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| Kathmandu, Saturday April 27, 2002 Baishakh 14, 2059. |
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No ‘heads’ please
Political parties and Human Rights’ groups
have understandably reacted to the government decision to stick a price tag on Maoists’
head soliciting people’s co-operation to capture them dead or alive. In the present
situation like ours, the international community has been quite supportive of genuine
efforts by the government, political parties and civil society to curb terrorism. But that
should not be taken as a blanket support or license for any kind of state terror. Any act
by the state should be in conformity with Nepal’s commitment to international
convention and treaty, especially when it attracts human rights’ issues. Secondly,
the state should not be seen as violating its own constitution. Government’s
over-enthusiasm in asking the people to get Maoists’ heads and barter them with cash
reward is therefore unfathomable even for those who want terrorism defeated. Nepal’s
constitution has abrogated the practice of capital punishment and this right cannot be
exercised arbitrarily by any wing of the state or any section of the civil society. Any
citizen of this country, whatever be the charge against him or her, should be considered
innocent until proven guilty by due process of law. What happens if a citizen chops off
the head of a ‘Maoist leader’ on mistaken identity? Or can the executive give a
citizen the right to kill someone in contravention of the constitution?
That the Maoists are treading a path of terror
shedding political character fast has worried the nation. That is why the opposition
political parties gave this government the right to exercise extreme steps against the
Maoists by endorsing the proposal for declaring the state of emergency. Security agencies
which are doing the assigned job have got wider support from the political sphere as well
as general public. And that there is an unexpected dose of international support to
government measures against the Maoists. But the price-tag on heads — dead or alive
— will amount to committing excess to that kind of support which Nepal has been
receiving so far. By their acts like arson, looting, murder, attack on Red Cross and
destruction of physical infrastructures, the Maoists stand isolated. People have started
viewing them as perpetrators of inhuman cruelty and suffering. That explains why their
five-day bandh ending today met with so much resistance and defiance. In fact, this
defiance can make both the Maoists and the government wiser and little more circumspect.
To a government which believes in democracy and people’s power, this defiance should
inspire to seek a democratic or peaceful solution to the Maoist problems. For the Maoists,
this is yet another opportunity in hand to respect people’s right to reject violence
and terror. And it would be considered both terrorism and crime if the Maoists tried to
challenge their rights with violence.
In fact, the state of emergency had been
proclaimed five months ago with a clear purpose — that terrorists should be disarmed
and forced to hold talks. That should still be the move. Certainly, people have a role to
play in solution of this problem. The government cannot do without their co-operation. The
government order for the severed heads has also disappointed the civilised world order.
The government should immediately withdraw its order for severed ‘heads’ of the
Maoists. |
