“Thanks”

By DR. TULSI P. UPRETY

Nepalese people have once again begun to experience a normal living condition after the Peace Agreement. It is absolutely a breath taking event that the Maoists leaders signed the Peace Agreement with the government of Nepal compromising to lay down their arms and to participate in Nepal ’s democratic political system. There are many players who deserve “thanks” for this. Some of the obvious ones are government of India and some Indian political leaders, Maoist leaders, Seven Political Parties (SPA) and the people of Nepal .

It would not have been possible without the involvement and the blessings of the Indian government and its leaders, particularly those who have been closely associated with the Maoist leaders. For a successful consummation of this historical agreement, the Nepalese people should show their gratitude towards Indian government and “thank” them for quietly pushing the Maoist leadersout of the Indian Territory and forcing them to join the democratic political system of Nepal .

While appreciating India ’s role in the peace process, Nepalese people should also constantly remind themselves that the Indian foreign policy makers and some political leaders were the main architect behind the Maoist problem in Nepal . It is a well known fact that these Indian leaders provided shelter to Maoists for ten long years while the Indian government was quick to label the Maoists as terrorists. Simultaneously, they pretended as an innocent spectator when thousands of Nepalese were killed and country’s infrastructures worth billions of dollars were destroyed. There is no doubt what so ever that they intentionally encouraged, assisted, guided and used the Maoists insurgents for politically, socially and economically destroying Nepal until their unspoken dirty foreign policy started backfiring on them. Philosophically speaking, one may think that among all the countries in the world, India would best understand the law of Karma; however her decision makers conveniently ignored it until ultra Leftist armed revolutionary began to hit the Indian establishment itself.

Although India ’s double faced foreign policy towards Nepal has mostly been that of a bully, which has hurt Nepal and her people over the years, this time around however, the Indian leaders played an important role in helping the Maoists and the SPA come to a peace agreement. In the past, India ’s foreign policy towards Nepal was guided by their “twin pillar” theory which put equal significance on constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy. However, after Gyanendra took power away from the government and became an absolute monarch, it became difficult for India to continue to support the twin pillar theory. In addition, the Maoists rebels were becoming a force that could not be easily ignored by India . But the government in India was still not ready to accept the Maoist coming to the mainstream. This would go very much against India ’s twin pillar theory which they had supported for many years. After seeing Gyanendra’s popularity decline, and having come to the realization that Nepali people themselves wanted to see a change and no longer accepted the twin pillar theory, and also because of the pressure from the Leftist parties in India , the Indian government was now ready to accept the Maoists as a legitimate political force. And this is where India played an important role, by helping the Maoists and the SPA reach a peace agreement and thereby ending a political crisis in the country. .

Maoist leaders deserve big “thanks” from all Nepalese for a number of reasons:

If Nepal indeed becomes a Republic, this will have been largely because of the Maoists movement. “Thanks” to the Maoists for finally coming to the realization that they were not going to accomplish their goals through an arms struggle and thus changing their strategy to participate in the democratic political system. This change in strategy was made clear by Prachanda when he said “Our experiences have shown that we could not achieve our goals through armed revolution so we have chosen the path of negotiation and formed an alliance with the political parties”.

A big “thanks” also goes to the leaders of SPA for finally showing their united force in favor of peace and political stability for Nepal . This time they have risen above their self-serving behaviors of the past and have actually worked for the betterment of the country and her citizens. The public must also be credited for putting a constant pressure on our leaders to come up with the peace agreement. In the days to come, new laws will be passed and old ones will be amended. There has been a lot of talk of social and economical reforms to better the lives of millions who have been oppressed socially and economically. We have to make sure these laws and policies are actually implemented in the days to come. Difficult tasks still lay ahead of us. This time around we have the right set of conditions to put the country and the Nepalesepeople first.

New political atmosphere has further opened up the door for creating a “New Nepal” that is peaceful, politically stable, which is prerequisite to bring a sustainable economic development in the country. However, this political atmosphere may be squandered by some of the short sighted political leaders, who are already demanding and fighting for the post of premiership and other important portfolios in the cabinet even without thinking whether they are actually qualified for it or not. Such self centered behavior of these kinds of leaders in the past has been proven to be very costly for Nepal . Now, it is up to the citizens of Nepal to not just hope, but to also keep an ever vigilant watch over their leaders so that the past behaviors of personal greed and pettiness cannot even be entertained. Sandwiched between over a billion of Chinese on one side and over a billion of Indians on the other side, Nepal will remain sovereign Nepal as long as her citizens are the true protectors of their Motherland.

Dr. Tulsi Uprety has PhD in economic development from U. C. Berkeley, California . Currently, he is living in the United States of America and been involved in teaching and economic development projects. He can be reached by email at durgapur11@yahoo.com.