Great Salute for Nepal Maoist

This may 1th is unavoidable start for Nepal as a one and new step of the revolution. Our comradely saluation for the struggle.Mels


Nepal: Bracing for `high noon' after May 1

By Jed Brandt, Kathmandu
April 21, 2010 — JedBrandt.net —

There are moments when Kathmandu does not feel like a city on the edge of revolution. People go about all the normal business of life. Venders sell vegetables, nail clippers and bootleg Bollywood films from the dirt, cramping the already crowded streets. Uniformed kids tumble out of schools with neat ties in the hot weather. Municipal police loiter at the intersections while traffic ignores them, their armed counterparts patrol in platoons through the city with wood-stocked rifles and dust masks as they have for years. New slogans are painted over the old, almost all in Maoist red. Daily blackouts and dry-season water shortages are normal for Nepal’s primitive infrastructure, not the sign of crisis. Revolutions don’t happen outside of life, like an asteroid from space – but from right up the middle, out of the people themselves.
Passing through Kathmandu’s Trichandra college campus after meeting with students in a nearby media program, I walked into the aftermath of bloody attack. Thugs allied with the Nepali Congress party student group had cut up leaders of a rival student group with khukuri knives leaving one in critical condition. Hundreds of technical students were clustered in the street when I arrived by chance. The conflict most often described through the positioning of political leaders is breaking out everywhere.
Indefinite bandhs [strikes] are paralysing large parts of the country after the arrest of Young Communist League (YCL) cadre in the isolated far west and Maoist student leaders in Pokhora, the central gateway to the Annapurna mountain range. The southern Terai is in chaos, with several power centres competing and basic security has broken down; banditry, extortion and kidnapping are now endemic. Government ministers cannot appear anywhere without Maoist pickets waving black flags and throwing rocks.
With no central authority, all sides are claiming the ground they stand on and preparing their base. It’s messy, confused and coming to a sharp point as the May 28 deadline for a new constitution draws near with no consensus in sight. The weak government holding court in the Constituent Assembly can’t command a majority, not even of their own parties. Seventy assembly representatives of the status quo Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) party signed a letter calling on their own leader to step down from the prime minister’s chair to make way for a Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) -- UCPN (M), known simply as the Maoists -- national-unity government. He refuses, repeating demands that the Maoists dissolve their popular organisations and return lands seized by the people who farm them.
The Maoists have more pressing concerns than the legalism of the parliamentary parties. If they can’t restructure the state, by constitutional means or otherwise, the enthusiasm that brought their revolutionary movement this far may turn to disillusionment. With no progress in the assembly, the leaders of the status quo parties now say there will be no resolution on time. The Maoists have rejected any extension as a stalling tactic and are turning to the people. With now-or-never urgency, they are mobilising all their forces for a decisive showdown in Kathmandu.
Nepal braces for May 1
Posters for May 1 appeared overnight announcing the Maoist call for workers and villagers to converge on Kathmandu for a “final conflict”. The Maoists are calling for a sustained mobilisation, with the hope that an overwhelming showing can push the government out with a minimum of bloodshed and stay the hand of the Nepal army.
May 1 is International Workers' Day, the traditional day of action for communists around the world, but the mobilisation has already begun.
Thousands of recruits are being trained by YCL cadre in districts throughout the country, drilling with bamboo sticks in place of rifles. With threats from Nepal army commanders to put these protests down with force, the Maoists are preparing to defend their mass organisations, the marches, the party and the people from attempts at counter-revolution. Their meetings include political orientations and anti-disinformation training to combat the confusing fog of manufactured rumours and lies that are already in the air.
National assemblies of radical students, artists, intellectuals, ethnic federations, women, unions and trade organisations convened widely during the month of April. All sectors are receiving the same message: the Maoists will not return to the jungle, or replay a guerilla struggle. They will not retreat. The conflict will be decided frontally in the cities.
Dual power – class struggle at the tipping point
Nepal has two mutually exclusive power structures: one is the revolutionary movement led by the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which has a powerful mass base among the people, a disciplined political militia in the YCL and its People’s Liberation Army. The other is the apparatus of Nepal’s state — held over from the monarchy, unreconstructed, backed by the rifles of the Nepal army and the heavy weight of feudal tradition.
Land seizures co-exist with plantations. Old judges still sit in their patronage chairs dispensing verdicts to the highest bidder while revolutionary courts turn off and on in the villages. The deposed king Gyanendra lost his crown, but retains vast tracts of land, a near monopoly on tobacco and a “personal” business empire. Large-scale infrastructure like hydropower remains largely under foreign ownership, but only operates when, and how, the Maoist-allied unions let them. In short, the semi-feudal, semi-colonial system of Nepal is in place but the organised workers and Maoist-led villagers hold a veto.
In Nepal, people were taught that the poor would always be poor. They long believed it. There would always be kings, lords, myriad deities and foreign patrons to look over them. Caste dictated behaviour and expectations for most, justifying dull cruelty and vast human waste. The tolerance and fatalism so beloved by British travel writers were also consigning the people of Nepal to isolation, ignorance and the lowest life expectancies in Asia. But the world doesn’t actually stand still, or turn in circles, as some would have it. Things do change.
When urban civil uprisings wrested a parliamentary system from King Birendra in 1990 nothing changed for the people, save those whose hands got greased for government services. When rising expectations crashed into the closed doors of realpolitik of elite “democracy” – the Maoists blew it open, building an army up from the people themselves. From bases of support in Rolpa and Rukum, the People’s War spread to 80% of the country in 10 lightening years. More than 10,000 people lost their lives in the greatest uprising in Nepal’s history.
Yubaraj Lama, a prominent actor/director thrust into radical politics by the movement against the king, put it simply: "It was the failure of the political parties to bring democracy, any real social change for the masses of people that fueled the People's War. This is what the Maoists changed. People were very fatalistic, looking up to politicians like princes. That is over."
People who had never thought social change was possible now believe they can end their poverty. Kings are not gods and their crown can fall. Women and girls are more than a way to have male children. The heavy hand of foreign domination and its imposed backwardness can be challenged. The Maoists changed the concept of politics from appeal-if-you-dare to revolution from the ground up.
Everyone isn’t happy with the way the wind is blowing. It is easy to find haughty conservatives who think any hope from the poor comes at their expense and who want to see the Maoists crushed.
Talking with the owner of an English-language bookstore, an outspoken supporter of the CPN (UML)’s embattled prime minister, he insisted that people only attended the Maoist rallies because they were forced to. This plainly isn't true, but I asked why they won the elections. He told me “these people are stupid” and “believe the Maoist lies that they can live in the big house”. When I noted that all the unions in the neighbourhood were Maoist and they hardly seemed forced into it, he laughed. “Of course they are, they want to take all the money from people who own them.”
With all the paranoia of the United States’ white-fright militias, Nepal’s reactionaries conflate rudimentary democracy, let alone the communist program of the Maoists, with the very end of the world.
Nepal’s embattled elites also can’t simply be brushed aside or nuanced into reform. They to have an army, the former Royal Nepal Army, renamed but unreconstructed. The officer corps is steeped in caste ideology and disdain for the common people, supplied with modern weapons and not-so-secret Indian and US advisers.
The PLA is training and waiting within UN-supervised cantonments – military bases scattered across the countryside. The YCL, led by former PLA commanders, is training new militias throughout the country. And for its part, the Nepal army is confined to its barracks, concentrated in and around Kathmandu.
The politics of this moment are intricate. Many forces parry and maneouvre for advantage. But the basic situation is this: dual power has produced a highly unstable stalemate between a revolutionary people and a weakened regime – a paper tiger with real claws — and the moment of decision is fast approaching.
Democracy is just a word
Over the last 20 years, passion has only grown to see the people decide Nepal’s future, to have some form of genuine popular democracy. It erupted first in the 1990 Jana Andolan civil uprising. It fueled the People's War that started in 1996 and animated the powerful mass movement that toppled the king in 2008.
One of the fruits of that sustained struggle was the current Constituent Assembly – where elected representatives of the grassroots were supposed to craft a new framework for a new society, with both open election to seats and sectoral representation to ensure that women, minorities and workers had direct representation. The very idea of such a constituent assembly comes from communist demands – it was their answer to bourgeois democracy.
Maoists made 40 demands of the king in the mid-1990s before launching their guerrilla war. Despite consistent flexibility on almost everything, a constituent assembly was the only demand that was never negotiable. It’s profound, the idea of an empowered assembly drawn from every corner – including elected representatives of the poor, women and minorities – for the purpose of remaking the very basis of government and society. This was to be the workshop of a New Nepal.
In a short-lived alliance with the parliamentary parties brokered in 2006, a popular uprising in Kathmandu forced the king out and secularism was established. Elections where held in 2008, and the Maoists emerged the largest party, with more delegates than the old standbys CPN (UML) and Congress combined. The rest of the seats went to a score of minor parties.
This unprecedented assembly has been gridlocked since it convened. On one side, the old political parties want an Indian-style parliamentary system that is quite compatible with rural feudalism and caste oppression. And opposing those parties, stand the Maoists who speak of a radical new people's democracy where those excluded from politics will now set the terms.
The Maoists have used their days in this assembly to flesh out their plans for a New Nepal. They drafted and popularised constitutional provisions for a future people’s republic – including land reform, complete state restructuring, equality for women, autonomy for oppressed minorities and an end to Nepal’s stifling subordination to India. Ambitious plans to redirect government investment in basic infrastructure like roads, sanitation and vastly expanded public education were all scuttled when the Nepal army refused to recognise civilian control after the Maoist victory. Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda resigned, leading the Maoists out of government and leaving the Constituent Assembly in gridlock. They are the largest party, the legal and extra-legal opposition.
The same callous ruling classes, who ignored the bitter poverty of people for decades, now claim to be Nepal’s only “democratic” alternative to the Maoists.
Yet everyone knows it was those Maoists who went deep among the people, who fought with guns, braved torture and sacrificed many lives for constitutional elections — winning a popular mandate in that voting. Who, then, are the true democrats here? Who really speaks for the people and their aspirations for power?
Time itself is accelerating
All the political forces in the country have now spent the last years in slow-motion maneouvreing. They have revealed their programs and exposed their natures – before a closely watching population.
The Maoists are refusing to wait any longer. Leaders of Congress party and CPN (UML) admit a constitution can't be delivered by May 28. The Maoists reject any postponement of that May 28 deadline. No more stalling, they say.
Hundreds of thousands have been mobilised in peaceful mass marches over the last months. Such marches have been a vehicle for intensive mass organising. They have been used as a gauge of growing partisan strength. The logistics of moving people through the streets to each of the main government offices is practice for seizure. In short, they can be understood as dress rehearsals for a revolution.
On April 6, 2010, Maoists held powerful rallies in all of Nepal's 75 districts demanding that the unelected prime minister resign to make way for a new Maoist-led government. Further rallies are scheduled leading up to May 1.
The Maoists' program is unlikely to be met by parliamentary procedure and they know it. Maoists have discussed a double-barreled approach: build on the base areas and social transformation of the People's War to launch popular insurrection in the city. Nepali revolutionaries have been incredibly patient, refusing to over-extend their hand. They are seeking to apply one of Mao Zedong’s most famous principles, the mass line:
It often happens that objectively the masses need a certain change, but subjectively they are not yet conscious of the need, not yet willing or determined to make the change. In such cases, we should not make the change until, through our work, most of the masses have become conscious of the need and are willing and determined to carry it out. Otherwise we shall isolate ourselves from the masses. Unless they are conscious and willing, any kind of work that requires their participation will turn out to be a mere formality and will fail.
This is what Prabhakar, deputy commander of the PLA, meant when he said: “We will not take any action against this government. People at large will decide the fate of this government”.
The Maoists have been working hard to make the next push – for the final seizure of power – an act of the people, not a self-isolating putsch by the communists alone.
On April 15, YCL commander Sonam was arrested in Kathmandu on weapons charges. Thousands of people mobilised within the hour for a torchlight march to the jail. Sonam was released.
Backed by the defence ministry, commanders of the 96,000-strong Nepal army began new recruitment this week in direct violation of prior agreements. UCPN (Maoist) leader Ashok calls this a “conspiracy to invite civil war”.
For all its complexity, dual power in Nepal rests on two armies. The middle ground is disintegrating under the pressure. Splits are appearing within all kinds of political forces – including the moderate leftist CPN (UML) and reportedly among the army rank and file. The UCPN (M) openly says it is seeking to make its case “directly to the soldiers”.
"If the army acts against democracy, the people won't stand for it", said Bishnu Pukar. A human rights activist and former leader of the revolutionary teacher's union, Pukar was arrested twice in the fight for a new Nepal by the military. "Too many lives have been lost. There will be general rebellion."
In short: the Maoists are forcing a question of ultimate power that the people of Nepal will have to decide. Look to May 1 and the days that follow.
[This article first appeared at Jed Brandt's blog. It has been posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewalwith permission.]

Cangragulations for the BAMARAWALALLA

Sri Lankan film Director Athila Liyanage won the Huston film award first time and our great salute for him and his film to convey o to the world audience

Nepal: Necessity theory!

Nepal: Necessity theory!
N. P. Upadhyaya

Kathmandu: The proverbial “lull before the storm” prevails in the country.

The tornado that is in the making may hit this nation any time soon.

High placed analysts claim that a sort of Himalayan political calamity awaits this nation if the stipulated date for the draft of the new constitution gets expired on May 27, 2010, late evening.

In a way, terror thus prevails in each and every Nepali household considering “what if the Constitution is not drafted on time”?

The answer to this question is with the high-flying republican leaders who beamingly declared some two years ago that by May 28, 2010, the nation will get a new constitution that would take proper care of all the sickness which had not been incorporated for redresses in the previous constitutions and thus had neglected the voices of the silent majority since decades and decades.

The time is running out and the leaders appear to be on pins and the needles for fear of being manhandled if they fail in the draft of the new Nepal Charter on the predetermined date.

The new Nepal Charter will not be written on time at least this much has become pretty clear to the keen political observers of this country and more so to the leaders who had vowed to provide the one on time.

The reason?

Obviously, none of the major parties want the new Charter to be drafted for their own respective political reasons.

The Maoists want to capture the State taking the political advantage of the chaotic situation that will emerge instantly after the non-draft of the new Charter. The Maoists have not kept their inner design in a secret. This they have been telling during each and every speech that they have been making in the recent days and weeks.

Maoist Supremo, Prachanda, is on record to have said to his “boys” very freshly in Shaktikhor cantonment to remain in a state of “preparedness” to face the eventuality in the party’s advantage should there be a political vacuum created by the non-draft of the new constitution.

Thus the Maoists remain in a geared up state to Capture the State which is their ultimate goal and objective.

Unfortunately, the Maoists appear to be in a divided state at the moment.

The talk of elevating Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai to the post of new Nepal Prime Minister has jolted the party of the ex-rebels from within. The most hit by this rumor is definitely Prachanda himself as he is one of the most ambitious political personality and would want to bounce back to power under any circumstances even that demanded the split in the party.

Says Prachanda, “the rightists are conspiring to encircle our party…this we must understand….if we fail to understand these nefarious designs being hatched by the rightists then we may land in an unfortunate situation”.

Clearly, Prachanda hints at the Indian establishment-the rightists in his calculation-which has, as the rumors have it, secretly mooted the idea that if Dr. Bhattarai is made the new Nepal prime Minister then the Nepal Maoist’s damaged relations with India could be corrected to a greater extent.

Prachanda is not that fool not to understand these political maneuverings, both domestic and foreign, which is conspiring to elevate Dr. Bhattarai to the post of the Nepal Prime Minister albeit, if that happens at all, Bhattarai will be enjoying unconditional support from the Nepali Congress and the UML as well.

It is this Indian design, as understood by Prachanda, has made him to go mad. No wonder, if Prachanda sooner than later once again dubs Dr. Bhattarai as an “India man” as he used to dub Bhattarai in the past.

And if he does so and repeats the same blunder then the Maoists party will in all likelihood see a vertical split and that is what the entire Maoists haters want near and far.

“If we do not understand these designs…..” is what he wants to tell Dr. Bhattarai in an oblique manner not to get carried away by the lollypops that the latter may have been receiving both from within and without.

However, Dr. Bhattarai in all his modesty has made it abundantly clear that without jeopardizing the party and its prime interests, if approached for the post of the prime Minister in consensus then he will handle the affairs of the State.

Whether the Maoist party splits or not or even Dr. Bhattarai is elevated to the ranks of the New Nepal PM or not is not of our concern. However, what concerns the analysts here is the fresh Maoist declaration that they will go in for a fresh revolt immediately after the date of the constitution draft expires.

This is dangerous. After all a revolt is revolt which will definitely take its toll.

So the first M-the Maoists is sure to stage a fresh revolt and will try to cash in upon the political vacuum thus created by the non-draft of the new Charter. The Maoists are thus ready to exhibit their militancy.

Equally true is how a divided Maoists will wage a revolt then?

Now let’s take up the second M-that is the Military.

Nepal Army too has become restive these days which becomes abundantly clear from the near to political statements coming as it does from the Military quarters.

Whether Nepal Army Chief should have spoken in such a rough and tough manner, which he could have avoided, while meeting the visiting UN high official, Lynn Pascoe, that “Nepal Army will not accept the en masse integration of the Maoists militias into the mainstream Army”.

In a way, the NA Chief version caps the possibility of the Maoist militia’s entrance into the mainstream army. By extension, it does also mean that the Nepal Army possesses utmost hatred for the Maoists and its “indoctrinated” militias.

Aren’t the militias the sons of the same soil which gave birth to CoAS Gurung?

Such hatred, if true, bodes ill for the nation.

In the mean time, the top-hats of the Nepal Army Generals from five different development zones secretly met in Kathmandu-the meeting is in progress- and analyzed the country’s prevailing situation and also learnt to have “intensively” discussed on how to take steps should the country go berserk if the constitution not drafted on time.

This is very very dangerous. The chances of the imposition of the Military rule can’t be ruled out. Ignoring the President, it is very much likely that the Army will jump into the political scene. The Army is in a state of preparedness.

Nepal Army Chief, Mr. Gurung’s blunt statement made in front of the UN dignitary and the emergency meet of the Army Generals speaks so many things unspoken.

More so, the Nepal Army remains apparently disturbed by the declaration of the Maoists that they will wage a fresh revolt which may have encouraged the Army generals to come together and devise a common strategies on how to quell such a revolt in the larger interest of the country’s security system.

So this does mean that the second M-the Military is also in a state of attentiveness to take up the possible challenges that may arise after the constitution draft deadline, May 27, 2010, late evening expired.

Needleless to say, the security situation of the country should the two M’s come face to face will deteriorate to an extent neither desirable nor affordable.

Now let’s take up the third M-that is the now sidelined Monarchy.

The sidelined and defunct monarchy has suddenly become active. The activities have almost doubled after the ex-King made a fresh trip to India wherein he met practically all the “key” Indian leadership who tentatively “chart” the fate of this nation beginning early 1950s.

Former King Gyanendra’s sudden but calculated visit to Pasupatinath temple last week and the encouragement that he provided to the followers of Hinduism does tell that in a very subtle manner the sidelined King too wants to be a part of Nepali politics but under the cover of revival of Hindu state in Nepal.

Religion cover indeed.

Whether the ex-King should have openly voiced for the revival of the Hindu State or not may be a matter of intense debate, however, what is for sure is that “he must not have provided a political twist to the campaign for the revival of a Hindu State for Nepal”. His loyal stooges could have accomplished this task on “his behalf”.

But then yet, as a commoner and also being a Hindu, he perhaps deserved this right to openly champion the cause of the Hindu religion.

Ex-King’s motives are not yet clear though but what could be said safely that “he wants to play politics under the cover of the revival of Hindu State”. Whether his maneuverings will yield him positive results or not time will only tell. He is playing his cards well, whether one liked it or not.

Having said all these, the third M-that is the ex-monarchy too would prefer the chaos to grip this country after the expiry of the constitution draft date and “in the name of saving the nation from going to the dogs”, may find some slot to bounce back to power. This may be his secret game. The question thus is whether the population at large will accept him as the savior in case the security situation worsened and touched a new low?

Or will the “theory of necessity” prevail? Keep on guessing.

All in all, Nepal as a nation-state is soon to undergo through a tumultuous period wherein chaos, political instability associated with the likelihood of violent conflict or say revolt can’t be ruled out.

Tighten your belts please.

We condem the arrest of Lanka editor but they are too late

According to the buddhism which majority of sri lankan believe, it has been happening and haunting behind the people who supported without mind and wit to the fudelist president and his goverment. most of responsible characters in sri lanka behaved like same as the government act today, specially JVP is the responsible party worked during the past time without any logical mind, and philosopocal approach, Lanka paper also a part of that result. so now they must enjoy the " ditta Damma Vedaneeya Karma".



But We are as humanist, we severely condem and critizise the on going situation and the dictatorship of the country.



And We urge to the progressive people "People" to think and work to get together for future and to form a new strongfull allaince for Sri Lankan society.

Mels

Vote Bahu and be satisfy

Patten: Sri Lanka to choose between two alleged war criminals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 January 2010, 02:31 GMT]
Chris Patten, currently the co-chairman of the International Crisis Group, notes in a New York Times article that public in Sri Lanka is "faced with a choice between two candidates who openly accuse each other of war crimes," and adds, "[w]hoever wins, the outside world should use all its tools to convince the government to deal properly with those underlying issues to avoid a resurgence of mass violence....In short, this means not giving Colombo any money for reconstruction and development until we know how it will be spent. And if we see funds not being used as promised, it means not being afraid to cut them off until." Patten is a senior international figure and is the last British governor of Hong Kong.

Full text of NYT op-ed follows:

Sri Lanka's Choice, and the World's Responsibility

Chris Patten

Pity the poor Sri Lankan voter. As presidential elections loom on Jan. 26, the public is faced with a choice between two candidates who openly accuse each other of war crimes.

The current exchange of charges and counter-charges between retired Gen. Sarath Fonseka and President Mahinda Rajapaksa must be particularly confusing to those Sri Lankans who consider both to be war heroes rather than war criminals. Many from the ethnic Sinhalese majority feel that, regardless of the human costs in the last months of the long-running civil war that ended last year, both leaders deserve credit for finally finishing off the terrorist Tamil Tiger rebels.

With the Sinhalese nationalist vote thus split, the two candidates are focusing their energies on winning the votes of the country’s minority ethnic Tamils — which is surely one of the stranger political ironies of early 2010. After all, both General Fonseka and Mr. Rajapaksa executed the 30-year conflict to its bloody conclusion at the expense of huge numbers of Tamil civilian casualties.

By early May, when the war was ending, the United Nations estimated that some 7,000 civilians had died and more than 10,000 had been wounded in 2009 as the army’s noose was being drawn tight around the remaining rebels and hundreds of thousands of noncombatants, who could not escape government shelling. The final two weeks likely saw thousands more civilians killed, at the hands of both the army and the rebels.

After the war, the Tamils’ plight continued. The government interned more than a quarter million displaced Tamils, some for more than six months, in violation of both Sri Lankan and international humanitarian law. Conditions in the camps were appalling, access by international agencies was severely restricted, and independent journalists could not even visit. Barbed wire and military guards insured people could not leave or tell their stories to anyone.

By the end of 2009, most of the displaced had been moved, and the nearly 100,000 remaining in military-run camps were enjoying some freedom of movement — important steps brought about mostly as a result of international pressure and the authorities’ desire to win Tamil votes. However, a large portion of the more than 150,000 people recently sent out of the camps have not actually returned to their homes nor been resettled. They’ve been sent to and remain in “transit centers” in their home districts.

Now, put yourself in a Tamil’s shoes, and decide whom to vote for in the presidential election: Choose either the head of the government that ordered the attacks against you and your family, or the head of the army that carried it all out.

On Jan. 4, the Tamil National Alliance, the most important Tamil political party, made its choice and endorsed General Fonseka after he pledged a 10-point program of reconciliation, demilitarization and “normalization” of the largely Tamil north. There is some hope his plan might be a sign that top leaders realize that, after decades of brutal ethnic conflict, peace will only be consolidated when Sinhalese-dominated political parties make strong moves toward a more inclusive and democratic state.

What counts more than campaign promises, though, is what the winner actually does in office, and based on past performance, it is hard to imagine either candidate making the necessary constitutional reforms to end the marginalization of Tamils and other minorities — the roots of the decades-long conflict. Left unaddressed, Tamil humiliation and frustration could well lead to militancy again.

While Sri Lankan voters face a difficult decision, for the international community, the choice is clear. Whoever wins, the outside world should use all its tools to convince the government to deal properly with those underlying issues to avoid a resurgence of mass violence. In the interest of lasting peace and stability, donor governments and international institutions — India, Japan, Western donors, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank — should use their assistance to support reforms designed to protect democratic rights, tie aid to proper resettlement of the displaced, and a consultative planning process for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged, overly militarized north. U.N. agencies and nongovernment organizations should have full access to monitor the programs to ensure international money is spent properly and people receiving aid are not denied their fundamental freedoms.

In short, this means not giving Colombo any money for reconstruction and development until we know how it will be spent. And if we see funds not being used as promised, it means not being afraid to cut them off until.

While there may not be much to choose between the candidates, the rift between General Fonseka and Mr. Rajapaksa — and the consequent divisions among Sinhalese nationalist parties and the renewed vigor of opposition parties — has at least put the possibility of reforms on the agenda. International leverage, correctly applied, could help expand this small window for change, leading to the democratization and demilitarization the country desperately needs to move finally beyond its horrific war and its bitter peace.

Cast the first vote to Bahu: Manickasothy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 21:43 GMT]
All Tamil political leaders should ensure in unison that Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne receive the first preferential vote in the presidential election, so that the two main candidates equal in their chauvinistic agenda against Tamils will not get the necessary 50 percent to win, said senior politician and civil movement member Manickasothy Abhimannasingham in an interview to media in Jaffna, Tuesday. Bahu was always consistent in his stand on Tamil question even under trying times and voting him is an opportunity to show the Tamil will locally and internationally, he further said. On the candidature of Mr. Sivajilingam, he said the candidature should not demonstrate Tamil disunity. His observation on TNA was that it is nowadays open about its proclivity to India and is now waiting only to receive instructions from India.



Abimannasingham ManickasothyThe civil movement activist urged all Tamil politicians, whether Sampanthan, Mavai Senadhirajah, Douglas Devananda, Pillaiyan, Sritharan or Siddharthan, to cast their first vote to Bahu.

Meanwhile, The Hindu regretted Tuesday for fissures in the TNA, saying that the letter and spirit of the Zurich meet, which it sees ‘first of its kind,’ was not adhered to. Accusing the diaspora for the woes of TNA, the Indian media said: “The Alliance is torn between the ground realities faced by Tamils living in the island-nation and sections of the Diaspora that is experimenting with grandiose ideas like ‘trans-national Eelam’.”

While TNA’s immediate concern is 2.9 lakh IDPs in the island the French Tamils were voting for independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam, the hindu.com said.

According to Tamil circles India’s effort to hijack Tamil polity in the island against the pulse of the people is the genesis of the current disaster faced by the TNA. The Zurich meet orchestrated by powers only sow seeds of dissension in political parties to split on lines of ‘power alliances,’ they said.

The options in the presidential election and associated agendas of both India and the US do not provide any political space or future hopes of any political space to Tamil aspirations in the island. It is essentially for this reason the Eezham Tamils have to demonstrate an appropriate response in the elections to the power-manipulated situation inside the island and create their own political space outside, Tamil circles said.