Road to peace is democracy

By Bishnu Hari Nepal

Country’s post-October 4, 2002 power game remained triangular until January 29, 2003, when the second truce for dialogue between the Maoist insurgents and the state was announced. During the post-October- 4- period, the Nepalese political picture characterized that it was leading to bipolarity. The impression appeared as if the King and the Maoist insurgents were the only forces to maintain peace and tranquility in the country. The King’s Army and the Maoist guerrilla forces, declaring ceasefire without consultation with the major political parties, created severe fear and fury among the pro-1990-constitutional-power- players.

Until the King restarted seeing the leaders of the major pro-constitutional forces after March 10, 2003, the power sharing of the country was clearly leading to bipolarity. The cabinet was formed almost on individual basis, although the fringe parties have some participation. The composition of the cabinet neglected the largest forces in the dissolved parliament. This created another consternation in the Nepalese political development leading to absolute monarchy. It is because the major political parties did not accept the King’s step according to Article 127 of the 1990 Constitution. To satisfy the international community and major political parties, His Majesty has, time and again, proclaimed his firm commitment to the constitutional monarchy and multiparty system.

Contrary to repeated assurances, the gap of mistrust between the major political parties and the palace has remained wide. The call from the Chand government for a round table conference was also categorically and repeatedly rejected by them. It appears that the parties would have protested as loudly as they are doing now had there been a government led by someone in Parliament. A section of the analysts also speculates that under such circumstances, the major political parties might have even participated in the cabinet.

But today, president of the Nepali Congress G P Koirala finds that the "unity of two gun-points" is always dangerous. He is demanding the restoration of the dissolved house. He firmly put forth this view in audience with the King on March 10. Similarly, CPN-UML supremo M K Nepal, since a long time, has been stressing the need to get rid of "directed democracy". According to him, the executive power at any cost must be handed over to the people. His views after the audience with the King was different from Koirala’s. Nepal proclaimed that the King had not opposed the idea of forming an all-party-government with full executive power. The NC and the CPN-UML have belatedly agreed to either the reinstatement of the dissolved parliament or the formation of all-party government. This unanimous voice came in their four-major-parties’ meeting only after the royal audience and perhaps with the knowledge that RPP may attend the round table conference.

Meanwhile, the RPP role during this period, on the other hand, seems to be along opportunistic lines. To elaborate, the party is looking forward to lead a government if opportunity comes its way. Conversely, it may cry foul if that does not happen. Similarly, the role of the other smaller parties also seems contented within themselves, being invited to "sit together" with the giant political parties at the rostrum or an invitation from the King for political consultations or petty executive power. But the very serious question applied to the political evolution during last five months is whether the road to sustainable peace really could be secured by the day-by-day growing authoritative bipolarity? Isn’t it true that any effort to stall elections could prove costly?

Every child knows that the seven-year-old self-declared People’s War claimed more than ten thousand lives. All of them had the right to life. How many of them were aware of the cause and effect syndrome? The question is how many of them understood their promised destination motivated to sacrifice their precious lives? The so-called leaders changed their destination leaving their following in awkward situation. It is because, unlike LTTE which is waging a war for independence since almost two decades, the Nepalese People’s War took a different course after barely seven years.

If we analyze the destination of the People’s War, we find that it started with the slogan for "People’s Republic of Nepal" before they mourned King Birendra’s death, saying "undeclared functional unity with King Birendra on the question of nationalism", constituent assembly, round table conference and finally interim government under the constitutional monarchy. The history will certainly ask the leaders about the achievement.

Before the truce, the unexhausted holders of the "barrel of the gun" went on celebrating "victory". The victory was not over any enemy of the soil but over another child of the same soil. The innocent national heroes shed their blood to irrigate the soil of their country inspired by nothing but by "orders of their commandant". As mentioned earlier, not every fighter perhaps understood even his or her destination. To be honest, one thing is very clear that both sides stood putting their feet on two boats. It is universal that war has never brought out any permanent solution. It is also mundane that theories are true and applicable only in a given timeframe and situation. Neither Gandhi nor Mao would have been successful today what they applied in their time on their soils. It is equally applied to the costly experience we had in the name of People’s War.

Theoretically, there is no communist democracy in the world. But time and situation is so strong that on our soil, the Nepalese communists are looking forward to accommodate under the crown. Not only Dr Rayamajhi’s line but also even Man Mohan Adhikari’s very short government can be taken as the best example of the communist democracy under a functional monarchy. Nobody can deny that the palace has ever remained crucial in Nepal’s decision- making processes. Interestingly, "divide and rule", the ancient theory of the Roman Empire, has not been too old to be applied.

Strangely, if we take the case of last seven years, it is found that the stratified multiparty democratic forces remained only "onlooker" of the warfronts at the crossroad. If it had been able to take any side of the warring forces, the ball perhaps could have been in the people’s court already. Here, much could be learned by the Maoists that "lone-journey" in politics is not a possible game always. Dina Nath Sharma, while sitting together with the other ten leftist parties in a historic meeting at the UML office recently, might have realized it personally. Lately, K B Mahara told the press that declaring the Code of Conduct for dialogue with the state was not possible "under the unfolding scenario."

It has been observed that it is not possible to create a classless society by a sole power or trying dictatorship of the proletariat. It applies only to a particular situation at a particular time. Similarly, we have seen that Super Power America failed in Afghanistan in case of Osama bin Laden. The US also had a shameful defeat in Vietnam, when the world was bipolar. It was also a solo journey. It is also evident that the same will happen to standoff-Iraq-crisis too. America will be the ultimate loser even if it fully destroys Iraq’s resources and civilization.

Solo-journey is costly, time consuming and troublesome. If we take the post-World War II scenario, radical left movements in India, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines, Vietnam and in many African and South and Central American countries failed. This can be learned even from Mao’s land China, where the cultural –revolution had failed. The economic reforms there have however attained the best height of the use of any theory exercised so far. To conclude, if the Maoists are really willing to come under the constitutional monarchy, the truce for dialogue should lead to respect for democracy and human rights. The ultimate road to an enduring peace to hold dialogue with the Maoists could be an interim government led by the major political parties without the Maoists and the post-dialogue interim government with the Maoists should hold the elections immediately.

(The author is former ambassador of Japan)

Fat out, thin in

By SUBINDRA BOGATI

Despite being blessed with attractive look and charming personality, my lady friend feels that almighty God has cheated her. "I don’t have a good height", she laments time and again. She complains about her height right after watching girls sashaying in international events. In a way or other, she has developed a kind of inferiority complex.

I have told her many a time that boys deem her a local queen. However, she pays no heed to this fact. So, nowadays whenever she starts grumbling about her height, I just laugh at her stupidity cynically. Amazingly, she has brought drastic changes in her style of dressing in recent times. She is doing this to make her look skinny. Perhaps she wants to look herself attractive not in terms of local context but of international context.

Like her, many young boys and girls spend considerable time and dime to make themselves look more attractive and gorgeous. If you look at the young people, you will come to realise that thousands of Nepalis youth in urban areas in a way or other follow an international trend. They are trying to be modern much faster than our society can take their trends in.

Nepal being a cultural mosaic, definition of beauty, varies from one cultural group to another and one ethnic group to another. As there is no single explanation to define what beauty is, people, for convenience, say beauty lies at the eyes of beholder. However, at present day Nepal, even the local definitions of beauty seem to have been outdated.

There were times when being thin meant sick or poor. So, moneyed people with thin physical appearances visited doctors and / or Shamans and tried many prescriptions to gain weight. But at present day world, if you are skinny, you do not have to be ashamed, because we have already crowds of young people who extol and celebrate skimpy girls.

Now people have started considering those girls and women beautiful who possess good height with emaciated figure. They have started saying slim is beautiful. What are the reasons facilitating to change our perception in terms of beauty? Reasons abound. However, it will be reasonable to talk about beauty pageants over here.

In Nepal, beauty pageants are held following the procedures borrowed from western societies. If you are a good-looking girl and has a desire to participate in these shows, your height and vital statistics, among others, can be stumbling blocks. Average height of Nepali girls is not compatible to take part in such shows.

Contests like Miss Nepal are broadcast live where girls with more than average height compete, win a title and become famous overnight. Later, photographers, camerapersons and make-up persons play vital roles in making her beautiful if she is not already. Then, people feel inculcated with the idea that one has to have a good height and figure to be beautiful. We start sensing our indigenous perception of beauty conventional. This is how change takes place. And, the change is an example of the power of western culture in a country caught between tradition and modernity.

It is argued that beauty pageants are held to liberate girls from societal taboos and religious beliefs. For me, organizers are the ones who oppress her as surely as anyone else ever has, by removing from her the idea that she has intelligence, free will, and rational thought.

No one knows whether youthful preference for thinness is a fad or a lasting cultural change. However, it is a fact that the definition of beauty has been redefined. That is why among young girls, fat is out and thin is in.

Repairing the world

By THOMAS L FRIEDMAN 

Some days, you pick up the newspaper and you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Let’s see, the prime minister of Serbia just got shot, and if that doesn’t seem like a bad omen, then you missed the class on World War I.

America’s strongest ally for war in Iraq is Bulgaria - a country I’ve always had a soft spot for, because it protected its Jews during World War II, but a country that’s been on the losing side of every war in the last 100 years.

Congress is renaming french fries "freedom fries."

George W. Bush has managed to lose a global popularity contest to Saddam Hussein, and he’s looking to build diplomatic support in Europe by flying to the Azores, a remote archipelago in the Atlantic, to persuade the persuaded leaders of Britain and Spain to stand firm with him. Still, I am glad Bush is meeting with Tony Blair. In fact, I wish he would turn over leadership on the whole Iraq crisis to him. Blair has an international vision that Bush sorely needs.

"President Bush should be in charge of marshaling the power for this war," says Stephen P. Cohen, a Middle East expert, "and Tony Blair should be in charge of the vision for which that power should be applied."

Why? What does Tony Blair get that George W. Bush doesn’t? The only way I can explain it is by a concept from the Kabbalah called "tikkun olam." It means, "to repair the world." If you listened to Tony Blair’s speeches in recent weeks they contain something so strikingly absent from Bush’s. Tony Blair constantly puts the struggle for a better Iraq within a broader context of moral concerns. Tony Blair always leaves you with the impression that for him the Iraq war is just one hammer and one nail in an effort to do tikkun olam, to repair the world.

Did you see Blair’s recent speech about the environment? He called for a new "international consensus to protect our environment and combat the devastating impacts of climate change." "Kyoto is not radical enough," he said. "Ultimately this is about our world as a global community. ... What we lack at present is a common agenda that is broad and just. ... That is the real task of statesmanship today."

Did you hear Blair talk Friday about the Middle East conflict? "We are right to focus on Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction," he said, "but we must put equal focus on the plight of the people whose lives are being devastated by lack of progress in the peace process. Israeli civilians and Palestinians."

Contrast that with Bush. His declaration about resuming the peace process was delivered with all the enthusiasm of someone about to have his teeth drilled. On the environment, the president has never appreciated how damaging it was for him to scrap the Kyoto treaty, which was unimplementable, without offering an alternative. .Nothing has hurt America’s image more than the impression Bush has left that when it comes to terrorism - America’s war - there must be a universal crusade, but on the environment - the universal concern of others - America will do whatever it wants.

Yes, some people and nations are just jealous of America’s power and that’s why they oppose the United States on Iraq. But there is something more to the opposition. I deeply identify with the president’s vision of ending Saddam Hussein’s tyranny and building a more decent, progressive Iraq. If done right, it could be so important to the future of the Arab-Muslim world, which is why I won’t give up on this war.

But can this Bush team be counted on to do it right? Bush’s greatest weakness is that too many people, at home and abroad, smell that he’s not really interested in repairing the world. Everything is about the war on terrorism. .Lord knows, I don’t diminish the threats the United States faces, but for 18 months all America has been doing is exporting its fears to the world. Virtually all of Bush’s speeches are about how Americans are going to protect themselves and whom they’re going to hit next. America as a beacon of optimism - America as the world’s chief carpenter, not just cop - is gone.

Americans need a little less John Wayne and a little more John F Kennedy. Once they get this Iraq crisis behind them, they need to get back to exporting their hopes, not just their fears.

An offshoot of dharma

PURAN P BISTA

It is not exactly Pranami, a cult of Sanatan dharma, but similar to that which imposes certain edicts on the followers. It also seems an attempt to reform the Sanatan dharma, which continues to breed dictators by grooming casteism, poverty, illiteracy, etc. That the practice of Sanatan Dharma rejects secular ethos and pluralism needs no elaboration here. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiva Sena and Bajrang Dal are a few examples if the BJP, for some, stands a secular party, then. Different sects at different times, rejecting intolerant and orthodox values, would not have been in existence had the Hindu society not oppressed the poor and the low caste.

This is called a Hari cult or say it a denomination. A Hari, according to its followers, must remain a pure vegetarian throughout his or her life. For many this seems a rigidity, if not a commandment. One should neither eat anything at the house of non-vegetarian, nor should s/he accept what the Sanatan followers widely preach and practise. This again appears fanatic, which opposes liberal Sanatan values. They have their own priests, shamans, blacksmiths and other Manu-preached professionals to meet their needs. The Hari community encourages marriages within the cult. They never eat newly harvested grains unless they make offerings to their head priest. How such a cult originated and who were the prophets is not known. However, it is a reactive force of Sanatan dharma followed by a section of Nepalis living in Taplejung and its peripheral districts.

Followers gather fortnightly at a house and eat together before they disperse until the next meeting. What sort of verses and texts they read and recite is still vague. But they keep their complete faith in Krishna. And the way they practise the cult appears much more scientific than the ‘orthodox’ Sanatan. These cult followers, like Christians and Jews, do meet, exchange their views and share information every alternative week. The practice appears more open, inclusive, participatory and accommodative.

This is also my knowledge about the Haris of Serou where I learnt that most of them had come from Taplejung district and settled at Serou in India’s Manipur state. I associated almost one decade with the cult. Different Nepali Hindus (non-Haris) had different interpretations of this cult. But most non-Haris always tried to undermine the cult, terming it a faith of incest. Approximately, one hundred Hari families had settled in Serou after 1950. The majority of them had come from Taplejung’s Lhasa village in the 1950s. Serou had also a Bengali community that consisted of over two hundred families. They had come from former East Pakistan at the time of partition.

It was in 1976 when non-Haris virtually unleashed the religious onslaughts on the Hari community. The reason, cited by them, was mere "untouchability". Haris practised no "naming ceremony" of their newly born infants and observed no other religious rites as the Sanatan followers preached. When Haris were in majority, they were not outcaste by the non-Haris. Thus many Hari children were named without performing any naming ceremony. But the clash between the two Nepali communities began when the non-Haris dominated the society although both the communities were in minority in the village and had come from the same region.

The migrant, but non-Hari, Nepali community, which had a zero illiteracy rate until 1970, had carried the same primitive social and religious rites practised during the Rana oligarchy. They respected no human rights, nor were they aware of the freedom of expression. The community saw nothing beyond Taplejung. They practised rampant child marriages and strictly prohibited exogamy. Shyam Bahadur Bhattarai became the first causality of the migrant Nepali-non-Hari community. Bhattarai had three brothers and their children were named not according to Sanatan dharma. That the innocent Hari children had not had the urine of cows in order to purify the defiled body and environment became the main cause. I don’t still know which holy text of Sanatan dharma says that members of a family must drink cow urine at the time of naming ceremony in order to purify the entire environment.

Village non-Hari chairman Mohan Lal Poudel, who was also directly related to most Hari familiesa, called the Haris to perform the naming ceremony of their already grown-up children, using a non-Hari priest. A loud speaker was fixed at the house of the village chairman in order to tell the villagers that they committed crime by following a new cult. A few emptied tins bought in order to fix them on the back of those parents who had not performed the naming ceremony on the eleventh day of their children. This was the punishment decided by the majority of migrant Nepalis. Now the innocent Hari parents including the priest were socially ostracised, and they were religiously made to perform the naming ceremony. But before that, the villagers fixed the emptied tins on the back of the parents and paraded them almost two kilometres. The victims, whoever resented against the majority Nepalis, were mentally tortured, fined and beaten up. It was an intolerant, humiliating and heinous crime, if we take into account the humane face of the Sanatan dharma, then.

This was the main reason why Hindu religion, especially in Nepali society, could not be reformed since the touchables invaded this country. They have been preaching what makes them convenient to rule the minorities or the poor. The orthodox Banaras returned priests, who preach the dark holy text, continue to impose the dark faith on the weak. But more crude and inhumane are those who rule the country than those who recite the holy texts. Some have to undergo the thirteen-day mourning of their parents’ deaths, while some do not need to perform such religious rites. Yet they enjoy the rights and the so-called priests preach the discriminatory text that benefit more to them and the rulers than the society.

Culture conflict for LTTE women 

RITA MANCHANDA

After 12 years of being a front-ranking LTTE (Lankan Tigers of Tamil Eelam) fighter, Tamilini, 30, has recently become head of the women’s political wing in the post-conflict process in Sri Lanka.

Can there be any return to civil society? Pat comes the response from Tamilini, "The struggle is my life and my life the struggle". But what of the younger women, the thousands of women who make up 40 per cent of the LTTE - could these non-traditional women be reabsorbed in conservative Tamil society? Can the dreaded Black Tigers - the suicide squad - go back?

The recent outcrop of billboards along the A-9 highway to Jaffna, extolling the contribution of LTTE women and the recent ‘belt war’ incidents tell a tale of an identity crisis in this time of delicate transition in the Sri Lankan peace process as the LTTE ‘civilianises’ itself. The 20 years of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict saw the re-casting of the Tamil woman from the traditional ideal of the auspicious, fecund wife to the androgynous ‘Armed Virgin’, because the LTTE needed to recruit women.

Massed along the A-9 highway are painted billboards in English and Tamil that highlight the role of the LTTE women. On one such, two LTTE women in fatigues are shown alongside two girls in school uniform - the text states that the contribution of all is necessary to achieve the goal! At the Mahamale checkpoint, on the LTTE side, en route to the Sri Lankan Army-controlled Jaffna is a huge billboard that says, "We enthusiastically welcome you to step in and observe the brave and capable LTTE women". These billboards are new and there are no comparable ones valorising the LTTE men.

Sitting in her office in LTTE-controlled Killinochchi, the tall, well-built and impressively self-assured Tamilini asserts that the movement was sensitive to the cultural contradictions resulting from the ‘equal’ LTTE women and the dominant social perceptions within the community. "Tamil women are traditionally shy and timid, lacking in self confidence. But all that changed after these women were inducted into the battlefield."

Tamilini communicates through her interpreter, Madhi. "Initially there were many problems, especially when the first batch of female cadres went for training to India in 1984. Now, there is acceptance of the LTTE women as ‘equal’ within the movement".

What did she think of the assessment that the LTTE women were mere ‘cogs in the wheel’? She laughs. "Take the battlefield - when tactics are being drawn up we’re encouraged to give our opinion and changes are made. Of the 12 judges in the LTTE area, five are women. In the newly set up peace secretariat, two of the deputy directors are women."

Tamilini points to the Women’s Subcommittee - set up to mainstream women’s issues in the peace process. However, she accepts that it was not at the insistence of LTTE that the subcommittee was formed. Tamilini is one of three from the LTTE cadres who, along with two civilians from Jaffna and Batticaloa, will speak for Tamil women at the Subcommittee meeting in March. She insists the LTTE leadership is committed to "women’s liberation side by side with the struggle for Tamil people’s rights". She avers: "The movement is sensitive to the problem of ‘pushback’, post-conflict."

Arguably, even if there is acceptance of the LTTE ‘equal’ women within the movement, tensions regarding their acceptance in civil society are clearly evident in the ‘belt war’ incidents. The uniform for the LTTE women’s cadre is a long shirt worn over trousers with a web belt, and the hair worn plaited and pinned around the head. They wear no ornaments. Were they instructed to dress thus? "No, we don’t want to. They’re messy," says Tamilini.

Their male counterparts, crossing over to the Sri Lanka Army-controlled areas, wear civilian clothes. Why do the women still insist on wearing their uniform? "It is our wish," she says. According to the Feb 24, 2002, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), no civilian can wear a uniform in the government area where the LTTE is permitted to do political work. But the LTTE women have been adamant about not removing their belt. "It is a mark of respect, of honour that we have earned," explains Tamilini. 

There has been a spate of angry confrontations between LTTE women and Sri Lankan soldiers over the women’s belt. A report says that soldiers slashed the belts off some women Tigers, several of whom were injured in the ensuing clash. Angry crowds stoned the soldiers who then hit back. And according to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the soldiers used excessive force.

However, both the belt issue and the billboard campaign suggest a sense of insecurity within the LTTE women’s cadre: They seem to be unsure of how they can retain the value of the identity they forged for themselves in battle.

The insecurity is showing up in connection with marriage too. After completing 25 years, LTTE women are allowed to marry. But where are these women to find husbands - from among LTTE men?  "The LTTE male cadre often prefer to marry outside," says Madhi, who is 25. "We can marry into civil society; there is acceptance, but we don’t want to."

This may explain why the LTTE has set up a kind of marriage bureau to match couples within the movement. Evidently, trying to change social perceptions is a long and difficult process. By asking Tamil women to dress traditionally, the LTTE leader, Prabhakaran, has complicated it further. Where does that leave the LTTE women?

Women’s Feature Service

Peace building 
Challenge after negotiation

Niraj Dawadi

The present context of the cease-fire declaration by the Government and the Maoists calls for the development of a roadmap for re-establishing peace in the country. The roadmap of peace begins with peacemaking, and the recent cease-fire declaration is a small step in this regard.

Peacemaking is an effort intended to shift a violent conflict into a non-violent dialogue, where differences are normally settled through basis peacemaking methods including dialogue, negotiation, and mediation. A peace agreement is the result of negotiations. To be sustainable, peace agreements should include all key players of the conflict and those involved in the negotiations should immediately halt all violent activities. The agreement should outline in detail the means to strengthen a non-violent process of conflict de-escalation and also include a joint commitment to co-operate in the peace building phase for the resolution of the root causes of the violence.

Initiating dialogue is the first step towards peacemaking. It stimulates a feeling of interdependence, emphasises common identities and aids in understanding each other’s position. At this stage, peacemaking should focus on ‘humanising the enemy’. The most effective dialogue often occurs when each side strongly advocates its position, and then listens to its opponent. Much creativity is needed to bring the parties together for a first round of talks.

Conflicting parties come to the table only when they perceive it to be in their own interests. Usually this is when the contending parties have reached a mutually hurting stalemate, where the costs of continued fighting are too high. A stalemate comes about because of the absence of change, and negotiation becomes attractive way to pursue their aims through more peaceful means. This window of opportunity must be recognised and acted upon. During negotiations, trust must develop between the conflicting parties through a functional working relationship that establishes good faith. Furthermore, negotiation is a creative process, adaptable to changing circumstances, and flexible to new alternatives. The ultimate objective of formal negotiations is to create a mutually accepted outcome for the conflicting parties.

When conflicting parties are unable to come to a resolution themselves, mediation or intervention of a third party is a possible means of breaking the deadlock and producing an acceptable solution. Mediators can play different roles. They can serve as hosts, observers, facilitators, formulators, educators, manipulators, or advocates. Mediators might be chosen for their reputation, skills, knowledge or resources. It should be pointed out that mediators have their own motivations for participating in the negotiation process and sometimes come with their own agenda. Despite their own interests, mediators should be neutral as their participation as intermediaries is based on the trust of all the conflicting parties. A mediator’s participation can be terminated at any point during the negotiation process.

Peace building is a process that facilities the establishment of durable peace and tries to prevent the recurrence of violence by addressing root cause and effects of conflict through reconciliation, institution building and political as well as economic transformation. In fact, it is the implementation of the agreement reached during the peacemaking process. The United Nations identifies six major tasks that may be part of peace building: de-militarisation of combatants, electoral assistance, re-establishing rule of law, reconstruction of civil society, economic assistance and return of refugees and internally displaced people.

For a durable peace, parties in conflict must resolve their differences and express full commitment to co-operate. Social and economic transformation is paramount for the establishment of durable peace. Direct efforts should be made to transform the conditions that caused the conflict. Also important are safeguards to prevent the conflict from re-emerging. Mechanisms should also be developed to handle issues of justice by the setting up institutions that aim to avoid impunity of crimes that were committed during the conflict such truth commissions, war crime tribunals, fact finding missions, etc..

Peace building is a complex process and result materialise only in the medium and long-term. A wide variety of agents engage in the implementation of post-conflict reconstruction; and peace building targets all levels of society as well as all aspects of the state structure. The government is the subject as well as object of peace building and it oversees and engages in reconstruction. International organisations engage at the governmental level and their engagement carries the legitimacy of the international community, as they have the necessary means and resources as well as expertise to assist in reconstruction of the state and transformation of society. Donor institutions provide the necessary funding for peace building projects; NGOs, in most cases, carry out small-scale projects to strengthen the grass-root level of affected regions. The expertise of specialists such as lawyers, economists, scholars, educators, teachers, the media, academia and other such groups can also play an important role.

An enduring peace requires a strong, viable and assertive civil society - a society which widens democratic space and facilitates opportunities for citizens to participate in political and social life. The will of the general public is one of the most powerful forces in securing peace, democracy and good governance. The civil society has a special responsibility for supporting and building alliances with civic institutions for fostering practices that encourage people to take responsibility for their own destinies, and for educational activities aimed at sensitising and mobilising the general population about peace and good governance.

Building peace must be an organic process, growing at all levels of society. Peace cannot be built just through exclusive conclaves of the leaders of the conflicting parties. The idea of ‘historic agreements as a stepping-stone to peace’ has proven to be wrong on too many occasions. Long-term strategic relationships should be built which reach across the dividing lines of conflict in society. Years lost on conflict are years lost on development and without enduring peace in the country. Stability and security are prerequisites to sustainable development, and only when sustainable development is ensured, peace is guaranteed. In a broader perspective, solutions to peace must be devised in a context that takes into account the following: the high cost of conflict and the economics of peace, the importance of peace to development, the role of civil society in promoting peace, and the challenges for the future.

Achham, Jumla after truce

Nitya Nanda Timsina

Nepal’s recent economic and political malaise has pushed some slothful achievements to many years’ back. Problems are striking in remote districts like Achham and Jumla, which witness to the horrifying Maoist conflict.

The mass displacement of the people from villages around Achham was a traumatic experience, for both the displaced and the district administration. It was important to note that the Achham was not financially and logistically prepared to tackle the massive migration resulting from the unrest.

The government bore the heavy burden of providing for the needs of the displaced families. International non-government organisations are yet to provide relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Sustaining the peace process seems a challenge even to the government in the centre.

Local Development Officer Narendra Bahadur Thapa of Achham said that even after initiation of the peace process and the restoration of law and order in the district, danger looms large due to uncertainty in the peace process. "One positive signal after the cease-fire is that people are returning to villages. The guns have been unloaded. But we are still not sure when the Maoists will fire them again."

"We are in a wait-and-watch situation at the moment," he said while briefing about the aftermath of the cease-fire in the district to the visiting Danish officials, Danish education team and the officials of the Department of Education recently.

It was critical that militant groups surrendered arms and ammunitions to the government. But Chief District Officer Krishna Shyam Budathoki of Jumla says the Maoists had hidden them in safe locations. All weapons belonging to the Maoists should be returned to government custody if at all the peace is desired by them.

The rehabilitation process should commence as early as possible but the government has directed the authority to halt it temporarily. There is still widespread fear and insecurity, as the Maoists do not come openly. "Even if they come here, they come with batons," said LDO Thapa. "We have not met with the senior Maoist leaders of the district so far."

The Maoists have demanded that the 60 percent of the relief package, allowances and pensions to the people have to be provided to their cadres. Humanitarian assistance must be given free access so that it reached all those affected by the tension and the respective organisations be free to carry out their duties but this has been fallen through for want of a durable peace in the region.

There is a sense of hopelessness in the conflict-hit districts, which are also typically remote and poor. The successive governments, since the restoration of multi-party democracy, have neglected these districts, according to local. The people believe the root of the Maoist conflict and other development problems lies in poor governance.

TU’s degrading competence

Krishna Chandra Bhattarai

Tribhuvan University was established with a clear mission. TU’s meaningful contribution to the overall development of the country is to produce high calibre, competent and intellectual people in order to meet the knowledge deficiency. It was established at the time when the country was facing severe shortages of competent and intellectual manpower in all sectors.

TU remains the country’s premier education institution. It symbolises the deepest aspiration of the nation for the quality of life and culture. Since the restoration of democracy, numerous schools and colleges have been established. Next to agriculture, education has received the most active and wide popular support.

However, the prevailing weaknesses and problems about education in TU stem from several causes. This university is becoming, with a few inevitable exceptions, a centre of in-breeding anachronism and incompetence. Disparity in quality education between TU and other private colleges is widening. Competence in teaching and administration is deteriorating. The curricula in most social science faculties are not only primitive but have also very little to do with social realities. This is a strange phenomenon as the government routinely engages senior level teachers to contribute to the planning and policy making with no attention being paid to its implication on the quality of education.

Unfortunately, teaching may have even less to do with the standards expected outside Nepal. The integration of research and teaching is fundamental to the growth of disciple and the quality of education. Politicisation in teaching remains unchecked. Though all political parties appear committed to the goal of free and compulsory education, they do not fit in together. TU is also traditionally suffering from other defects: nepotism, favouritism, cronyism and other forms of discriminatory practices.

The teacher is a noble being. This is so because he knows the subject well and, more importantly, because of their spiritual nature, which is neither demonstrable nor measurable. The best form of university administration is one that is administered by the faculty itself. All academic matters should be decided by the faculties without any interference from the university administration.

In the past thirteen years, most fundamental changes in higher education policies have been the attempt to ensure democratic access. Rapidly expanding private colleges and secondary school enrolments increased the demand for skilled labour and the growing perception of higher education imply that investing in education provides an essential bedrock for the economic and social development.

But now government resources are limited, and the pressure to expand enrolment is so high that university finds a difficulty in keeping higher education widely accessible.

Mere buildings do not make a university. It is the sanctuary of intellectual life of the country. We have seen several campuses hiring teachers from the outside. We have to become self-sufficient in providing qualified and efficient teacher first, then only we can think about other requirements. Thus, our first and foremost duty is to evaluate ourselves. Leadership is a challenging task and requires a lot of homework, careful planning and proper utilisation of time, money and energy in the true spirit of democracy and democratic norms. We may have adequate funds and all sorts of physical facilities but they are not sufficient.

Low performance, huge accumulated losses, rigid administration, cost inefficiency, poor management, wasteful and incompetent leaders, and similar other factors are some of the deep-rooted problems faced by TU. Management is the process of planning, organising, leading and controlling the teachers’ effort of organisation. An ideal university must have sound management, excellent environment and competent teaching staff in order to impart the quality education to the students.

What is becoming more important now is the notion of such a university where teachers are dedicated and inspiring; where both teachers and students get friendly environment for sharing their knowledge; where all members use organisational resources to achieve organisational goal; and where leadership is conceived in terms of sensitivity and responsive actions guided by the interaction of dynamic variables.