US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU137

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000137 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, NP, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  POLITICAL PARTIES AGREE ON NEED FOR "JOINT 
STRUGGLE"; LITTLE ELSE 
 
REF: A. (A) 02 KATHMANDU 1932 
 
     B. (B) 02 KATHMANDU 1988 
     C. (C) 02 KATHMANDU 2437 
 
1.  (U)  On January 22 the leaders of four political parties, 
including the two largest--the Nepali Congress and the 
Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist 
(UML)--announced they had decided to initiate a "joint 
struggle" to protest King Gyanendra's October 4 dismissal of 
the previous government and his subsequent appointment of an 
interim Cabinet (Refs A and B).  Details of exactly what this 
"struggle" will entail, however, remain sparse. 
 
2.  (SBU)  UML Central Committee Member Bharat Mohan Adhikari 
told us the four parties have formed a joint task force 
charged with drafting a policy paper suggesting peaceful 
programs and strategies to protect democracy, reactivate the 
Constitution, which the parties maintain was neutralized by 
the King's fiat, and "stop retrogression."  (Besides the 
heavy-hitting Nepali Congress and the UML, the other two 
signatories are the left-wing Peasants and Workers Party and 
People's Front Nepal, which had a total of seven MPs in the 
previous Parliament.  The National Democratic Party and the 
Nepal Sadbhavana Party, the parties of the current interim 
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively, were 
notably excluded from the deliberations and the final 
agreement.)  Adhikari said the movement will later seek 
participation from the National Democratic Party and the 
Nepal Sadbhavana.  Once their strategies and programs are 
developed, the four parties plan to approach King Gyanendra 
to request him to hand over executive power to an all-party 
government. 
 
3.  (SBU)  NC Spokesman Arjun Narasingh K.C. echoed the UML's 
points about developing a joint strategy, adding that the 
task force will also agree on a common "bottom line" the 
parties will demand from the King.  So far, however, that 
agreement continues to elude the parties, K.C. acknowledged, 
as the Nepali Congress' proposal that the former Parliament 
be reinstated is not supported by any of the other three 
parties, who are demanding an all-party government instead. 
The parties may have to compromise on their respective 
demands to reach such an agreement, K.C. suggested.  He added 
that substantive work by the task force will have to be 
deferred until after the February 1 UML general convention. 
 
4.  (SBU)  People's Front Nepal Party Secretary Himlal Puri 
emphasized that the joint movement, whatever its eventual 
outline, will be peaceful.  Besides pressuring the King to 
rectify a move the parties regard as unconstitutional, the 
joint movement will also ask the Maoists to stop killing 
innocent people and destroying infrastructure. 
 
5.  (SBU)  Comment:  The parties can agree that they dislike 
the King's action in appointing and installing an interim 
non-party government; just what they can and should do about 
it obviously remains a point of considerable uncertainty, 
however.  Nepali Congress Party President G.P. Koirala 
continues to insist on the reinstatement of Parliament, even 
though the Supreme Court has already ruled the May 22 
dissolution was constitutional and even though no other party 
supports that position.  Spokesman Arjun K.C.'s conciliatory 
comments notwithstanding, we have so far seen or heard little 
from the upper ranks of the Nepali Congress that would 
indicate a willingness to accommodate other views on this 
matter.  Earlier indications that the UML might reach an 
understanding with the Palace (Ref C), meanwhile, appear to 
have been squelched for now by a virulent internal power 
struggle within the party that can become only more 
contentious as the date of the upcoming UML general 
convention nears.  Political parties in Nepal do not enjoy a 
strong tradition of cooperation and collaboration--even 
within their own organizations.  We expect it will be some 
time before the parties can reach more substantive mutual 
agreement on the elements of this much-hyped initiative. 
MALINOWSKI