Wednesday, February 22, 2006

We have no dearth of buffoons and that too in various shades and colors. We are no different than any other or similar developing societies. We can't be the exception. And that is why we too have comedians of the highest order. This is not all. We possess jokers who claim themselves or have been acclaimed by the society (mistakenly?) as intellectuals or for that matter academicians in a significant number. But then yet we respect their democratic rights to become what ever they want or have been told to do or act by their, hopefully, invisible masters both within and without. It is their exclusive rights wherein we possess no authority or whatsoever to intervene in their "internal affairs". We are flexible enough in allowing them comfortable space to refute our opinions for it is again their democratic rights, which they must enjoy. Nevertheless, as a responsible member of the Nepali press where we beg to differ with this special variety is when they begin talking gobbledygook which have some bearing and impact on the overall health of the society and thereby the nation ultimately.

To come to the point, how the friendly countries integrated in the European Union want to penalize Nepal for the latter's existing politics is a matter that should entirely be left to the decisions of those who have been planning for that. Let them decide whether they want to continue with their donations or aids to this country or not. Those who pour love on one country should be allowed to express their anger as well if things go against their basic guidelines. But our buffoons, unfortunately, have been tempting the European friends and an all time unfriendly country in the neighborhood to impose a sort of economic sanction on this country. Our Nepali academic buffoons have been found making open lectures inviting this European wrath-yet-in-the-making to come at the earliest so that the King and the Establishment currently in place in Kathmandu yield to their demands albeit political ones. Talking politics is one thing but openly inviting wrath that is yet to take a formal shape is entirely different.

The buffoons forget that they are doing wrong. They are doing wrong in so many ways than one. Firstly, such sanctions will not only damage the image of the country further but also will hit hard the projects and the development efforts that were currently on in this country through their separate or collective donations. And the Nepali political comedians forget that ultimately such economic sanctions, if any, will make the lives of the poor even worse than what it is prior to the sanctions. Sanctions are always sanctions and such ultimate actions are taken, as far as we have studied the conduct between countries in the books penned by famous authors on international relations, only when all the available options for a dialogue or negotiations are exhausted.

We suppose the time has not yet come that our long-standing European friends should take up this stringent measure. If they have been doing so at the promptings of the Nepali political clowns then they too are wrong. In effect the friendly donors should also value the expressions of independent intellectuals, media men, the laymen out side the valley and then conclude whatever they want to. If they conclude that those making fiery speeches in the valley against the establishment or the King were their real guides on whom they can and should bank upon, we have nothing to appeal to them under those circumstances. However, if they listen to the others who generally do not meet them or were neglected for a variety of reasons, the friendly countries will definitely act just the other way. This is our belief. Valley opinion is not the opinions of the entire Nepalese folks.

The Europeans or for that matter the Indian establishment should take it for granted that any such sanctions, and economic blockades will deepen the problems, more so the economic ones, of those who fall in the category of the marginalized, rejected, neglected and frustrated lot. The friends in the developed West must think that as and when such internally sponsored bundhs, closures, strikes, chakka jams and the likes have happened in Nepal, it is not the men belonging to the high-flying classes and the upper middle class have been hurt but on the contrary such whimsical actions or events have solely been come heavily down on those who have just been lingering their lives as they are still breathing oxygen available in the atmosphere. Killing an already killed lot will in no way be considered to be an act that demanded accolades. Neither such actions that make the lives of the poor even worse could be called an act of bravery.

It is in this light we agree with the sentiments of Mr. Sudip Pathak, a veteran HR activist now engaged in the Nepal Human Rights Commission who just the other day lamented at the manner a section of the Nepali society members been appealing the friends abroad to impose economic hardships on the country. This should not happen is what he said implying that such sad incidents would only weaken our nationalist credentials and ultimately the poor will be the target.

Sanctions could in no way be a solution. Soft or harsh, sanctions are sanctions.