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VOL. 27, NO. 18, January 11, 2007 (Paush 27 2064 B.S.)
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Exploring Alternatives?
The neighbourly search for forces of stability appears to have mounted amidst a volatile transition in Nepal
By SUSHIL SHARMA
Less than a month after a visit to India, the Nepalese army chief, Rukmangad Katwal, is on a tour of China, The China tour has not created ripples as it did during his sojourn in India.
On the surface of it, both visits were routine and traditional. But circumstances have made both visits lot more meaningful and significant.
Katwal’s Beijing sojourn has come ahead of the long-pending visit by his boss, the defence minister and the prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala.
Koirala was supposed to have travelled across the Himalayas earlier this year.
The tour has not taken place yet, nor has the planned visit of the Maoist chief Prachanda.
Said a senior Maoist leader after his last visit to China, the Chinese are keen to roll red carpet for Prachanda. “But they do not want to do it before playing host to Koirala.”
For reasons best known to them the two top leaders of the shaky seven-party alliance have not been able to make it yet.
But as the two big neighbours stress on stability as Nepal struggles through a critical transition, the top general of the country’s only in-tact institution has done it.
Katwal’s India tour was originally supposed to cover a function of a ceremonial nature at the north western hill town, Deharadun.
As he stood his ground for a fully official visit and treatment on par with his Indian counterpart, he had his way following the direct intervention of his Indian counterpart and personal friend Deepak Kapoor.
Katwal flew to Delhi from Dehradun.
Even as he had been meeting Kapoor and other influential civilian and security officials in Delhi, top Maoist leaders including Prachanda back home talked about clandestine meetings with senior Nepalese generals.
The claims did not last long.
Immediately upon Katwal’s return from Delhi, the Nepalese army issued a strong-worded press statement refuting the Maoist claims.
Before leaving for Beijing, Katwal went one step ahead and decided to speak himself, instead of letting the press statement speak.
As Katwal left for Mao’s land, he made it clear that there would be no room for Mao’s armed disciples of Nepal in the national army.
Understandably what made headlines was his flat refusal to integrate the “politically indoctrinated” fighters into the “non political and professional” Nepali national army.
What largely went unnoticed, for reasons difficult to explain, was his warning on the threat to the country’s sovereignty, independence and the territorial integrity.
It is on the latter count that the Chinese have been more than anxious lately, as can be unfailingly observed in recent public statements by normally press-shy Chinese leaders, diplomats and academics.
The shrewd and politically highly agile chief of the professional national army echoed that concern before boarding a Beijing-bound flight.
“National flags are being burnt today”, Katwal said in reference to events in some Terai districts.
Recent reports suggest that China has taken the situation in the Nepal Terai as “unusual and unnatural.”
Clearly, as the-twice postponed constituent assembly elections still remain uncertain with the credibility of the political leaders fast eroding by the day, the army finds itself at a centre stage.
Both neighbours appear to reconcile to this and chalking out strategies accordingly.
