|
April
2005
| CPN
(Maoist): Personality clash? |
The
events that led to the reported expulsion of Baburam Bhattarai, the number
two leader of the Maoists, point to a serious credibility crisis at the
leadership level of the rebel outfit, say the army officials.
The
reported 'expulsion' of number 2 Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai from the
CPN-Maoist was perhaps the hottest and the most surprising news in the
month of March. The Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) of the Royal
Nepalese Army (RNA) issued a press communiqué on March 14 saying
that 'the Maoist terrorists' politburo member Dr Bhattarai and his wife
Hisila Yami have been expelled from the party."
Many
did not believe the 'news', as it came from the army that is fighting the
rebels. But the coverage of "Baburam's expulsion" in the recent days by
some major national weeklies-- though it may not be possible under the
state of emergency for any publication to list and weigh each and every
possibility -has only made even the most impartial observers to believe
that something of that nature has certainly happened within the rebel outfit.
March
2005
 Nepal's
rising vigilante violence |
A
wave of tit-for-tat political violence in south-western Nepal has been
creating terror and driven hundreds from their homes. And King Gyanendra's
handpicked government admits it has encouraged violence by anti-Maoist
vigilantes.
In
a serene landscape of wheat and rice plains, pretty haystacks and lumbering
ox-carts, civilians have been butchered by the anti-Maoists, with the rebels
responding brutally.
Men
in Krishnanagar, by the Indian border, talk openly - using the Hindi language
they are comfortable with - about the onset of violence last month.
I
encouraged their self-defence system. Why shouldn't I? Dan Bahadur Shahi,
home affairs minister
"I
was there in a crowd of 10,000. I was part of it," says a 28-year-old businessman.
"Everyone beat up the Maoists, including me. We used our hands, our shoes,
everything we could find to beat them.
February
2005
| Was
all of this worth my pain? The conflict is taking its toll on Nepali children |
Many
of us have childhoods free from fear or intimidation. A childhood where
we go to school, play with friends, meander in the fields and innocently
dream of our futures. Childhoods full of calm, confidence and enthusiasm.
Yet,
many of these qualities of childhood are being taken from the children
of Nepal. Their childhood is disappearing.
Today,
instead of eager students finishing their high school, youth are clothed
in khaki and carrying guns. Instead of studying at homes in the evening,
they are reciting lessons of ideology and dogma. Instead of playing with
their friends by their local schools, children are forced to work as porters
for armies of the night. Instead of finally being accepted in school, lower
caste youth are told that war is the answer to oppression and the means
to emancipation.
|
