Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Editorial

When the men in the government are full of fools then only the country’s pressing problems and issues get shelved or else a government comprising of men full of wisdom would want first the problems to be solved and later do other less important things.

The fact is that the issue of the Terai is still not being handled in a manner that it should have been. The fact is also that the men demanding the redress of their demands in the Terai have point blank been telling that so far the government has not tried to contact their grouping let alone discuss the issue. This means that the seven party led government and the new entrant into the government, the Maoists, too have not taken up the Terai issue as it should have been. This further means that the Terai issue is being neglected deliberately by the ruling elites in Kathmandu perhaps they have failed to understand as to what its ramifications would be over time if the pertinent issues do not get proper and immediate attention by those who have a say and way in the redressed of the demands of the Teraians. The negligence so far exhibited by the ruling elites in Kathmandu have only added to the agony and mental torture of those whom the Teraians now have begun seeing as their enemies forgetting that till the other day the two communities were living in a complete harmony that have had surprised many a brains within and without. However, the gross negligence exhibited by the men in the power corridors here will have to pay the prices. In what form the price they will have to pay is altogether a different matter. But then the fact is that the leaders of the Terai liberation front have in the mean time created havoc in the Terai part of this country and it appears that they will this time around will not settle for less than what has been their demands. In the process, the men belonging to the hills have been forced to live under the mercy of the Almighty which shows that the government in Kathmandu has no feeling for their continued pains and mental agonies to which they have been subjected to since a fortnight or so.

The negligence of the government comes close on the heels of the leaders of the Terai front who have said that theirs movement were neither a communal one nor a separatist one. This is appreciable comment. One has to admit that the leaders of the Terai have no designs, as some would want, in the disintegration of the nation-state that has lived together for centuries in complete peace and tranquility. But if the government negligence continues for long then what is the guarantee that some declared enemies of Nepal might jump into the domain of Nepali politics and make the two communities to go on in for a perennial fight thus further weakening the nation-state which has come to this stage due to the positive contributions of the entire communities based in the entire Terai belt? What is the guarantee that some notorious designs come into play in the mean time and disturb the communal harmony that we have had over the past centuries?

It is time that the government took note of the aggravating situation in the Terai and does the needful that satisfied the ego, if any, of the entire Terai community and facilitate the various communities to live in a permanent peace.

The fact is that some of the demands pushed by the Teraians are genuine that demanded urgent redress from the powers-that-be in Kathmandu . Wasting even a single minute in addressing the issue in question will only geopardise the communal harmony in the country.

Take it for granted. Now it is up to the government to decide which way to go: neglect the issue or face communal disturbance?

The message should be clear to all and sundry.