26 replies to this topic

[Pokhrel]

Thanks to Deven jee for bringing above topic into debate.

As per Bharat and Yogesh jee's idea, we can absolutely express our generous feelings & comments on the initiative taken by the King of Nepal. In the mean time, as advised by Yogesh it would be much more pragmatic if we would seek for final advice from Partron (Dr. Subedi).

Edited by Pokhrel, 04 February 2005 - 03:40 PM.

[yogesh]

Can you please coment on this. What do you think about following draft.

I am juggling with lots of problem. So this draft needs serious editing. I would be oblidged if anyone can work in this.

Press Release,

WNSo is seriously concerned about the situation created by the recent Royal move specially about the suspension of constitution and basic right of the citizen. Being most of the member out of the country, it has serious concern about the right to information and communication which is cut off in these days. WNSo thinks that this situation seriously effcets all students in every facets of their life.

WNSo also urge His Majesty's the King and also want to draw attention of internationalcommunity for the re-establishement of rights in Nepal.

[sanjeev_ghimire]

i totally disagree for appeling to draw a attention of international community .

and so far i know

jhagada ko okhati chup lagnu ho.
and, WNSO is the orgation i hope it doesn't want to be like nebisang & akhil and so and so student union.
we are here to help and to get help which is related in field of study and knowledge.

we can discuss the matter in fourm but we can't make a press release regarding this, here is some reson why?

1. if we protest this move of king indirectly we are supporting those leaders who spoiled our country within this timeinterval.
2. if we support this move, we might be named anti democratic.

in this situation every nepalese are shouting and quaraling

can't we just keep quite? and be the symbol of educated community.

Anyway this is my point of view,,
we can have further discussion on this matter.

[Bharat Thapa]

Sanjeev Bro,

Being organisation, it is our right to make sure all students are OK back home and all students abroad can communicate with their love in back home.

We are not asking for multi party system like others nebi or akhil or politician are asking, we are not saying king became hitlar or something bad. It was just nice formal press release to let everyone knows that WNSO also know about recent movement in Nepal and WNSO, on behalf of all Nepalese students worried for basic rights of students.

my thought hai.

yea, may be this bit only better ki?

WNSo is seriously concerned about the situation created by the recent Royal move specially about the suspension of constitution and basic right of the citizen. Being most of the member out of the country, it has serious concern about the right to information and communication which is cut off in these days. WNSo thinks that this situation seriously effcets all students in every facets of their life.

then of course, once concern, we need to urge King to restore basic right of students ni.

[sanjeev_ghimire]

la teso bhaye tali bajaye.

[dinesh]

I think may be we need to highlight people are taken back to stone age i.e. no communication and fundamental rights are banned. I trust kings this move is not in majourity peoples favour, international community's responce confirms this fact. For this reason i think let's try to make it a bit stronger.
may be we could say power should be handed back to people elected government and respect and release peoples human rights as recommended by international human right organisations. I recently meet guy from Amnesty international; he is saying his life is in danger that sounds really awful and not tolerable.

[dinesh]

As most of the communication channel between nepal and rest of the world is still remain cut off.

I received following email regarding current situation on the ground from unknown source and thought better to share with you guys.

This information was compiled by a consortium of individuals concerned
about the turn of events in Nepal. Due to the continuing communication
problems this information cannot be fully verified, but it is based on
reliable sources.]

Arrests of Student Leaders as of February 5:
· Kalyan Gurung
· Rajendra Rai
· Kundun Kafle
· Roop Narayan Shrestha
· Guru Ghimire
·
These individuals are presumed to be in detention centers in or on the
outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley

***

Arrests of Civil Society and Media Representatives:
· Kathmandu – Sindhu Nath Pyakurel, Former President of the Nepal Bar
Association, arrested from his home on February 1. He is in Halchowk in
Armed Police Headquarters. He has a heart condition and it unknown
whether he is receiving treatment.
· Kathmandu – Tara Nath Dahal, President of the Federation of Nepali
Journalists (FNJ), arrested while exiting the United Nations Building.
The army had raided his home earlier that morning (February 4).
· Kathmandu – Mukunda Banskota, General Secretary of Nepal Bar
Association. Rumors of arrest, but not confirmed.
· Kathmandu – Bishnu Nisthuri, General Secretary of the Federation of
Nepali Journalists (FNJ), arrested.
· Biratnagar – One human rights attorney who works with Advocacy Forum as
been arrested (source: Advocacy Forum).

***

Searches of Civil Society and Media Representatives:
· Kathmandu - Krishna Pahadi, Society of Human Rights and Peace – being
hunted.
· Kathmandu - Shyam Shrestha, Secretary of Civic Solidarity for Peace –
Police / RNA came to his home to arrest him, he escaped through back door,
authorities forced his wife to give them a photograph of Shrestha so that
they could search for and arrest him.
· Nepalganj - Netra K.C., BBC Nepal – Crossed border from India into
Nepalganj and was either arrested, harassed, or closely followed and not
permitted to conduct any journalistic investigations (February 4).
Other news:
· Pokhara – Rubber bullets fired into student protest on college campus 58
students were arrested and tortured. Their hands were tied, they were
blindfolded, and held in the army detention center. One girl received a
bullet in her leg and was injured. They have most likely since been
released. All details still unknown, but it does not appear that any
fatalities occurred (source: Advocacy Forum). The RNA outright denied that
any students were injured in today's (Feb. 6) Kathmandu Post.
· Kirtipur – Maoists faxed noted to bus transport office demanding bandha
and closure of public tansport system from Saturday (Feb 5) onwards.
· Kathmandu – British Ambassador refused permission to visit political
leader Pashupati S.J.B. Rana (RPP), who is under house arrest.
· Kathmandu – Daughter of Girija Koirala (Nepali Congress), Sujata
Koirala, went to visit her father under house arrest and was detained
along with her father, held under house arrest (she has since been
released)
· Kathmandu / Patan / Bhaktapur- Communist Party of Nepal – Unity Center
Masal pamphleting and torchlight parade in protest.
· Baglung – Protests, arrests
· Nepalganj – Protests, arrests. Reports of several protestors being
injured on February 5, but these remain unconfirmed
· Syangja – Protests
· Chitwan - Protests
· Morang - Arrests
· Outside Nepalganj (location NOT verified) – One helicopter went down.
Unconfirmed. February 4.

[dinesh]

***

Nepali Congress Statement:
Spokesman Arjun Narasingha KC issued a statement on February 5th. In
addition to condemning the King's move and demanding the immediate release
of detained political leaders, he asked all members of the Nepali Congress
who might have joined splinter factions to rejoin the "mother party" in
order to effectively rally against the palace.

***

Human Rights Community Statement:

Kathmandu – 14 key civil society members met to make a statement on Feb 1
2005. The statement said that after King GyanendraÂ’s speech he dismissed
the cabinet, took all power, and established his own government. This
action is directly in opposition to the basic values and norms of
democracy. From todayÂ’s meeting by human rights activists and the people
from civil society, we condemn these steps by the king After the king
has taken power in Nepal, he has issued a declaration of emergency. This
is a direct threat and violation of human rights. This declaration is in
violation of numerous international accords that Nepal is a signatory to
and accountable for. In this serious and sensitive situation, we are
assembling this meeting in order to request to the national and
international community to secure and restore all human rights codes and
accords.
1) Condemning the arrest of the political leaders and human rights
defenders and demanding that their locations be revealed.
2) The RNA must immediately stop closely directly and indirectly
monitoring all media, human rights defenders, and outspoken individuals.
We are specially requesting the diplomatic community to assist with
arrange security within Nepal and outside Nepal for all these individuals.
3) Without any reason, the mass communication and media have been shut
down. This irresponsible act will create significant obstacles for the
general people. This is why we are asking the international community to
arrange a systematic mass communication for the people of Nepal.
4) We are requesting an independent and sovereign human rights commission.
This commission is unable to do work properly right now. We are
requesting a guarantee of proper work environment for the commission.
5) The countryÂ’s human rights situation is worsening significantly. We
are requesting that United Nations and human rights organizations conduct
human rights monitoring in Nepal
Signatories:
1) Subodh Raj Pyakural, INSEC
2) Govinda Bandi, Nepal Bar Association [Human Rights Committee]
3) Shobhakar Budhadhoki, CEHURBS ?
4) Pradeep Shankar Wagle, Nepal Bar Association [Human Rights Committee]
5) Rajesh Hamal, Advocacy Forum
6) Madhav Pradhan, CIWIN Nepal
7) Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, Mahendra Narian Smriti Pratestan
8) Usha Titikshu, Civic Solidarity for Peace
9) Dinesh Prasain, Collective Campaign for Peace (CoCAP)
10) Samir Nepal, Human Rights Alliance
11) Gopal Siwakoti, INHURED
12) Surya Bahadur XXX, NGO Federation
13) Anil Bhattarai, Nepal South Asia Center (NESAC)
14) Swanaam, Civic Solidarity for Peace

All 14 signatories of the document are now under threat of arrest by RNA,
who is searching for the activists. They are living underground.

***

From an interview with Shankar Pokhrel, Director of Media Relations,
CPN-UML, February 5
· Pokhrel has been in hiding since the February 1 announcement. His home
has been searched and he is known to be on the 1,000 person list of UML
party members whom the RNA has been given orders to arrest.
· Since Feb 1, he has stayed in three houses over four days, frequently
moving from place to place to avoid his path from being traced by the RNA.
· He has been able to communicate with other party members during the
brief periods where phones have been restored and the party is gathering
information and making a plan at these times.
· The RNA has a list of 1,000 people to arrest, divided into three
categories. Category A is called “sensitive persons” and consists of
people with the capacity to lead the masses, who are spokespeople and ery
well-known. Category B is for Central Committee Members and Category C is
for general cadre.
· The 3 main leaders of CPN-UML are under house arrest.
· 10-12 other leaders are in police custody.
· 200+ active workers from CPN-UML are also in police custody.
· Leaders of Nepali Congress are also under house arrest and in police
custody.
· This is occurring in districts throughout Nepal.
· The CPN-UML held a meeting to form an agenda and address the king’s
proclamation, and addressed three issues:

[dinesh]

1) The CPN-UML has officially declared their opposition to the kingÂ’s
announcement. This proclamation is illegal, non-democratic and
unconstitutional. In the name of solving the problem the king is
attempting to extend his intentions and authority.
2) The CPN-UML declares their priority for united within all political
parties against the announcement of the king. The first priority is to
establish unity within all parliamentary (officially recognized) parties.
However, the CPN-UML also would like to bring non-parliamentary parties,
including Maoists, into a unified platform and struggle for a peaceful
revolution against the king. The CPN-UML has invited the Maoists to join
“cease terrorits acts and join hand to hand for a peaceful revolution.”
The CPN-UML has given higher priority to go against the announcement of
the king than to oppose the Maoists. They are appealing to the Maoists to
“join with the [CPN-UML] in a peaceful way.”
3) The CPN-UML is seeking to organize a popular movement against the king
by networking with different political parties.
· When asked how he felt about many Nepali’s comments that they did not
regret the suspension of political parties due to corruption and
mismanagement by political parties since the beginning of democracy, he
said “democracy has done many positive things to strengthen civil society
for the public.”
· Pokhrel also said, “the government is only in the city. If the Maobodi
allow the parties to organize in the village they can harness their
popular support and organize against the king.”
· “compared to the political parties, the monarchy has a much worse
reputation. DonÂ’t measure the political parties based on the word on the
street. Today if elections took place 80% would vote for the political
parties and 10% would vote for the monarchy.”
· However, there is very little support for the leaders of the political
party. “The present cabinet has only 2% of the popular vote.” This
distrust of party leaders is the reason why many Nepalis are expressing
support of the kingÂ’s decision.
· “Over the last 14 years we have made a lot of mistakes, which we are now
realizing. Now there is lots of dialogue within the party and we are
going to go forward with a new path.”
· “Our first mistake was that we made a lot of compromises with the
monarchy. We knew it was a mistake, [catering to the kingÂ’s wishes], but
we werenÂ’t able to communicate to the people [that we were acting on the
king’s command]”
· When asked if CPN-UML had to choose between the king and Maoists today,
Pokhrel responded, “the question is not ‘to whom we choose’, but ‘when
will the Maoists and King choose the people?’ We would choose ourselves!”
· Pokrel said that “the Maoists are more capable of changing” than the
King, i.e., the Maoists are more likely to make compromises and come
forward to work for a peaceful resolution, so they are more likely to work
with the Maoists than the king.
· “The Maoists are in a good position after February 1. Because of the
kingÂ’s announcement lots of people will go to the Maoists and join
forces.”
· When asked if CPN-UML members would join the Maoists, Pokhrel responded,
“We are trying to make a movement. If we are not able to make a strong
movement [due to suppression from the monarchy], many will join the
Maoists. But no one will join the monarchy.”
· When asked if he had plans to flee the country to escape arrest, he
said, “We are Nepali people. We don’t need to leave. We operated
underground for years during the Panchayat regime, and we will survive
now.”
· Before Feb 1, Pokhrel was the Director of the Education Department for
CPN-UML. Since Feb 1, he has been named Director of Media Relations for
CPN-UML. He is the former president of the Nepal National Free Students
Union. He is 41 and has two daughters.

[Pokhrel]

Dear friends,

What happen in terms of making a press statement on the above matter? Up to where we are? Just curious to know?

Shall we make an article about it which can be included in the forthcoming wnso newsletter?

Waiting 2 hear from you.

Thanks,

Narayan