tagged w/ prachanda
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Nepal's Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda", who assumed office Monday as the first Prime Minister of the federal democratic republic, was born in a farmer's family in central Nepal 54 years ago.
He lived 25 years underground hunted by security forces and carrying a bounty on his head -- Monday began a new chapter in the life of the revolutionary who fought a 10-year "People's War" to overthrow Nepal's dynasty of god-kings and transform the Hindu kingdom into a secular republic.
Following are some highlights in Prachanda's march to the office of Nepal's prime minister:
Dec 11, 1954: Prachanda born to farmer couple Mukti Ram Dahal and Bhawani in a paddy field in Kaski in central Nepal
1994: Prachanda breaks away from the communist movement to form the revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
13 Feb, 1996: Maoists begin an armed struggle to end Nepal's powerful monarchy and establish a communist republic.
June 2001: King Birendra, who was trying to establish contact with the Maoists, dies in a brutal palace massacre.
Feb 2005: King Gyanendra seizes absolute power with the help of the army and intensifies military operations against the rebels.
Sept 2005: Maoists announce a ceasefire but the king ignores the gesture
Nov 2005: The opposition parties sidelined by the king are united with the Maoists by India to provide a united opposition to the royal regime
April 2006: The king's government falls after 19 days' continuous street protests.
Nov 2006: Maoists and the Koirala government sign a peace pact that promises to hold an election to decide the king's fate
Dec 2007: Under pressure from Maoists, parliament abolishes monarchy on the condition that it would be implemented after the election
April 2008: Nepal holds its first constituent assembly election after two false starts.
May 2008: The assembly overwhelmingly votes to scrap monarchy
June 2008: Gyanendra leaves the palace which becomes a national museum
Aug 15, 2008: Prachanda wins the prime ministerial election
Aug 18, 2008: Prachanda sworn in as prime ministerNepal's Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda", who assumed office... more
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KATMANDU, Nepal — The leader of the decade-long Maoist rebellion in Nepal was elected prime minister on Friday after four months of political wrangling. His victory sets the stage for the former rebels’ toughest challenge: how to uplift the lives of 27 million people in one of the poorest countries in the world at a time of soaring food and fuel prices.
The Maoist leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal — who goes by the nom de guerre Prachanda, “the fierce one” in Nepali — won more than two-thirds of 577 votes cast in the Constituent Assembly on Friday evening.
His election had been expected since April, when the Maoists won a majority in a special assembly elected both to draft a new constitution and to form a government.
For four months, however, Nepali Congress, the nation’s oldest party, which has a long list of grievances against the Maoists, blocked their bid to lead a government of national consensus.
The election of the prime minister opens the way to the establishment of a democratic government in Nepal. That would be a milestone in resolving issues remaining after the decade-long civil war, a conflict that claimed the lives of an estimated 13,000 people before it ended with a peace accord in 2006.
The Maoists have already achieved their main goal, ending 239 years of Hindu monarchy. At its first session, in May, a Constituent Assembly declared Nepal a federal republic. The former king, Gyanendra, the world’s last Hindu monarch, was forced to vacate the main palace here and live as a commoner.
On Friday, Prachanda, 54, won with the support of three of the four biggest parties in the 601-member assembly. Nepali Congress still refused to support his Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), accusing its youth force of brutality. It also said that the Maoists had not returned private property seized from political opponents during the war.
Prachanda defeated Sher Bahadur Deuba, a three-time former prime minister from Nepali Congress, though not without making significant concessions. A senior Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, said Maoist party officials would no longer hold positions in the party’s armed wing, the People’s Liberation Army. He also pledged that the party would return seized property to its owners.
Since shedding his fatigues and transforming himself into a politician, Prachanda has sought to cast his organization as a political party that merits the trust of the Nepalese people and foreign donors.
As they form a government, the Maoists face their biggest challenge ever. Fuel is in short supply in the cities and hunger looms in the countryside. The Maoists will also press to integrate their former fighters into Nepal’s army, a demand that the army is likely to resist vigorously.
The Maoists remain on the United States’ list of banned terrorist organizations, although American officials have established contact with their political leaders, including Prachanda. “We hope that election of the prime minister removes the last barrier to speedy formation of a government, constructive action on key issues facing Nepal and a start on the difficult but necessary task of drafting Nepal’s new constitution,” the American Embassy said Friday in a statement.
KATMANDU, Nepal — The leader of the decade-long Maoist rebellion in Nepal was... more
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Kathmandu, August 15 - Chairman of the CPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ has been elected as the prime minister of the federal democratic republic of Nepal.The constituent assembly this evening announced that Prachanda has been choosen as the prime minister after majority of the lawmakers voted against NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba. Prachanda has secured majority votes in the CA, chairman Subash Chandra Nembang announced. According to him, Prachanda got 464 votes.NC leader Deuba lost the election as he failed to garner majority votes in the constituent assembly. According to election officials, Deuba got only 113 votes in the 594-member CA. 551 members took part in today’s voting.Prachanda have enough support in the CA to be handed the reins of government after the CPN-UML and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum among other fringe parties supported Prachanda in the race.Born into a poor farming family, Prachanda was driven to politics by the extreme poverty he witnessed in rural Nepal. The school teacher-turned-revolutionary Prachanda whose party is still blacklisted by the United States, led the Maoists in a decade-long insurgency before signing the peace deal with mainstream political parties in 2006.Kathmandu, August 15 - Chairman of the CPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal... more
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