Firm Resolve
INDICATING a firm
resolve, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has declared that the ongoing move taken
against the Maoist terrorists would continue till they lay down their arms or defeated
completely. Speaking at a function Monday, Mr. Deuba justified the action of the
government which was compelled to declare the state of emergency to check the terrorist
activities of the Maoists as they attacked security personnel, looted banks and killed
innocent people. There is little doubt or dispute among the common people as to what
prompted the government to go for emergency measures. The threat to life and property had
just been too much for the general public to live in any sense of security across the
country. Thus the emergency measures that have been taken as a necessary step is now
giving the people the much sought-after relief from fear and anxiety . The measures
however should not mean that for the people life is any different than normal. Mr. Deuba
assured the nation that the government was fully alert against the misuse of the state of
emergency. Indeed, the public pronouncements from those who fear that the emergency
measures may be misused have amounted only to just that. They have to do with worries over
possibilities of misuse. In contrast to such worries, no reports of security
personnel—army or police—misusing their sweeping authority under the state of
emergency have surfaced yet. It is always wise to be vigilant over such possibilities, but
making any unduly shrill about such mere possibilities should not dominate the public
discourse when every right thinking Nepali should assist the government in combating this
scourge of terrorism. While some fundamental rights that the people enjoyed under the 1990
constitution were bound to be suspended under an emergency, life in most sectors are going
on pretty much the same as it was before November 26 declaration. The Prime
Minister’s assurance of transparency about the present actions against the Maoist
terrorists and his declaration, speaking at another function to mark the 53rd World Human
Rights Day, that no arrested person had been killed since the declaration of emergency in
the country, should serve as reinforcing the government’s commitments to see to it
that the emergency measures do not come in the way of proper functioning of a democratic
government that has to act in a humanitarian and accountable way.
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