The Brief's Daily Analysis
All Nepal Petroleum Workers Union and Petrol Pump Dealers Association reached an agreement, so the oil pumps are open again.
Small victory, but it looked like things might get better until this came in: Madhesi Janadhikar Forum announced that it was going to launch protests in the Tarai area from Saturday. Upendra Yadav said the protest is will pressure the government to fulfil the party's demand for 'One Madhes One Pradesh'.
Combine that with the Maoists' jam-packed protest schedule, the country can expect a lot of fireworks in December. Literally.
Constituent Assembly Speaker continues to beg the Maoists to call off their plan to declare ethnic autonomous states. The CA is the only body with the authority to make such decisions.Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has warned that the Maoists' declaration will weaken the CA.
Lately, Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal has not been paying a lot of attention to the government or the CA. He missed a Constitutional Council meeting on Wednesday. This is the second such meeting he has missed this week. The Prime Minister wanted to nominate heads of various constitutional meeting, and the meeting had to be postponed since the opposition leader was not present. Dahal sent his apologies, saying he had been busy with his party's business.
The cooler climate of the Himalayas might be the only thing that will make the political leaders work together. The prime minister flew to Lukla this afternoon accompanied by 109 people, half of which were journalists. The outcome of the meeting may be the only feel-good news we will hear in a while, so we should be grateful there are enough journalists to feed us non-stop live coverage from Mount Everest.