Word: nepal
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...threat of union, however, has now led to a parliamentary crisis in the young Himalayan republic. On Monday, in a dramatic climax to a televised address to the nation, Nepal's Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda resigned after the President thwarted his move to sack the country's army chief. The army chief, Gen. Rukmangad Katawal, who had close ties to the fallen monarchy, was against taking in "politically indoctrinated" soldiers - a clear reference to Prachanda's Maoist brethren-in-arms. Since the peace accord, the Army has opposed full integration, fearful that the Maoists would then insinuate themselves into...
...Maoists wanted to do after being energized in their win was to go against the gentlemen's agreement," says Kanak Mani Dixit, Nepali journalist and political analyst, "they started demanding complete merger. They injected deep distrust among all political players." (Check out a story about the massacre of Nepal's royal family...
...army, as well as the opposition parties, suspected the Maoists were trying to inject their cadres into the military to bring it under control. At the same time, the guerrillas were growing impatient, annoyed that their role in the new Nepal had yet to be defined. Prachanda then precipitated the crisis by trying to replace Katawal with the more pliable Lieut. Gen. Kul Bahadur Khadka. However, the Maoists' leftist allies in the legislature disagreed with the decision and, on Sunday, the Communist Party of Nepal and the Sadbhavana Party withdrew support from the government. Prachanda had two choices then...
...problem. Says Dixit: "What I would hope for is that the integration or rehabilitation of individual combatants may go back to how it was supposed to be - by giving individual soldiers a choice, and inducting those into the army that meet the criteria. Otherwise, it would have weakened Nepal...
...most likely scenario for the coming days - in addition to street protests led by Maoists and their sympathizers - is for the next largest party to form a government. "Nepal cannot afford another election," says Nayak, "The government has not even completed one year. The President may ask the Nepali Congress [the second biggest party] to form a government, or may ask Prachanda to revoke his decision." A coup is almost ruled out: Nepal's army has no history of seeking political power, furthermore it knows it has the support of the President and the other political parties. "All other parties...