Prabhakar Pandey

Dear All,

I am very sure that everyone of you would like to know what's really
going on in Kathmandu since we are not able to contact or read news from
our beloved country.

Well, due to the political changes and situation in Nepal, I had a
chance to fly to Kathmandu with Austrian Airlines yesterday and came
back with the same flight today, the following Situation I would like to
inform you:

1. All the flights are operating to Kathmandu exception of the 1st
February where the government closed the tower till 3pm from this only
Thai and Jetairways could not land.
2. The life in kathmandu is normal school and shops are open in
other words business as usual.
3. Couple of ministers are in House arrest as well as other
politicle leaders are in house arrest but the rumors which we hear that
some of the politicle leaders are taken to unknown places are just
propoganda from the press.
4. The reason why the government cut of the communication was just
for the security reasons, as far as I have been informed yesterday
people could talk for a couple of hours in the telephone. The
communication will be cut of only for 100 hours from the frist of
February., whether an international line will be working nobody could
answer but everybody that I talked in Kathmadu thinks that it will
work.
5. It's true that the censor in free Press.
6. The programmed 3 days Nepal band from Maoist has taken place
only outside Kathmandu and not also in everypart of Nepal.
7. With all the prople which I had a chance to talk during my short
stay, I heard the samething from everyone that the King has pokered and
risks a lot but that was the right thing to demolish the
corrupted parliament and take the power; everyone whom I talked seems to
be happy with this decision they told me that it's very quite and safe
in Kathmandu at the moment.

Dear all there is no need to worry about your loved ones in Kathmandu.
If anybody needs to know more about this please do not hesitate to give
me a call under the tel.number 0667-3475413.

With best regards
Prabhakar Pandey

From himali Upadhya:

All contacts through phone and internet within Nepal and with outside world
have been severed since Tuesday. There is no sign of immediate opening.

The following articles appeared in Friday's Nepali Times dated February 4,
2005 under conditions of absolute censorship. All websites have been closed
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Naresh Newar, Nepali Times, Kathmandu

1. Editorial:

Hariyo ban Nepal ko dhan

The sudden epidemic of tree-felling along Kathmandu's streets is drastic,
misguided and not consonant with the needs of the population. In an
increasingly congested valley, foliage provides both utility and
aesthetics. It gives us fresh air that allows us to breathe freely. The
role of trees is to introduce oxygen into the atmosphere and to ingest the
carbon dioxide that human and mechanical activity spews into our enclosed
airspace so prone to inversion. They provide shade to the pedestrian, a
demographic category which today is highly neglected by our increasingly
motorised urban populace. Tree-lined boulevards and parks are the mark of
any civilised society and the colour of leaves and bark have associations
in the human mind with the very evolution of the species. Take away the
trees from our sight and senses and our very existence suffers.

Trees reach down to the grassroots and hold the soil together, they reach
up to the sun and use their chlorophyll corpuscles to convert that energy
into food useful to itself and to other animals. The sun and the trees,
together with the supportive action of water, soil and air, make possible
photosynthesis, the driving mechanism of life on earth. The action of
cutting down trees that have lined our streets seems to have been hasty.

True, Kathmandu's poplars and eucalyptus are imports and that they do not
have the strength of indigenous varieties. But the fact is that they have
provided cover and beauty for a long time now. They have become our own,
like so many other exotic species that dot the landscape. It is said that
these imports are vulnerable to strong winds due to loose root structures
but our analysis shows that the maligned arbours have not been guilty of
destruction to the extent that they have to be done away with. All in all,
the trees should not have been axed. Because the damage has been done, can
we ask the concerned authority to promptly correct the move and bring back
greenery?

2. Headline:
The week that was
Blow-by-blow account of the days after February First

February First, 10AM. King Gyanendra's 28-minute royal proclamation is
broadcast to the nation.

The king read through a teleprompter in a special studio inside the
Narayanhiti Royal Palace. The set included the national flag, the royal
standard and a backdrop of the royal seal, there were three 'jump cuts'.

The monarch criticised political parties for misusing their parliamentary
privilege, lambasted the Maoists for their criminality and terrorism,
sacked Sher Bahadur Deuba (without naming him) for having been incapable
(once again), and announced he was taking over the chairmanship of a new
council of ministers for a period of up to three years.

Even before the broadcast had finished, telephone lines to and within Nepal
and the mobile network went dead. The airport was closed and international
flights diverted. The army's signals corps shut down satellite links at
ISPs and radio stations.

The royal proclamation was followed by an announcement from the home
ministry declaring a state of emergency and the suspension of the freedom
of speech, assembly, the right to property, information and against
preventive detention.

Before, during and after the address, political leaders, student leaders
and activists of political parties were rounded up. Many of the seniormost
were under house arrest. Deuba was kept in his official residence at
Baluwatar, Girija Prasad Koirala and Madhab Kumar Nepal respectively at
their homes in Maharajganj and Koteswor.

Some welcomed King Gyanendra's move, hoping this might help bring the
raging Maoist war to a finish. Flag-waving motorcycle rallies went around
the capital on Thursday in support of the royal move. There were also fears
for democratic values, but the few students who defied a ban on rallies on
Tuesday were quickly dispersed.

The situation outside Kathmandu Valley is difficult to gauge because of the
communication blackout. A three-day Maoist banda fizzled out in the
capital.

Except China, international response was negative. India, Britain and the
United States and the United Nations conveyed concern about the impact on
parliamentary democracy. On Wednesday, King Gyanendra announced a 10-member
cabinet that he is to chair. They include four former office bearers from
the Panchayat era. Three of the ministers were powerful administrators
during the pre-1990 partyless Panchayat system.

On Thursday the government announced a ban for six months on articles,
interviews, news, notices and opinions against the 'letter and spirit' of
the royal proclamation and providing 'direct and indirect support' to
terrorism and 'destruction'. Those who went against the stricture would be
subject to action.

The newly appointed ministers gave interviews to the state-run media. Home
Minister Dan Bahadur Shahi told Radio Nepal the government would soon urge
the Maoists to come for talks. "The rebels have always said they wanted to
hold talks with the king, now that the king is chief executive, they should
have no problems coming for negotiations," he said.

On Thursday, daily papers carried advertisements from some business houses
and individuals welcoming the royal move.

Notice in Gorkhapatra on 3 February from His Majesty's Government Ministry
of Information and Communication

Invoking Sub Clause 1 of Clause 15 of His Majesty's Print and Publication
Act, 2048, and considering the nation and national interest, His Majesty's
Government has banned for six months any interview, article, news, notice,
view or personal opinion that goes against the letter and spirit of the
Royal Proclamation on 1 Feb 2005 and that directly or indirectly supports
destruction and terrorism. In line with the arrangement in the Print and
Publication Act 2048, action will be taken against anyone violating this
notice.

3. State of the State:
state of the state
CK Lal

A brave new world
Just as well we're not going for elections anytime soon

Two years after October Fourth, the Royal Address of February First came as
naturally as winter follows autumn. Other than the most foolhardy UML
politicos nobody was really taken by surprise. In a good part of the speech
the king renewed his commitment to multi-party democracy.

For well over a week, the ouster of Sher Bahadur Deuba and his cabinet had
been a foregone conclusion?it was a matter of when rather than if or how he
and his government would be shown the door. So he suffered the ignominy of
being sacked all over again.

With his second dismissal, Deuba has the dubious distinction of being the
only head-of-government in the world to have been sacked by a head-of-state
twice in such quick succession.

In his address the king repeatedly referred to the realities of the 21st
century. Ironically, even as the address was concluding, the phone and
cellphone lines went dead, ISPs were shut down, the airport was closed,
senior politicos were put under house arrest and security forces posted at
all media outlets.

King Gyanendra suggests a three-year period to transform Nepal into a
democratic, peaceful and well-administered kingdom pursuing free-market
policies of good governance, transparency and structural reforms to achieve
the goal of sustainable development. The key word, often used, was
"discipline''. The king also assured his subjects the monarchy did not need
to seek populism to prove itself.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, a global neocon tsunami is sweeping across
countries. In this new scheme of things, property rights are presumed to
precede political rights. Several political experiments are being conducted
in different parts to ensure that free-market fundamentalists come out on
top.

It began in Pakistan in 1999 after a coup was staged from an aeroplane.
That test-case has since progressed to a stage where the Chief Executive
says he will keep his uniform on.

Meanwhile, his banker-premier Shaukat Aziz has been in Davos to push his
economic ideology. In more anarchic societies like Afghanistan and Iraq,
stage-managed elections are the processes of choice to install hand-picked
favourites. The polls in Iraq and Afghanistan were, as The Economist put it
'democracy at gunpoint.' With international monitors mostly staying away
for fear of personal safety, it was impossible to assess the fairness of
the poll or accuracy of the turnout estimates. But the US-led forces have
already got what they wanted: an opportunity to install their favourites in
symbolic positions of power.

In slightly more settled societies, the modus operendi of neocons is to
install or unseat rulers through a combination of pre-poll and post-poll
political engineering. The method has worked exceedingly well in South
America. Now it is being implemented with some success in post-Soviet
republics of Central Asia

where a string of velvet revolutions are being staged to seat or unseat
democratic rulers. So, in that sense it's probably a blessing in disguise
that we're not going for elections anytime soon.

4. Under my Hat:
under my hat
Kunda Dixit

Don't you dare laugh

Two items of news last week from the world of rats was proof that lower
mammals have an acute sixth sense that warns them of impending disaster.
Rats are in fact known to have abandoned the Titanic even though it hadn't
even struck an iceberg yet. Our rodent friends seem to have a built-in
early warning system.

In the first incident, reported nationwide by the media before it was
forbidden to tell lies, a mouse reportedly got inside the trousers of a
cook in a Darbar Marg caf� that shall remain nameless. The cook panicked
and crashed into the bar, breaking several bottles of Kingfisher which
gashed him and he had to be rushed to the hospital (don't you dare laugh).

The second occurrence took place the next day at a famous New Road eatery
when a hungry customer about to wolf down a vegetarian samosa discovered
that it contained a baby rat (Latin name: Rats Us). As reported by the
local media, other patrons then raised slogans against the restaurant
management, demanding their money back. Thank heavens we're not a litigious
nation, otherwise people would be suing the pants off the rats.

All this just by way of preamble as the country resumes its long march
towards attaining Asian ISO 9002 standards by 2050 by unleashing
four-directional development and go back to the village. Even as I write
those words, I am swept by a heady feeling of nostalgia and d�j� vu. The
good days are back again, let's rock.

And now, the international headlines to those of you who missed watching
important events unfold around the world. It's a pity you didn't get to
watch BBC and CNN this week because you missed a lot of earth-shattering
events around the world. There is nothing like 24-hour television news to
keep us abreast of what is happening globally. So, this is what you all
missed:

1. Pope John Paul catches a cold but is getting better as we hear live from
our correspondent outside his hospital in Rome.
2. Breaking news that jury selection in the Michael Jackson trial is
finally complete even as the genderless, raceless and ageless king of pop
says he's not a bad man, just a weird one.
3. Mugabe calls for elections in March: the West is sceptical
4. Iraq elections over: the West says it was a roaring success
5. Thailand elections next week: voting just a formality, says Thaksin
6. Captains of industry met in Davos and some of them slipped on ice in the
sidewalk outside their hotel
7. Lords of poverty junket in Puerto Alegre winds up amidst fanfare and
belly-dancing
8. Hillary Clinton faints, recovers and gives another speech
9. Tony Blair is kissed by party supporter at rally who is surprised he
doesn't have a stiff upper lip. "They are rather soft," Tony's kisser told
reporters.
10. SAARC summit postponed again, leaders to meet 'at latest' by 2025 by
which time, member nations will have hopefully run out of excuses not to
attend.

We have more international news in just a moment after the break. Don't go
away.