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Kathmandu Monday November 12, 2001 Kartik 27, 2058.
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Talks prospects
Although dates and venue have yet to be
announced, the movement towards the third round of government-Maoists talks is getting
into high gear. In quick succession over the past few days, the government has scrapped
the Public Security Regulations and agreed to release 68 more Maoists in its captivity,
thereby going further towards fostering a conducive atmosphere. The Maoists have climbed
down from their demand for a republican state, at least for now. Meanwhile, Maoist supremo
Prachanda has said publicly that his party wants a halt to all violence and
counter-violence. However he also said that though the Maoists had no policy of attacking
anyone, they were forced to take defensive action. This the government finds unacceptable.
Home Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka wants Prachanda to order his cadres to stop all violence
forthwith. Coordinator of the government’s talks team Chiranjivi Wagle also finds the
Prachanda statement incomplete and for the same reason. The government likewise finds
unacceptable the Maoist call for a constituent assembly. This is seen as an attempt to
bring in their republic through the back door. That is the state of play right now, and it
is not surprising that things are at last on the move. Although the third round talks have
been delayed, informal contacts have apparently been taking place since the second round.
The Maoists are meanwhile facing increasingly unfavourable realities on the ground and the
government of Sher Bahadur Deuba also does not have all the time in the world. His old
nemesis Girija Prasad Koirala is publicly pressing for quicker results and has denounced
the scrapping of the Public Security Regulations. It is the old spectre of powerful
elements within the Congress party not wanting Deuba to get all the credit for settling
the Maoist insurgency.
Two issues have now come to the fore. One is the
continuing Maoist violence, albeit at a lower level than in the past. The Maoist will just
have to do something about that or, as hinted at by the home minister, admit openly that
they are no longer in full control of their cadres. There is some wind of that already.
The government for its part may have to go the extra mile to satisfy the Maoists that they
have no more of their comrades in captivity. In this connection Dandapani Neupane is one
name that keeps cropping up. The other issue is the constituent assembly. The whole idea
is now a relic of history harking back to when King Tribhuvan returned home in triumph in
1951 from self-imposed exile to proclaim that a constituent assembly would be convened to
write Nepal’s constitution. Although the idea has cropped up again from time to time,
practical politics in this country has never allowed it to materialise. Reviving this
option now would mean opening a whole new Pandora’s box of contentious issues that
could split the country vertically and horizontally, issues that are best tackled one by
one in the fullness of time, as opinion in this country steadily matures. The Maoists are
now using it as a way of wriggling out of an unrealistic demand by landing the ball in the
people’s court. It is part of the soft landing they seek, and its merit may amount to
no more than that. The government and the Maoists will now have to put their heads
together in right earnest and work out a solution to it that is not unrealistic and that
will enable the Maoist leadership to carry their rank and file along with them.
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