Red-letter day in Nepal; Prachanda elected PM

Kathmandu(NEPAL): Maoist leader Prachanda was on Friday elected the first Prime Minister of post-monarchy Nepal, getting a comfortable majority in the Constituent Assembly.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who uses the nom de guerre Prachanda, won 464 votes out of 577 votes cast in a special Constituent Assembly vote. He defeated Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, a three-time former prime minister, who won just 113 votes.

Prachanda received the backing of another major Left party the CPN (UML) and the Terai-based Madhesi Rights People's Forum.

The election ended a four-month long logjam over forming a government during which mainstream parties were locked in a bitter power struggle. Prachanda's predecessor G P Koirala of Nepali Congress had resigned under pressure from the Maoists and was working in an interim capacity.

With Prachanda at helm, the Maoists are expected to get nine portfolios including the key ministries of Finance, Defence and Foreign Affairs, highly placed sources said.

The Maoists won the largest number of seats in assembly elections in April. A month later, the assembly abolished the Himalayan nation's centuries-old monarchy.

However, the former rebels did not receive a majority of seats and were unable to form a coalition government.

The Maoists abandoned their armed struggle in April 2006 to join a peace process that brought them into the political mainstream.

Source : IBN Live

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Musharraf's endgame: India set to benefit?

NEW DELHI: The endgame for Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad is clearly at touching distance now - whether by impeachment or resignation, Pakistan's most recent dictator is toast.

For every democratically minded person, the fact that this will increase the space for civilian government in military-ruled Pakistan would be welcome. Why then does that not seem to be true for fiercely democratic India next door?

National security adviser, MK Narayanan raised the unhappy prospect of Msuharraf's exit leaving a "vacuum" that would not be in India's interest. In a recent interview, he said, "Whether he is impeached or not is not important from the Indian point of view. It is for the people of Pakistan to decide. But it leaves a big vacuum and we are deeply concerned about this vacuum because it leaves the radical extremist outfits with freedom to do what they like, not merely on Pak-Afghan border but clearly our side of the border too. Like Nature abhors a vacuum, we abhor the political vacuum that exists in Pakistan. It greatly worries us."

The fact is, Musharraf has been emasculated for some time within Pakistani politics. The only reason he has held on so far is because he has taken advantage of the squabbling Zardari-Sharif duo. While the Pakistani nation has watched in horror the collapse of governance, its also been very clear that the Taliban, al-Qaida, Lashar-e-Toiba and other versions of the radical Islamist have been on a roll, both in Afghanistan and in India. And ISI, the way India knows it, has gone back to its bad old ways.

In India, the terror blasts in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad had a local component that gives the ISI plausible deniability. But LOC firing and infiltrations through summer was proof that the old times were back. All of this culminated in the Kabul embassy blast, India's own 7/7. The ISI had walked out of the closet, bombers blazing, literally.

And then J&K fell into Pakistan's lap. In their wildest dreams, neither the ISI nor the Islamists could have imagined India would destabilise J&K themselves. According to despairing security analysts, there are clear signs of the LET, JEM and others walking back to claim their places again in the fertile fields in the valley. Orchestrated by the ISI.

The point is, if Musharraf had been in control would the ISI or the jihadi groups be any more restrained? Probably not. Despite all his peace moves on J&K, Pakistan army under Musharraf would have fished in the troubled waters in J&K with as much alacrity as Kayani's army is doing today. Not even the US would have been able to prevail because Pakistan could rightly say they did not create the problem. A taste of what a Musharraf in control could have done was in his speech on Thursday in Islamabad. "I condemn this act of human rights violation. There is no doubt that every Pakistani is with their brothers and sisters in Kashmir on this occasion. I have no doubt that Kashmir beats in the heart of every Pakistani and that Kashmir runs through Pakistan's veins. Therefore, every Pakistani is with the people of Kashmir."

These are words India has not heard from Musharraf for ages. So its not difficult to imagine that even if Musharraf had been around the Pakistani response to Indian stupidity would have been the same as it is today.

Where then is the vacuum that Musharraf's exit would create? Former envoy to Pakistan, G. Parthasarathy believes its in three critical areas of Pakistani policy - Taliban and Afghanistan, terrorism and nuclear weapons. "The removal of Musharraf would result in the military playing a more autonomous role on issues of relations with India, including policies on J&K, support for Taliban and control over nuclear weapons."

However, Musharraf played the double game on the Taliban brilliantly. The Taliban did not become the force it has overnight. Its a Musharraf creation with Kayani as ISI chief. On nuclear proliferation, A.Q. Khan's wife Hendrina Khan revealed this week in an interview that it was Musharraf who personally authorised the North Korea nuclear deal.

Where Musharraf's ouster will have a long term effect is inside Pakistan. The common hatred for Musharraf is a bond between the unlikely bedfellows, Zardari and Nawaz Sharif. In many ways, his exit will sort of slake Sharif's "thirst" for revenge, but then what? And can Zardari keep a lid on the internal divisions within the PPP, and retain his control over the party? As Dan Markey, a South Asia expert with Council for Foreign Relations, Washington observes, "The real problem is that the post-Musharraf power configuration is still unsettled, and his removal does little to resolve concerns about stability or capacity of the Islamabad government."

If Pakistan's internal stability teeters further, and if India's handling of J&K becomes an even bigger disaster than it already is, could this give Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Kayani the opening he might want, sooner rather than later? Could he use the national security and Kashmir argument to bring the Pakistan army back in the saddle? Of course he could. And Pakistan could applaud and India would rue the day the ISI chief became head of government in Pakistan.

Source : Times Of India

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Yechury: J&K row will have serious ramifications.

MADURAI: The Jammu and Kashmir imbroglio will have serious ramifications if not solved amicably, since Pakistan has threatened to take up the issue with the United Nations, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury has said.

Besides the forces whipping up communal passion to consolidate “their Hindu vote bank,” the backlash was fed by extremist forces, he told a press conference here on Thursday.

The Congress-led government was concerned only about winning the trust vote in Parliament and not the unity of the country. It was a “grave negligence” that it intervened only on the 38th day of the impasse, Mr. Yechury said. He urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call the warring groups for talks.

Stating that the CPI(M) and the CPI, along with 10 other parties, had launched a campaign on four important issues that affected the country – price rise, the agrarian crisis leading to suicide of farmers, the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and communalism — Mr. Yechury exuded confidence that more parties and forces would join the proposed third alternative.

Source : The Hindu

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Nepal parliament to elect prime minister today

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Parliament will elect on Friday the country's new prime minister after being directed by the president to initiate the government formation process.

Parliamentary spokesman said that the Parliament Working Procedure Management Committee has decided to hold the election for prime minister on Friday.

The nominations for the top post will be accepted on Thursday, they said. In the 601-strong assembly, to get their candidate elected as prime minister, any combination of political parties would need the magic number of 301 votes.

After the Maoists, who had emerged the top group in the April 10 polls, failed to form an all-party consensus government under Article 38(1) of the Constitution, President Ram Baran Yadav called for initiating the process of government formation through majority voting in the Constituent Assembly as per the Article 38(2).

However, a detailed election program is yet to be announced.

The major parties had failed to reach consensus on government formation after the Maoists rejected the Nepali Congress' demand for the defense portfolio.

The parties have now intensified consultations in order to field a consensus candidate so that prime minister could be elected unopposed and a government involving all major groups could be formed, said CPN-UML central member Shanker Pokharel.

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Indian PM's big I-Day message: Unite not divide

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began his address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort at 0730 hrs (IST) on Friday. Voicing concern over violence in Jammu and Kashmir, Manmohan Singh warned that dividing people in the name of religion could pose a threat to the unity of the country.

Urged political parties to come together to resolve issues related to Amarnath land row through dialogue, the PM said divisive politics would lead the country to nowhere.

With unabated violence in the state apparently weighing heavily on his mind, Singh underlined that issues related to the Amarnath shrine could be resolved in "an atmosphere of peace and goodwill".

Manmohan Singh's comments came amid continuing unrest both in the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu region over differences between Muslims and Hindus over the allotment of land - subsequently cancelled - to a board managing the annual pilgrimage to the Hindu Amarnath shrine.

The unprecedented communal divide has led to the deaths of around 40 people, mainly in firing by the police and other security forces.

In his speech, Manmohan Singh sought to emphasise how the pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine of Lord Shiva had brought Hindus and Muslims together for decades.

"The sacred shrine of Shri Amar Nath inspires all Indians to march together. This shrine is a shining example of our secular tradition, where Hindu pilgrims have been looked after for years by their Muslim brothers.

"Issues related to this sacred place, especially the issue of providing the best possible facilities to pilgrims, can only be resolved in an atmosphere of peace and goodwill," the Prime Minister said.

He warned: "Dividing people in the name of religion can complicate these issues further which can also pose a threat to the unity and integrity of the country.

Source : IBN Live

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