The Monarchy Maobadi Ceasefire
Paramendra Bhagat
February 7, 2003

Prawin Adhikari from Whitman shot an e-mail my way recently that I read at 25 cents a minute at a truck stop out west: ".. (I) was going through the sajha site and SEBS postings, trying to read what everyone had written on the recent political development in Nepal. (I) wanted to know your take on the recent development...." Flattering, don't you think, that someone might want to know your take on the situation?

A famous radio show host likes to say, that is all he does, "because I don't know how to do anything else. Add glamor to trucking, and I might say the same.

Instead of staring at some computer screen, as I did for years and years, these days I am staring out the windscreen, devouring the landscape. And then once in a while I fire off a mail of my own, as a recent one to Rajendra Mahato, the General Secretary of the Sadbhavana party. A MaSaI (Madhesis for the Sadbhavana International) "threat" of sorts to withhold support and help for kicking the likes of Hridayesh Tripathy out of the party might have played a little role, since Tripathy got inducted back into the party after his recent ouster, and found himself back part of the central committee.

News today is he is now working to get rid of Badri Mandal, the Acting President, and the Deputy Prime Minister in Chand's government.

So what with the ceasefire? Well, the truce is good. But is it for real? I have not read around enough to get the feel of it.

What was it based on? What is the underlying understanding? What have the Maoists got in return?

I don't know enough details to comment.

Are the Maoists sincere? Or is this yet another game of two steps forward, one step back? They have done that before. They launch a major offensive, and then declare a ceasefire to recoup, and smother swift retaliation. Then they come back again.

And what has the king offered to engineer this ceasefire? That has not been disclosed.

The details are not out yet. And the role of the non-Monarchy, non-Maobadi forces are far from clear in any possible future developments.