we disagree on the fact that the roots of many of Nepal's ills are injustice, poverty and inequality. And, dodhare, I don't think you'd claim inaccuracy if I say that the royal institution itself has been at the helm of inequality in the entire modern history of Nepal -- the problems of Nepal, mainly rooted in inequality (by caste or by class) has been exasperated due to royal institution's perpetual need to rely on the system of heirarchy in order to protect the crown. That fallacy of Nepal's royal leadership has been that they have relied on hierarchy to secure loyalty -- rather than trying to foster genuine equality and secure affection, they have perpetuated the crimes of inequality in order to secure coerced loyalty.

Therefore, when the key to solving many of Nepal's problems is less interference from the crown, which would inevitably herald a greater sense of equality, how can we trust that the same instituion with even greater authority to act with impunity to solve our problems? I mean, I still do not advocate a total abolishment of monarchy in Nepal, like Nepe has repeatedly done so, but if we can't have a genuinely transformed monarchy in Nepal, with total freedom and equality vested upon the Nepali citizens, I think we surely can, and we must, do away with the monarchy. Only when 26 million Nepalis feel equal and free, either under a genuine constitutional monarchy, or under a Republci if the former cannot be achieved, I believe, true peace and prosperity will begin to envelope Nepal. Increased absolutism only exasperates the problem.

You have also accurately accused the army of being as equally, if not more, guilty as other social institutions in Nepal in terms of of corruption, nepotism, classism, etc. Again, with the very army that promotes inequality as the backbone of power of the king, how can we trust that the current system in Nepal will work as a panacea to ANY of the country's problems?

Mind you, dodhare, I have never, I will never, support the inept political leaders of the past 15 years in Nepal. They undoubtedly need to be shown the door. Nevertheless, having a weak democracy is better than having no democracy at all -- at least in a weak democracy, we can still work towards making it stronger, which I believe should have been the unquestionable path that Nepal and Nepalis would have been guided towards. Absolutism is a major step backwards, especially when absolutism from the same royal institution had stagnated prosperity of Nepal in the 30 years prior to the advent of weak democracy in Nepal.

Now, you might argue we must give king a chance. When I know in my heart that the step he has taken is doomed to fail, how can I give him a chance? It's like letting a blind man cross a road full of trafiic by himself, hoping that he'd make it across without getting hurt. That is foolish.

Hi! Poonteji,Namaskar!

I heard that DC supporter groups will go to NY, and show their support Feb 1, 2005,
what do you think!

Adding on to Punte Ji?s well drafted picture, I would like to point out that it is because of monarchy that the last 15 years saw only minimal amount of democracy at play, just good enough for the monarchy to deal the trump card whenever possible mainly for personal reasons. Now with the Monarch stronghold, even with some of the problem resolved, Nepal will never see democracy beyond that minimal threshold level, unless of course Monarchy suffers some kind of altruistic awakening from their fated sanctimony.

Not to let Mofusul steal the glory of Rajdhani as the center of political manuveur as if,
here is an interesting interaction program at American University in DC? dyantyaryan? moderated by the hero of the thread, Homraj Acharya ji. This Friday.

Speakers: our leftist political pundit Dr. Chitra K.Tiwari ji, former diplomat Murari Raj Sharma and some big shot from Amnesty International, T. Kumar.


The International Development Program Students' Association (IDPSA)
& FreeNepal.org Present the Friday Forum:

CRISIS IN THE HIMALAYAS: NEPAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS AFTER THE FEB. 1 COUP


On February 1 King Gyanendra of Nepal sacked the government, put its leaders in jail or under house arrest, and detained hundreds of journalists and human rights activists. Democracy is effectively quashed, the media is now censored, and nothing can be printed that ?goes against the spirit and letter of the royal proclamation.? The king has phrased his move as a 'fight against terrorism,' but critics including Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group have described it as a power grab that will worsen Nepal's human rights situation. The United Nations has warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in Nepal.

Please join us for a special panel discussion moderated by Hom Raj Acharya (MA '03):

Speakers:
Murari Raj Sharma, former Nepal representative to the United Nations 2000-2004 and 1986-87 AU Humphrey Fellow at SIS

T. Kumar, Advocacy Director for Asia for Amnesty International USA

Dr. Chitra K. Tiwari, Political Analyst and Commentator on South Asian affairs and co-author of Nepalese Political Behavior (1994)

Friday, March 25, 2004
4:30-6pm SIS LOUNGE
School of International Service
American University

Contact: Monica Price monicamprice@yahoo.com or Sally Acharya acharya@american.edu (885-5956)

Doing Business With Baburam Bhattarai
- http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com/2005/03/doing-business-with-baburam-bhattarai.html

Hi there!

now we understand that nepe is Hom Raj Acharya

I like the panelists....Tiwari, a Maoist sympathizer and Sharma, a Girija sycophant.

Only credible person there seems to be this Kumar dude from Amnesty International.

Mr. Morderator, why not invite your good buddy, Nepe, as well and have a "fair and balanced" panel discussion?

Nepe, won't you please provide us some feedback about the interactive panel discussion at AU led by your HOM boy?

Same Dog Every where :)

Chip,

I heard that the organizer students reportedly said that it was one of the best panel discussions in their living memory. Okay I added the living memory part. However, they indeed said one of the best. But that is not what I am interested to know, I guess so you do.

I am more interested in knowing who said what. The discussion was video recorded. So I am interested to get a copy for myself. I don't know if I can get that but I have learned that the organizers have some plan to make it?s transcripts publicly available.

Along with the pre-announced speakers, there was a surprise guest speake as wellr- Sushil Pyakurel !

Diverse views, very interactive audience and well attended one, that's what I heard about the event.

Nepe,

Thanks for the update.....I'd like to view that recording as well if possible.

FYI.

----
"Military Victory over Maoists Not Possible"

Nepalipost Report
March 28, 2005

Nepal's former ambassador to the United Nations was among the panelists Friday, who criticized the decision by King Gyanendra to jail hundreds of political leaders and human rights activists, suspend freedom of the press, and take over direct rule under a state of emergency.

Former ambassador Murari Raj Sharma, human rights activist Sushil Pyakurel, political analyst Chitra Tiwari, and T. Kumar of Amnesty International spoke at American University on "Crisis in the Himalayas: Nepal and Human Rights After the Feb. 1 Coup."

One of the rationales given by the king for the power grab, and the one he has stressed the most in the international community, has been the need for a military victory over the Maoists. "From my perspective, I'll be the happiest man if the Maoists were brought under control through military means for the crimes they have committed," said Sharma, who represented Nepal in the U.N. from 2000 to 2004.

"But from a practical standpoint, that's not possible. Nepal is, in terms of its mountainous terrain and forests, not less difficult than Afghanistan, where the better-equipped and better-trained American and Pakistani forces are trying to smoke terrorists out and get them either dead or alive. It hasn't happened. Therefore, military victory over the Maoists will be unthinkable."

If the war is protracted over the course of decades, "either the king will prevail and Nepal will have an authoritarian system, or the Maoists will prevail and we'll have a totalitarian system. None of these choices is worth accepting," Sharma said. "What we want are democratic values and institutions, human rights and freedoms."

The only outcome that will not only resolve the Maoist problem, but also ensure democratic rights and civil liberties, is for the king and political parties to form a unified front and bring the contending parties together through dialogue and negotiations, he added.

Sushil Pyakurel of the Nepal Human Rights Commission expressed concern about the "peace committees" being formed in districts such as Kapilvastu where mobs have burned homes, torched an entire village, and killed and raped an unknown number of citizens accused of being Maoists. "In these committees, most people are either ex-Maoists or criminals," Pyakurel charged, adding that members of the committees have tarred human rights activists as Maoists and threatened them on state-run television.

Pyakurel was in Washington to speak with U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Lugar and others about the current conditions in Nepal. He had initially been barred from leaving the Kathmandu Valley, and was detained at the airport on his way to the U.S.

Amnesty International is concerned about the extent of abuses that are occurring, said T. Kumar, Asia Advocacy Director for the human rights group. "As we heard just now, the local monitoring agencies are shut down, and it's very difficult to get correct information because of the news crackdown," Kumar said.

He urged U.S. citizens and residents to write their Senators and Representatives and urge suspension of military aid to Nepal. "U.S. policy will have an enormous impact in terms of what can be done," Kumar said. The U.S. failure to join India and Britain in announcing the suspension of military aid "weakened international resolve. Otherwise, the king would have got the message ... The U.S. is going the wrong way."

Political analyst Chitra Tiwari said that weaknesses inherent in Nepal's constitution, such as its characterization of Nepal as a Hindu state, set the stage for the royal takeover. The king's move is polarizing the country between the extreme left and right, Tiwari said.

Anup Pahari, speaking from the audience, questioned Tiwari's analysis and contended that the most reliable data shows that a majority of Nepalis support a constitutional monarchy. Tiwari responded that if even the military cannot go into the Maoist-affected areas, pollsters cannot have accurate data on views in those areas.

An estimated 100 people attended the event, many of them graduate students and faculty members from American and George Washington universities and friends of Nepal. The panel was moderated by Hom Raj Acharya and sponsored by American University's Free Nepal and International Development Program Students Association.

Also, Homraj ji is speaking on some radio according to following recently released website:
http://freenepal.org

Thanks Viv. Here is the announcement of the radio panel discussion (also posted to NY rally thread). .

Relevent or not, I couldn't resist the urge to post this news here. How much destructions are needed before the "maoist supporters" realize enough is enough. How many more need to be killed before they realize enough have been killed in the not-going-anywhere war?

Chip and other interested readers,

The transcript of 25th March Panel Discussion participated by Murari Raj Sharma, T. Kumar, Chitra Tiwari and Shusil Pyakurel is available here.

- http://www.freenepal.org:8080/FreeNepal/action/content.do?path=NEWS

(By the way did you listened to Shusil Pyakurel yesterday in BBC ? That and Kunsang Kaka's recent commentary about Nayan Bahadur Khatri, put together, makes one deduce that Khatri Bandhu has been hijacked by Gyanendra Maharaj. Khatri bandhu le ra NHRC le ahile samma kamaayeko pratishtaa ra vishasniyata Gyanendra Maharaj le kwaplwakkai khaisya ho ta ? )

One more