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Kathmandu Thursday December 06, 2001 Marga 21, 2058.
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No foreign
troops
In what could be the first
fulsome pronouncement from the highest official level on the ongoing counter-insurgency
operation, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has categorically ruled out the involvement
of foreign troops. In an interview to this daily, Prime Minister Deuba said we do not need
them as the Royal Nepal Army is quite capable of dealing with the situation on its own.
However, he left open the possibility of importing weaponry from abroad in view of the
current situation, the only criteria being that such weaponry should be speedily available
and cheap. The Prime Minister’s remarks are clearly in response to reports carried by
foreign media, particularly in India, to the effect that Indian troops could be brought in
to help the Royal Nepal Army in its war against the Maoists. Such reports also pointed out
that the army does not have experience of dealing with the kind of situation that now
obtains in Nepal. Though no timeframe has been set for the operation, it could end soon if
there is continued success for the army, whose orders are to disarm and defeat the
terrorists and not just cordon them off and search them. But the army is now facing a
fresh challenge with the Maoists melting into the crowds after discarding their combat
fatigues.
Speculations in media about the
possible involvement of foreign troops in the anti-Maoist war have obviously touched a raw
nerve in this country. Any such suggestion is anathema to a nation that has looked after
itself quite capably down the centuries as far as defending the realm is concerned.
Suggestions about foreign troop involvement may have been encouraged by the
government’s appeal to ex-servicemen from the three different armies that Nepalese
enlist in to contribute their mite towards taking the fight home to the Maoists. Prime
Minister Deuba is on more slippery ground in talking about the import of arms. Any talk of
third country imports in that particular commodity tends to raise hackles south of the
border. The last time this became an issue is still fresh in many minds because of the
virtual economic blockade that followed. The Prime Minister has therefore done well to
strongly hint at the possibility of arms imports from that very source. Another point that
needs to be made here is that in being so forthcoming with the press, Prime Minister Deuba
has struck a blow for transparency, state of emergency or no. Any conflict situation is as
much a clash of arms as a war of words, with the truth often the first casualty. Taking
the press into confidence as Prime Minister Deuba has just done can only help, rather than
hinder the cause. While putting his cards on the table, the Prime Minister also conceded
that the Maoist insurgency had been spawned by socio-economic malaise like poverty,
unemployment and illiteracy. This is welcome indication that the government is not missing
the woods for the trees. It should do something about this and without losing precious
time.
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