BNP CITY COMMITTEE DISSOLVED

Delwar's action to deepen crisis

Special Correspondent

Wednesday's dissolution of Dhaka City committee of BNP has shocked and dismayed many activists. The action came at a time when the party is passing through the worst crisis. Workers and supporters feel that it is likely to leave a far-reaching effect on the party. When it needs more capable leadership to cement unity of the rank and file the dissolution of the most vital committee has taken aback many sympathisers of BNP. It is obvious that the BNP high command has lost confidence in the committee with Sadeq Hossain Khoka and Abdus Salam as president and secretary. The announcement of dissolution said the committee leaders acted against the interest of the party and indulged in violating party discipline. It is true that Khoka and Salam have been seen at the BNP reformist camp but they never expressed disloyalty to Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
   Party sources said secretary general Khandker Delwar Hossain is stipulating to form the Dhaka City committee anew with Said Khan Khoka as president. An obscure face in the city politics, Said was one of the nine vice-presidents of the now dissolved committee. Little known among the workers he does not enjoy the confidence and support Khoka has had enjoyed. Khoka is a long tested hardcore BNP man for which he was elected Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation.
   Resenting the dissolution Hasan Mollah, a vice-president of the defunct committee said the action lacked political wisdom. It will alienate further the effective leaders who will tend to join the reformist group of the party. Mollah believes that if it is the outcome of Delwar's consultation with Khaleda in the courtroom, she was misguided. He down rated Delwar, with origin of NAP (Bhashani) of Manikganj, saying "swayed by ego he is destined to doom BNP and isolate Khaleda from the genuine followers of Ziaur Rahman."
   Chairperson Khaleda Zia endowed Delwar with the all-important position of secretary general in haste, without consulting the party leaders before taken to prison. Within last nine months he failed to consolidate the party. Rather his rigid approach has split the party. Of late, Brig (rtd) Hannan Shah and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy turned bitter critics of Delwar. Shah, Roy and many others loyal to Khaleda are getting disenchanted. Consequently they are getting closer to the reformist group.
   Encouraged by the developments in the loyalist camp, reformist group leader Maj (rtd) Hafizuddin Ahmed claimed the support of 100 former MPs of the party. He is hopeful of mobilising and rallying round BNP and its front organisations. "All are in favour of taking part in the election. With us they see the prospect ... You will find the situation quite different in a couple of months," Hafiz confided to a newsman.

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'Minus two' formula turns 'manage two'

Abdur Rahman Khan

Politics of oft quoted "minus two" formula, an attempt to get rid of the country's two top politicians - former prime ministers Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina - seems to have ended in a failure. Informed sources say, the same has now been transformed into an idea of "manage two" formula as the situation calls for negotiations with BNP Chairperson Begum Zia and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina to solve the present political impasse.
   Now the policy planners are looking for the options and ways to release both of them to get out of political crisis since the major parties have clearly refused to sit with the CG and come to any negotiation by keeping their two top leaders in prison.
   With the collapse of a CG-sponsored reform in political parties, the second major initiative of an ill-planned dialogue has also entered into a dead end where the negotiators are now trying to move away from political framework to what can be described as a patchwork of expanding the "dialogue" to district and upazila levels.
   Meanwhile, raising a question about the constitutional authority of the present regime, BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has fuelled the political discords that may help the military-backed government to rethink their roadmap and change their attitude towards conventional political leaders.
   Appearing before the court on Wednesday, Begum Zia said that the dialogue with political parties was a "stage-managed drama". She alleged that the caretaker administration was plotting a repeat of the 1986 election.
   Begum Zia also accused the caretaker government of trying to implement its "blueprint" to hold an election with their "chosen" candidates excluding popular leaders of the major political parties.
   The former prime minister said a conspiracy is being hatched to make Bangladesh a vassal state by destroying the nationalist forces. "But the people are conscious enough and will resist any such conspiracy as they proved on November 7, 1975," she asserted.
   Earlier on Tuesday detained Awami League president Sheikh Hasina said the situation is being pushed towards a "state of confusion and confrontation" by hosting dialogue and a simultaneous crackdown on political party workers across the country.
   The country's 67 jails have now become overcrowded with thousands of detainees following the wholesale arrest of people by joint forces under the ongoing special anti-crime drives.
   More than 12,500 people were arrested by joint forces during the last eight days of countrywide crackdown. A total of 1,976 people were arrested from different parts of the country yesterday alone.
   Jamaat-e-Islami on Tuesday accused the CG of plotting to depoliticise the society by pushing the national elections into uncertainty.  Secretary general of the party Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid told a press briefing in the city that the government was deliberately creating an atmosphere unfavourable for dialogues between the government and political parties.
   Witnessing a frustrating outcome of the dialogue, Major (rtd) Hafizuddin, a BNP splinter leader and a favourite of the caretakers, said the CG should not have decided to hold dialogues with political parties "as no such initiatives in the past have been successful". Hafiz asked the incumbents to concentrate on creating a proper environment for holding the polls rather than launching new drives to detain political leaders.
   Adviser Anwarul Iqbal, one of the five negotiators, now understands that the "dialogue with the political parties is not reflecting (the) people's real concerns." Referring to political parties' negative response to local government polls planned in October, Anwarul Iqbal fears that it may disrupt the environment of national elections.
   The military-controlled interim government has sent a fresh invitation letter to Khandaker Delwar Hossain for dialogue addressing him as the secretary general of BNP. In response, Khandaker Delwar on Tuesday reiterated that no meaningful dialogue or elections were possible without the presence of Khaleda Zia.
   Although the CG launched a countrywide road-show "Let Us Build Bangladesh" to project the positive politics, the situation on the economic and social front appears to be troublesome for the caretaker government.
   CPD, a think tank, in its latest research finding has identified that between January 2007 and March 2008, the gross income of poor people decreased by 36.7 percent, mainly due to price hike of food and inflationary pressure.
   The people below the poverty line spend 45.6 percent of their incomes on rice while 66.9 percent hike in rice prices in the 15 months alone contributes to 30.5 percent income erosion of the segment below the poverty line.
   Considering the situation, the think tank suggested that the government distribute rice and wheat to the tune of 30 lakh tonnes through the social sector and social safety-net programmes in the next fiscal year.

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Blame game remains order of the day

Sadeq Khan

Through the first few working days of June, the newspapers in Dhaka have been flashing news of a wildly oscillating political pendulum that the caretaker government managed to activate by its attempted and partially executed "dialogue" with political parties. The political climate countrywide, however, remained rain-soaked, sloppy, and largely listless.
   Three political parties with mass base, the BNP, the Awami League and the Jamaat, whose top leaders are all in custody under non-bailable charges, are refraining from joining the final dialogue. They are demanding unconditional release of their respective party leaders as a pre-condition of further dialogue. The government, on the other hand, has switched over to business leaders and other bodies of opinion in the civil society for "political" dialogue.
   On June 1, newspapers covered a keynote address delivered by the US ambassador James F. Moriarty at a conference of Bangladesh Political Science Association. In the speech, ambassador Moriarty laid emphasis on the need for an understanding between major political parties and the caretaker government for a "sustainable" trainsition to democracy. He said: "A sustainable democracy requires a societal consensus on certain fundamentals, such as diversity, tolerance, and the peaceful transfer of political power. Elections are a vitally important, visible element of democracy, but are ultimately only part of the equation.
   Being elected in a free and fair election does not mean that a government will necessarily rule in a democratic manner; holding free and fair elections does not mean that a society and government are in fact democratic in their daily activities.
   I believe there are three essential components to democracy: first, freedoms and rights; second, good governance; and third, a vibrant civil society
   Freedoms and Rights are the first essential component: Sustainable democracies must not only have free and fair elections, but must also protect freedom of speech, assembly, press, and religious belief.
   The second essential component of a sustainable democracy is Good Governance and
   Accountability: In a sustainable democracy, government operates responsibly, effectively, transparently, and accountably; Government operates fully within the boundaries of the rule of law. This includes a functioning parliament that exercises lawmaking and oversight responsibilities, an accountable executive, an impartial judicial system, a separation of powers, constraints on the power of any branch of government, and the peaceful transition of power based on the will of the people.
   The third requirement for a sustainable democracy is a vibrant Civil Society, including an active non-governmental organization community, a free media, and an engaged citizenry.
   These three components are as essential to democracy in Bangladesh as to democracies elsewhere. Success in restoring democracy in Bangladesh will require close attention to each of these essential components.
   The Caretaker Government has introduced reforms necessary to strengthen democracy in Bangladesh. Future governments will need to honor, consolidate, and then expand those reforms."
   Earlier, after he had presented his credentials to President Iajuddin Ahmed on April 21, he held a press conference to say: "l admire the achievements of the Bangladeshi people who fought for decades to win the right to govern themselves and control their own destiny. In many ways, Bangladesh's history reminds me of my own country's independence struggle. Bangladeshis have struggled since winning their independence 37 years ago to build a vibrant democracy, just as the United States has worked to perfect its democracy over the past 231 years. For Bangladesh, the current period that began on January 11, 2007 represents yet another important chapter in this struggle, and provides a renewed opportunity to build a strong, tolerant, and prosperous democracy. As a friend of Bangladesh and the world's oldest democracy, the United States fully supports the Caretaker Government's efforts to restore democracy by holding free, fair, and transparent elections by the end of 2008.
   At the same time, we realize that there are also important reforms underway in Bangladesh. In January 2007, the Caretaker Government embarked upon an ambitious program which has lowered corruption and reformed institutions. Much has been accomplished in a short period of time, but with less than eight months remaining in this government's tenure, there is much work that remains to be done.
   In order to fulfill its mandate, the Caretaker Government needs the support of the public and private sectors, the international community and, most importantly, the Bangladeshi people. You have my commitment that the United States will stand by the people of Bangladesh as you move along the path of democratization.
   "Despite a wide range of challenges, Bangladesh rightly has been recognized as a development success story in recent years. Even with perennial flooding, a growing population, and persistent poverty, Bangladesh has enjoyed strong economic growth over the past decade. At present, high international commodity prices and the widespread damage caused by natural disasters have made life more difficult for the Bangladeshi people. The United States understands these concerns and we are looking at ways to help cushion these shocks and promote stability and prosperity."
   The US ambassador has thus eloquently lent diplomatic support behind the caretaker government's attempted dialogue with political parties. But the imprisoned former Prime Minister and BNP Chief Begum Khaleda Zia took no time to pour cold water on such warm diplomatic advocacy. Brought to court on June 1 for charge-framing on the NIKO case, Begum Zia in self-defence spoke from the dock for 18 minutes to denounce the caretaker government. She said the incumbent government in its 16 months' rule had pushed the country 20 years backwards.
   "People are starving and committing suicide. Suspending their studies, students are waiting in queues at BDR outlets for rice. People are scrambling for water, gas and power. Trade and business have slowed down. The country is losing overseas labour markets. But the government has no concern about the problems. Instead of addressing the problems, the government is becoming increasingly repressive."
   Khaleda Zia also accused the government of trying to cling to power with the help of its sycophants. The country cannot be run by dalals, she said.
   "They [government] will have to stand trial in the people's court as it is hatching conspiracies to make the country dysfunctional.
   "I have been in jail for nine months. I waged movement for nine years against an autocratic government for restoring democracy. I am not afraid of court cases. "False cases had been filed against me to malign and destroy the family. Not only against me, cases have been filed against the members of my family for harassment."
   She demanded 'open trial under existing laws' in the cases instead of 'trial in camera'.
   She also called for unity of all political parties to rid the people of miseries inflicted by the caretaker administration and demanded: "Announce the election schedule by June and polls by October. Lift the state of emergency immediately to ensure an atmosphere conducive to elections."
   Meanwhile the caretaker government had started a countrywide crackdown against what the Home Ministry termed as "illegal arms users, listed terrorists, extortionists and miscreants wanted in criminal cases." The major political parties termed the drive as countrywide swoop for "mass arrest" of political leaders and workers at the district level.
   The other imprisoned former Prime Minister and Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina, when brought to court on June 2 for the MIG-29 case, communicated to newsmen through her lawyers her denouncement of government action. She said mass arrests will turn into mass-uprising. "In the past, every autocratic government tried to stop mass movements with blanket arrest and repressive measure, but failed."
   But the Awami League ruled out the idea of forging an alliance of all political parties as called for by the detained BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. The acting general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam blamed the BNP and its ally, Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, for creating the present situation in its bid to hold one-sided farcical elections on January 22, 2007. He declared "The BNP and Jamaat are fanatic parties which do not believe in the existence of Bangladesh. So no unity can be forged with them as there are differences of ideology and principles between us." Blame game politics thus remains the order of the day.
   On the other hand, business leaders, in their "dialogue" with the caretaker advisers on June 3, offered some solace to the caretaker government. The FBCCI chief told the press: "Almost all the participants have demanded a qualitative change in politics. We want a stable situation, we want the politicians to run the country, buy we also want an end to the culture of political confrontation and animosity," Chief Adviser Fakkhruddin Ahmed reiterated his interim administration's pledge to hold the elections before December 31 by any means.
   Many of the businessmen suggested enactment of laws to ban strikes, hartals and deadlock at the ports, and suspension of activities of some unions for at least 10/15 years. Some businessmen called upon the chief adviser to hold the elections at any cost, whether the ongoing dialogue ends in success or not. Others asked the government to hold elections to the local government bodies before the parliamentary polls.
   The reality on the ground, as the rainy season is setting in and many political activists have gone into hiding, is that no sustained political programmes are going on and attendance is too thin in political party offices to make any difference other than in media hype. The Awami League has postponed until the month of August any effective programme of action, whether for movement or for election. The loyalist faction of BNP is meanwhile indulging in expulsions, declaring reformist leaders persona non grata in their constituencies, and dissolving local committees. Whether such actions are engineered by rivals within the party for nomination game in anticipation of the general election, or for gearing up the party for a "mass movement" remains very unclear indeed.

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Business leaders' move to aid CG's depoliticisation agenda

Faruque Ahmed

The business community's dialogue with the Chief Adviser (CA) of the Caretaker Government (CG) Dr Fakaruddin Ahmed and a team of his advisers has generated both scepticism and curiosity in the country's political circle. The event took place Tuesday last as a very high-profile exercise from the CG's end as also amid great enthusiasm from a part of the business community.
   Observers say the dialogue of the CG with business leaders came as a diversionary move to overcome snags at other points. As the major political parties are refusing participation in the dialogue without the presence of the two top leaders Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina making the exercise meaningless, they arranged the parley as a 'fill up the blank' measure.
   Critics believe that the CG has lined up the parley in desperate attempt to shore up the sinking dialogue on the political front because the parley with minor parties and splinter groups so far failed to make any credible impact in the public mind.
   Many participants in the last week's dialogue sounded critical about the way the event was handled on the floor. The participants were pre-warned in the first place not to take the issue of the release of the two top ladies and their participation to the high stake dialogue.
   Moreover, many business leaders who matter in their respective community were not allowed to speak out their mind. They raised their hands but were not given a chance to talk.
   The event was, on the other hand, exploited by many, as observers claim, as a chance to present themselves as prospective candidates for new leadership at different levels for which the CG is now on the hunt. "Some of them are outright opportunists," said an insider of the meeting.
   He said, though it was the businessmen's dialogue with the CA yet many of them were not allowed to dwell on the business issues or speak on the state of the country's economy. Any attempt to raise such issues by participants on the floor was snapped off by closing the microphone.
   On the other hand, although the business leaders were briefed not to raise the issue of the two ladies, they were guided to concentrate on speaking about critical political issues, apparently to heap blame on politicians for all negative things in the arena of the country's politics.
   No one spoke in support of the major parties or against the present move of depoliticisation of the country's basic foundation which may lead to creating a dysfunctional state at the end, said a participant.
   Some business leaders used the opportunity on the other and to toe the political line of the CG demanding the holding of the local election before the national election. They supported it saying it will help creating new tempo and political enthusiasm in the present moribund political climate to expedite the holding of the national election.
   The business leaders moreover, said they wanted to see the national election taking place at all cost by December this year. They also sought the participation of the major parties in the election to make it acceptable and its results sustainable at the end.
   They made a strong plea to create a consensus among political parties so that the pre 1/11 situation would never find a chance to repeat. They want new laws to ban the boycott of parliament by parties to allow democracy a chance to success, they wanted ban on hartal, gherao and other destructive activities on the streets and around the industrial districts and the banning of the closure of port, communication and such other anti-business activities.
   Some of them suggested the CG to take the dialogue down to the district and upozila levels to create public opinion supportive of the 'political reform agenda' of the CG apparently to distance the people from their current loyalty to major political parties as observers understand.
   The FBCCI leadership offered to mediate between the CG and the major political parties as its president Anisul Haque told the press after the meeting.
   To a question, how to assess the outcome of the dialogue, a participant at the meeting said, the opinion voiced on the floor was only the opinion of a part of the bigger business community. He feared that the FBCCI should not be misunderstood in any way, and whatever speakers said on the floor was their personal views.
   But nonetheless, he said the FBCCI should distance itself from taking any political stand that may overshadow its neutral stand regarding the major parties. Moreover, it should not act any way as 'filler' to current political vacuum.
   Otherwise, its perceived role to act as mediator between the CG and the political parties may face severe setback at the end, knowledgeable sources observed.
   Another question being asked is whether businessmen should step into the arena of politics. Many people believe that some apex trade leaders are lending the CG a helping hand to get immunity in return from prosecution on charges of corruption and graft charges.
   The current anti-corruption drive is essentially aimed at taking the politician to accountability. It was also directed initially to business but very soon many corrupt business leaders were exempted from the chase.
   This sort of connivance is bound to add more confusion and distrust may bring more harm to the business at the end, observers apprehend.

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CG's 'double standards' provoke
new crisis

Amanullah Kabir

The drama is going on. But the audience is sick and angry. Performers are not going by rules. Some of them are playing on the stage, but the major performers seem to be playing behind the stage. Critics claim that while pandemonium dominates the show, the host has apparently chosen hands-off tactic to let the dialogue drift. The advisers assigned to organise the dialogue are now trying to give an impression to the people by saying that they have reasons to be optimistic that the major political parties will finally sit across the dialogue table. But they failed to explain when and how this miracle would happen.
   The political scenario of the country is getting more complicated with the government strategic decision to cut the stronger parties to size by arresting thousands of grassroots-level political activists. A home ministry official described them as 'corrupt' and 'criminals'. Last week Tofail Ahmed, once known to be a vocal reformist leader of Awami League (AL), has been charged with corruption and evading tax and is waiting in agony to embrace arrest as BNP leader Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan did last week. The charges against Tofael Ahmed have obviously brought an uncomfortable message for AL reformist leaders like Amir Hossain Amu, Suranjeet Sengupta and others.
   Critics say it is double standards on the part of the caretaker government (CG) which is offering olive branch by inviting the political parties to negotiation table on one hand while distancing themselves through the new offensive on the other.
   The BNP and AL leaders claimed the crackdown was begun at a time when the two parties resolved to free the two former prime ministers through agitation if the CG fails to respond favourably to their demand. That the two imprisoned ladies, now facing trial in several corruption cases, supported their party stand to abstain from participating in the dialogue without them came immediately as a moral boost for the leaders and workers. Jamaat-i-Islami, whose Ameer is the latest high-profile victim of the government offensive, has also been pursuing a hostile stance since then. Ershad's Jatiya Party too, fearing isolation, has threatened not to join the dialogue.
   At a conference in the city last week former chief justice Mostafa Kamal rightly pointed out that time had come when the CG and its backers should realise their limitations while handling the affairs of the state. It is true that dialogue is not the only alternative that can facilitate a settlement through negotiation between the CG and the political parties. FBCCI's dynamic president Annisul Huq has indicated that he is urgently in search of an alternative to dialogue to patch up the widening difference between the government and the politicians¾ signalling yet another disaster probably more horrifying than one-eleven.
   It appears that the fate of the government-sponsored dialogue has been decided. The fresh crackdown on political activists will no doubt provoke deeper crisis that will force the political leaders to take an uncompromising attitude leading to a total deadlock. What happens then and what is the alternative?
   Whatever may be the alternative the strategists have hidden in their mind, nothing short of democracy will hardly be acceptable to the people screaming under the state of emergency for nearly one year and a half. Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman spoke the truth when he said time was running out. The dialogue has, in fact, lost its dynamics.
   Communications Adviser Major General (retd) Golam Quadir has said, "It is the political parties which requested the CG to hold dialogue and we have arranged it. Now political parties, too, have the responsibility to make the dialogue successful." The adviser clearly has involved the politicians and attempted to pass the responsibility onto their shoulder for the present stalemate. No doubt, the CG is a non-party government and will not contest polls for power. But can a credible election be possible if the government continues its offensive against politicians? With their back pushed to the wall the politicians may not have any other alternative but to react in desperation.

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BNP asked to remain united,
avert mudslinging

Fazle Rashid

Khaleda Zia, in a broadside, first since her incarceration, came down heavily on the government, directly accusing it for pushing back the country into a state of despair and desperation. She said the country has been pushed 20 years back.
   She painted this gloomy picture while appearing in the Niko case last Sunday. She demanded lifting of the state of emergency by this month and elections to parliament by October. She said that elections to parliament should be held first. She further said the CG is lingering its rein on the government through what she described as 'conspiracy and use of force'.
   She made it abundantly clear that her man in BNP is Khondokar Dilawar Hossain and gave the leaders a good pasting who are rushing with the programme of declaring party leaders and activists 'persona non grata.
   She made it plain to the government that politicians would not be tamed by show of brute force and acts of intimidations. She asked the government to stop harassing the politicians. She said the present process of trial by 'Kangaroo courts' is 'a farce' and demanded open trial and said she would accept and bow down to the verdict of a normal court.
   She directed the leaders and activists of the BNP not to jeopardise the unity and the strength of the party by resorting to mutual recriminations and mudslinging. Her jailed law minister Moudud Ahmed was present at the court and did some counselling.
   Inspiration is an undetermined part of political life. Inspiration is simple charisma that is magnified by the media. Khaleda Zia has proved it before and she did it again. Political inspiration, as one analyst puts it "is to legitimise social movements and social changes, the empowering of all sorts of people and groups to act as agents for change. Khalada Zia is not immune to the charms of her own intelligence and her grasp of historical complexity. She has recognised the fact that political decision making is not an easy task. Khaleda Zia had shown her remarkable physical bravery throughout her stormy political career. She knows where her blunt speaking could land her.
   Awami League's reaction to the call of unity by Khaleda Zia was typical. Awami League is smelling victory and wants to map a rich political harvest, may be with or without Sheikh Hasina. Awami League's distaste for the 'fundamentalists and perceived war criminals' is perplexing as well as baffling. Political opportunism and expediency has been the hallmark of AL politics. Jamaat-e-Islam was a liberal democratic force so long as it aligned itself with AL. Recall the days AL launching street movements with Jamaat to dislodge Khaleda Zia. Sheikh Hasina held close door meeting with Matiur Rahman Nizami and directed Justice Badrul Haider Chowdhury, the opposition's presidential nominee, to knock at Prof. Ghulam Azam's doors and seek his blessings.
   These are all part of history. Few days before 1/11 descended on Bangladesh AL had entered into a political entente with a more radical Islamic group, which had alienated some of its traditional allies.
   So huge is the contradiction in AL politics that it drives the people into state of delirium.
   It should be recalled that the AL welcomed the present C.G claiming it was the result of its disruptive political activities. AL had always boycotted the swearing in-ceremony of a democratically elected government but did not fail to attend the swearing-in-ceremony of the caretaker government.
   Khaleda Zia's harsh speech, however, could land her into deeper trouble. This government does not have the stomach for criticism. The most recent and glaring example is Dr. Akbar Ali Khan. He has been devastatingly frank. He was always in the news speaking with brutal frankness. He may have been silenced. He has not been heard in past few weeks.
   The high court recently in a verdict blamed the current caretaker government for violating the constitution by not holding the general elections within 90 days as stipulated in the constitution. There is no provision in the constitution for state of emergency running beyond 90 days without the approval of the parliament. But the coming government will have to indemnify all these acts or the elections which will be held by this government will also become invalid and infraction.
   This government has allowed itself a series of latitudes. The common points between the government and the people are becoming negligible. Odd and disconcerting ideas are crossing peoples' mind.

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Uncertainty looms large in Nepal

Shamsuddin Ahmed

Dark clouds are gathering over the sky of neighbouring Nepal. Major political parties have failed to reach consensus on THE formation of government. They met twice on Wednesday without any result.
   April 10 election gave the Communist Party (Maoist) a surprise victory with comfortable majority in the Constituent Assembly. Its president Pushpa Komal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, has threatened to launch street movement if it is not called to form the government within Friday.
   Octogenarian Prime Minister Girija Prashad Koirala of Congress Party that secured half the seats bagged by the Maoist in the Assembly would not allow the Maoist to form the government unless they agree to share power. Koirala with the support of UML is bargaining for the post either of President or Prime Minister. Another contentious issue is the amendment of existing constitutional provisions.
   Congress and UML want simple majority to remove the Prime Minister changing the existing requirement of two-thirds majority. Prachanda smelling a rat in the move strongly opposed it. Claiming the Presidency, Koirala argued that sharing of power among his party and the Maoist is essential for maintaining a balance. Prachanda dismissed the claim saying the party defeated in the election has no moral right to share the power.
   As the political storm is gathering in Kathmandu, the leaders of the giant neighbour India have predicted Nepal is heading towards political chaos. The country experienced a decade of fighting between Maoist rebels and government forces until 2006 that left more than 13,000 people killed.
   Reporting three-party meetings, daily Kantipur of Nepal on Wednesday said the Maoists have not budged an inch from their stand wanting the posts of both the President and the Prime Minister. But Congress and UML have decided not to give both the posts to the Maoists to maintain a balance of power. Similarly, the former rebel party has stuck to its stand on the constitutional provision of a two-thirds majority for changing the prime minister.
   It is widely believed that Koirala is encouraged by external support, especially of India, in refusing to invite the Maoist to form the government. New Delhi's South Block is maintaining close contact with Koirala whose Nepali Congress Party is considered an extension of India's ruling Congress Party. Even the main opposition BJP of India is opposed to installation of Maoist government in Nepal.
   It is no less interesting to note that Prachanda has despatched his trusted comrade Krishna Bahadur Mahara to Beijing. Mahara reportedly met with Chinese leaders on Monday and extended total support to Beijing's policy in Tibet bordering Nepal. India allowed Dalai Lama to form government in exile in its soil and supporting his movement in separating Tibet from China. Needless to say that Mahara has sought Chinese assistance in establishing and consolidating Maoist rule in Nepal.
   A report from New Delhi said BJP in its foreign policy resolution adopted on June 2 expressed reservations over the newly elected Constituent Assembly of Nepal with Maoist predominance. Asserting Maoism to be a direct threat to the national security BJP, senior leader and former foreign minister Jaswant Singh said recent political developments in Nepal might have serious repercussions in India. "A communist Nepal is not in favour of India's security concern ... A secular Nepal is not welcomed in India as it is against the Hindu and Indian sentiment," he said and predicted "Nepal is heading towards political chaos."
   Singh, however, cautioned the Indian government that "Indian Maoist of the red-corridor are known to have close contacts with Nepalese Maoists. A collusion of the Maoist of the two countries would pose greater security threat to India." In sharp contrast, Indian leaders are bent upon restoration of secularism in Bangladesh.
   Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in India went further demanding of the government to come out with action against the Maoist in Nepal in its own interest. It said Maoists are working under instruction from China. "Also there are reports that over 400 madrasas have mushroomed in the area bordering India," said VHP president Ashok Singhal in Mumbai on Tuesday.
   Encouraged by Indian leaders, Tarun Dal, youth front of Nepali Congress, has urged Prime Minister Koirala not to give up power and open the doors for Maoist. Its president said on Tuesday that their goal was 'no monarchy, no communism'. Monarchy has been abolished on May 28. "We are now to fight the Maoist." The student front of Congress has cautioned what it said "emerging dictatorship of the Maoist". Its president also urged Koirala not to allow the Maoist to form the government. Communist Party (UML) has floated its youth front under the style of Defense Battalion with a vow to resist Maoist.
   Strong Tarun Dal, Students Union and Defense Battalion are seemed poised to stand against Young Communist League (Maoist) and some 20,000 battle hardened Maoist rebels. Many in Nepal fear of the danger if and when all these militant groups come face to face.

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Wavell

K. Z. Islam

Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell (1883-1950), 1st Earl Wavell, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, CMG, MC, PC, was the British Viceroy in India 1943-1947. In the final Despatch as Commander-in-Chief, India, Wavell wrote: "During the present war, in just under four years, from September 1939 to June 1943, I have directed some fourteen campaigns in the Western Desert of North Africa, in British Somaliland, in Eritrea, in Italian Somaliland, in Abyssinia, in Greece, in Crete, in Iraq, in Syria, in Iran, in Malaya, in the Dutch East Indies, In Burma, In Arakan."
   Generals tend to win their reputations at the cost of other men's lives. By an anomaly unique in military history Wavell's own reputation has reached its widest range - certainly in the English-speaking world - not because of his prowess as a soldier or a proconsul, but because of his identification with a small miscellany containing a selection of other men's verses. Historians, members of the armed services or old hands from the Mediterranean and the Far East are in a special class: they remember Wavell in his leading roles. But a mention of his name to the ordinary citizen still evokes, almost as a reflex, the reaction, 'Ah! Other Men's Flowers.'
   In one sense this is not surprising, for whilst the names of defunct Commanders-in-Chief or Viceroys are rarely recalled this little anthology, since it first appeared, has been in continual circulation with over 150,000 copies sold.
   For the student of Wavell's performance as a commander, however, statistics and sales figures are of far less significance than the extent to which his choice of poems for Other Men's Flowers illuminates his own mind: a mind which, on his own confession, drew on them for sustenance in battle, in perplexity, in times of stressful decision. Cromwell and Montgomery may have turned to God for inspiration but amid the tensions of war it is evident Wavell sought comfort among the Muses. And the first point to establish is that though there are over 250 quotations in the anthology (many of them substantial) they were indeed part of Wavell's mind, held there by an exceptional gift for verbal retention which, like Macaulay's, did not glue the words automatically in the memory but kept them on hand for instant use. Over this point Wavell was proud - and firm with his publishers. When there was a question of cutting FitzGerald's The Rubaiyat he wrote, in March 1943: 'I have gone on the principle throughout to include what I knew by heart; and I knew, and still know, the whole of Omar by heart; so I think it should be included in full.'
   'Practically all the verse in this collection is capable of being declaimed, it seems to be a function of poetry that it should be so.' Wavell's note in his introduction is supported in his selection by a wealth of Kipling and Browning, by Scott, Macaulay, Chesterton, Belloc. Yet some of the exclusions are baffling. 'Wordsworth's and Tennyson's verses,' he wrote, 'have never registered an impression on my memory.
   It is surely better to ask not what he left out but what he put in, and to add a question which perhaps tells one more about Wavell's cast of mind than any niggling over his list of titles: for among his peers in the war - Alan Brooke, Alexander, Montgomery, Tedder, Eisenhower, not to mention opponents like Rommel, or Kesselring or their fellows of the Generalitat - who in the slightest degree kept himself going as a soldier by recourse to the central core - if not always the most exquisite or intense expression - of his nation's poetry? The man of action enjoyed verse that embodied the spirit of action: but he enjoyed it, memorized it. This is why so many thousands of readers, perhaps not very sophisticated in the main, have devotedly kept Other Men's Flowers in print for over decades.

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