News, Views From Nepal

By Yuba Nath Lamsal We have entered the fourth year after Jana Andolan II succeeded in restoring democracy by clipping the wings of the feudal monarchy. We have come a long way since that eventful day that not only restored people’s sovereignty but also cleared the path for a republican set up in Nepal. By all account, this incident is a historic one, which can be compared with all the big political changes that have taken place in the world like the French Revolution, American War of Independence, October Revolution of Russia and India’s Independence Movement. Important movements Nepal has seen important movements in its history. But all movements in the past got aborted in compromises, which failed to establish people’s sovereignty in the true sense. The first popular movement for democracy was against the Rana family oligarchy. When the anti-Rana movement gathered steam in 1951, it was aborted by a tripartite Delhi pact that shifted the authority from the Ranas to the Shahs. Althoug...

By Yuba Nath Lamsal Last week, the country saw a six-day general strike called by the Unified CPN-Maoist. The strike was largely peaceful, although the people had to endure great hardships as shops and offices closed. The Maoist party withdrew the strike on the sixth day and changed the nature and form of the protest. It then held a mass meeting in Kathmandu where the leaders tried to defend their decision to withdraw the strike and convince the cadres why this was necessary. The next day, the Maoist party cordoned off the government secretariat at Singha Durbar. Going one step forward, the UCPN-Maoist, all of a sudden, withdrew all forms of the protests for the time being. The first three days of the strike were completely peaceful. But sporadic incidents of violence and clashes started taking place on the fourth and fifth days, which compelled the Maoist leadership to withdraw the strike to, according to the Maoists, avoid unnecessary confrontation with the people. Trading charges Th...