Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy On Nepal
in the US Congress
on December 21, 2005

Some interesting points: (mostly verbatim)

� The army continues to see itself as the defender of an anachronistic, corrupt and autocratic monarchy.

� The political parties do not have a record of putting the interests of the nation above their own self interest. They urgently need to reform. Yet they are the real representatives of the Nepali people and there is no substitute for them.

� The international appeal to the King for reconciliation have failed. The Bush Administration should apply whatever pressure it can, including denying U.S. visas to Nepali officials and their families.

� The municipal elections announced by King Gyanendra for early next year, without any consultation with the political parties, are no solution. An attempt to apply a veneer of legitimacy to an otherwise undemocratic process will only prolong and exacerbate this crisis.

� There is a growing possibility that the King�s obstinacy and unpopularity will trigger massive civil unrest, shootings and arrests of many more civilians by soldiers and police, Nepal�s further isolation, and perhaps the end of the monarchy itself.

� 12 point understanding could be the basis for a national dialogue to restore democracy and end the conflict

� The United States should do everything possible including supporting a broadly inclusive political dialogue with or WITHOUT the participation of the palace.


Full speech:
- http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200512/122105f.html
- http://www.blog.com.np/?p=1052#more-1052

if you look at the three major industries of nepal (carpets, garmets and tourism - more than 50% of the exports and GDP) that escalated extremely in the 90's and toppled terribly in the 00's, we cannot make such illogical conclusions.

Very difficult to understand discussions here. In absolute monarchies, the concept of right is completely different from civilized societies. As shepherds, it�s the fundamental rights of the rulers how to raise their Bheda-Bokas and when to butcher them. As Bheda-Bokas, it�s the duty of subjects to meekly follow their shepherds for their welfare. So what�s the fuss? Where is the confusion? Long Live Tulsi Giri.

yo sabai kura chai aba nagarpalika ko chunab pachi herula.........jasle je gare ne, jasto baal laye ne........hami chunab gari chaadne chau. Political parties are doing big mistake for not taking part in this election. Aba lets see what happens with sobeu election( student union election) as they think this process is adding one more brick in their fort. Lets see the result. Jasle jai gare ne........desh bhakta party ko member ko heesab le i will take part in election. Chane tyo bhadako maanche laayera nai kina abaord gara.

jai desh jai naresh

Echoes,

This sort of discussion --

heated,
pluralistic
free-flowing and
all over the place in this UNMODERATED forum

-- is always necessary as one very important aspect of PUBLIC REASONING, which is a very important part of ANY democracy.

So, let's keep up with this sort of kura-kani alive and well.

The point here is NOT to be fundamentally right and fundamentally wrong. Often, lots of things/issues become clearer when we start to discuss, debate and exchange ideas.

I mean, how else are we going to learn anything if we start taking public discussions personally and become ego-driven to the point of shutting out viewpoints that
disagree with ours? Don't we have enough of that in Nepal and among many Nepali communities?

None of us, after all, with the possible exception of Trikal, can hold up a crystal ball, and correctly predict Nepal's future, though we can and we should always have divergent opinions about how to get to a better future for the country we all
feel passionate about.

It's OK to disagree; and disagreements need not be traken personally.

I certainly don't take them personally. If I did, then, I would not be on the Net,
posting ideas and thoughts and holding debates since 1993.

Meantime, as for me, TIME-PERMITTING, I will keep on, in my oohi ashu' name, do my small bit to post my thoughts and ideas --

a) to stir up kura-kani,
b) to push along the flow of discussions
c) to bring up even unpopular views in the public domain so that they do not get neglected and are met with with honesty.
d) to defend people who I see are getting unfairly attacked
e) to keep thoughts/ideas about Nepal not too far from our collective mind.

In doing so, if some people choose to attack me personally for whatever reason,
well, that show their true colors, and that's that.

[As for my personal critics, I have noticed that none of them can ever use their real names to attack me personally, and none of them can stay around for a long time attacking me personally. This should tell any reasonable person that these 'personal' critics appear to be motivated by things other than the verifiable truth, and that's
that.]

Meantime, let the kura-kani flourish all the more.

A very Happy New Year to all of you.

I'll be away for some time.
Kaam ta garnai paryo, yaar.

oohi
ashu

"Chane tyo bhadako maanche laayera nai kina abaord gara."

Lathi khana, tear gas khana, And sometimes even bullet. people might not do this job for money. In a fight between bricks and Gun, i would rather carry a gun even for less money.

Ashu,

That sounds good... Have fun.

A Happy New Year.

Ashu says " The point here is NOT to be fundamentally right and fundamentally wrong. Often, lots of things/issues become clearer when we start to discuss, debate and exchange ideas. "


- I couldn't agree more.

Happy New Year to all.

end of monarchy or end of discussion?

Birbhadra it's not end of this or that....it's end of your intellectual capacity. But wait, you've always been an UNEDUCATED dog.

Do us a favor and go take a SHOWER....coz you STINKS!!

uneducated stinking dog is better than rajako chamcha

Related article by Preeti Koirala (I have heard that this is a fake name):
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/archive/2005/others/guestcolumn/dec/guest_columns_dec05_21.php

possibilities for Preeti Koirala's Real Name.

Low Possibility:मनिषा कोईराला
Medium Possibility:शरद चन्�द्र शाह
High Possibility:मनरंजन जोशी

In jest.

ms. kaoirala,

there are certain things that i would like to comment on your articles.

1. "...this picturesque American State has been made infamous by its erratic, loose speaking but longest serving Senator Patrick Leahy....Senator Leahy led a senate delegation to the People's Republic of China. On what should have been a courteous exchange visit with the Chinese turned out to be a 'fact-finding mission on Tibet'... This grossly anti-Chinese and pro-Tibet liberation Senator fails to realize that ninety percent of Tibetans worldwide have gone to those countries via Nepal... "

i don't know why you are attacking Senator Leahy from his previous visits to China, when he had made no comments on Chinese stance on Nepal or Nepalese stance on Tibet. There has not been a single mention of either China or Tibet. All Leahy activities related to China and Tibet are of no significance about what he has explained in his report to the Bush Administration. You mentioned that he is longest serving senator. We should all realize no matter how political this country's legislation runs, the people are just no fool in electing their legislative leaders. I think Senator only wanted to tell the administration what he found regarding Nepal. Bush may or may not like it. If he does, he'll agree, if he doesn't he'll send another mission. He may fail (Iraq) or he may pass (Afganistan). That's upto the US policies on foreign lands. i don't think Nepal should blame the US for not providing weapons and arms. If Maoist can find their weapon in their own ways, then sure Nepalese government can. If India doesn't like the way Nepal do, then too bad, India will impose sanctions as we have all seen in 1987-88 (for the same arms reasons).

Like you said, if Nepal invited Dalai Lama, Senator would have heralded King's Feb 1 move. Same thing, if he had favored King's Feb 1 move, you would have heralded the Senator, rather than defaming his character by personally commenting him as "erratic but loose speaking". You have all rights to make arguments to invalidate Senator's comment, but i think you should have used his comments rather than past activities. I don't think he has said anything wrong whether i agree or not. I know Nepal is historically a monarchical nation, as the followers of "Sanatana Dharma", but barring people from their fundamental freedom, is not justifiable. To add to Senator Leahy's remarsk, i think King Gyanendra should hire better people in his cabinet. He currently has a team of past leaders who would agree on King's decision rather than providing better advises.

2. "...Although, Nepal has always adhered to Tibet Autonomous Region being an inalienable and inseparable part of China it has however never mistreated thirty thousand odd Tibetans living inside Nepal... They live in Nepal with privilege, dignity and in comfortable economic conditions..."

I believe that you should have done a little more research on the history of Nepal, before you wrote that sentence. The statement above is wrong. Arniko never went to China, he went to Tibet. Bhrikuti marrried Tsrong-tsong Gompo, a king of TIBET. Nepal fought 3 wars with tibet, the last one during Jung Bahadur Rana over the issues of trade and Nepalese currency in Tibet. Chinese always intervened to help the Tibetans, and once, they even reached the borders of Kathmandu. Tibetans coins were always accepted in the Tibeto-Nepalese borders until the chinese takeover. And you have no idea, how they have struggled every moment since the 1959. You don't even know the history of Tibet. Do you even have a clue about the yellow hats and the black hats, and how the yellow hats beat the black hats, and what their stances are as of now, what is the Dalai Lam.. etc. etc., ? you don't ms. koirala, and please do not attack anyone personally again. becuase an intellectual minds of Senator Leahy, yourself and many others are only

germination of newer idea. Just space defaming.

High Possibility:मनरंजन जोशी

Heard this guy came to US in anticipation of working in one of these think tanks and end up not finding a job even in a gas station in NY :)

Sujanks,

If you are so confident about your writing in terms of the context and content, I dare you to submit a letter to the same website. Let it be published and we can talk about it...
and another thing, learn to finish a sentence when you start one. I bet your intelligent Senator too can't figure out what you were trying to say or not say in your last sentence.

Pire, check Sanjaya Upadhya, a low-ranking CIA informer of '80s positioned in The Rising Nepal and reporting to MR Joshi.

thank you for fiding my mistakes. i will be more careful next time. i normally type in notepad and paste here. I must have missed the last lines and no spell cheker in notepad and of course english is my second language, but comfortalble typing in it than devanagiri.

however, adding to the context, i haven't submitted any article to any news agency but had sent my five years of intense research on sustainability of Nepal to HMK Gyanendra of Nepal. Along with my very good frind DR Shakya.. we compiled 72 minutes long conversation covering the topics on education, health, agriculture, politics, tax, land reforms, foreign policy and grass root level leadership of Nepal. (it would be my pleasure to send a copy to you, if you could email me your address) Along with a PhD TL Shrestha, we attempted to form a communtity of people who love Nepal rather than Nepalese in an attempt to find facts and soultions instead of criticism and there even was a local TV interview of my friend regarding our project and plans. We did several forums (maximum attendance among 6 forums were 4). After many meetings, conversations, emails (if you want to join Dr. Shrestha's mailing list, again please let me know. very insightful) and tea and smokes, we created another plan of action that could be more effective in stregthening the relations between people of Nepal and how, there are level of expertise from those who'd need to know what is happening and those who needs to know what should happen. We made new economic division of Nepal for 5 stage developement in a 25 years plan. And we are continuing to reach the concerned one, but seems like no one wants to listen to us. I did not even receive the letter of receipt from the palace. I think someone in there just discarded. Don't tell me i haven't tried. If you'd like to know more, i would be very happy to provide more discussion. I also have a website dedicated to it. moveonnepal.org. however due to time and $$ contraints, i haven't been able to fetch traffic and work on it, so i am here in sajha in an attempt to find and help others find solutions to all problems of Nepal. i think we should all work together than just defaming someone's idea and work. criticism is good, but only in context. I don't think we cannot apply philosopies of Socrates in terms of modern politics and debates.

A tribute to Nepalis

By SEN PATRICK LEAHY

As senators are aware, last February 1st King Gyanendra seized absolute power, dissolved the multi-party government, and imprisoned his political opponents. He justified his power grab as necessary to bring peace and democracy to that impoverished Himalayan nation that has been in the throes of a bloody conflict with Maoist insurgents for a decade.

Yet, as many predicted, in the past year the Maoists have gained strength while Nepal's fledgling democratic institutions have been badly weakened. Finally recognizing that the king's real purpose was to consolidate his own power and take the country back to the feudal days of his father, the people lost patience.

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of thousands of Nepali citizens took to the streets in a show of defiance and braved bullets, clubs and tear gas to force the king to back down.

Yesterday, Nepal's Parlia-ment reconvened to draft a new constitution. Among the key issues to be addressed is what role, if any, the monarchy will have in Nepal's democratic future. Another necessary step will be to guarantee the army's subservience to civilian authority.

I want to pay tribute to the people of Nepal. They have suffered for generations from poverty, discrimination, corruption and repression. Yet through it all they have persevered, and they have shown that not even the most recalcitrant despot who uses the national army as his own palace guard can withstand the will of the people when they are prepared to risk their lives for freedom.

Today, Nepal begins a new chapter in its history. The future is far from certain and the road ahead is filled with potential pitfalls. But no one can doubt the opportunity that this moment offers, nor the importance of what is at stake for Nepal.

It is up to Nepal's political parties, whose leaders have too often put their own personal ambitions ahead of the good of the country, to show that they have a practical vision for the future and that they can govern. In a democracy that means dialogue, it means tolerance, it means compromise, it means acting in good faith as representatives of the people, it means keeping one's commitments, and it means being willing to step aside for the next generation when it is their turn.

The Maoists must also recognize that the Nepali people's foremost desire is peace. They have announced another ceasefire, which is welcome, but there is no justification for any return to violence. Too many innocent people have died and too many Nepali families have suffered needlessly. It is time for the Maoists to renounce violence and join in a national dialogue to restore democracy and develop a strategy to address the root causes of the conflict.

The international community, particularly India, the US, UK, China, and the UN, also have an important role to play in supporting Nepal at this critical time. Like Afghanistan, East Timor, and other unstable countries emerging from years of conflict, Nepal will need technical assistance for the election of a constituent assembly and the drafting of a new constitution. It will need international monitors of the ceasefire and of the observance of human rights by both Maoists and the army. It will need resources to help build the institutions of democracy and to hold accountable those on both sides of the conflict who are responsible for atrocities.

During the five years of his troubled rein, King Gyanendra took Nepal to the brink of disaster. He stubbornly ignored the pleas of Nepal's friends. He shamelessly used the army to trample on the people's cherished rights. He squandered his opportunity to continue on the path of his predecessor to nurture democracy and help guide Nepal into the 21st Century.

The Nepali people, 17 of whom gave their lives in the protests, want nothing less than a democratic future. They want a government that respects the worth of every Nepali, regardless of the family they come from, their ethnicity, religion, gender or profession. It is time for Nepal's leaders to show that they are worthy of the Nepali people's confidence and support.

- http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=72241

Move Capital of NEpal to Pokhara or somewhere.