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Kathmandu Saturday December 22, 2001 Paush 07, 2058.
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Greater transparency
The other day, some political analysts in
this country raised their voice for the first time against the way the government has been
using the state of emergency. It has been almost four weeks since Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba declared the emergency to quell the Maoist ultras. The Prime Minister has
pledged to wipe out the Maoist insurgency and restore law and order. But the state of
emergency has left the media mostly in the dark. In suspending a number of fundamental
rights, the government has failed to share information with the public on how the war
against the Maoists
is going. There has been no transparency, nor have journalists been allowed to report the
war on their own. This is what concerns many political analysts. What is at stake here is
credibility. How long is
the public going to believe the government’s version of how the war is going? Coming
clean with the facts on the field cannot hurt the war effort. We are not talking here
about operational details. If the government loses public credibility through the way it
handles information about the Maoist war, it will start losing the propaganda war against
those Maoists. Another thing is, will the government really quell the Maoist ultras
through the state of emergency? If the government fails to restore peace, what will be the
fate of this country? How long will this government continue to impose the emergency? If
things should turn out otherwise than the government envisages, it will be a monumental
surprise for a public that has been fed carefully vetted stories of government successes
in combat.
The objective of the state of emergency imposed
on the country since November 27 has been to restore peace and not to infringe on
constitutional rights per se. The government cannot compare the present state of emergency
with a state of martial law at cost to democratic values. This means the media should
continue to play a significant role in highlighting the truth. There have been incidents
in this region when the media stood firmly against any information blackout, or
manipulation thereof. There has to be transparency short of compromising tactical and
strategic considerations. The
country witnessed similar states of emergency in 1950 and 1960, especially to maintain law
and order. The late King Tribhuvan imposed an emergency at a time of transition in power.
The late King Mahendra also declared a state of emergency as he overthrew the
democratically elected government of the day. On both occasions, the casualties have been
democratic values. The country has now been facing a critical situation since the Maoist
launched a war against the elected government. The Maoist war has claimed more than two
thousand lives and displaced thousands of families. The government has to bring every
action it takes against the Maoists to the public. Democratic values cannot be undermined
in the name of emergency. |
