First Government-Maoist Talks
Now, What Next?

By Prem N. Kakkar

IN WHAT could be a tough stance, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has told the Maoists to cancel their stated mass meeting to be held at Tundikhel on September 1. So far the government had been liberal in its attitude towards the Maoists and fulfilling a number of their demands to create the right environment for the peace talks to be held. But, going by the reports there has not been a total cessation of all activities by the Maoists. This has not augured well for the peace initiatives that Prime Minister Deuba had taken right from Day 1 of his taking over the premiership.

The directions given to the security personnel to stop all actions against the Maoists received the right reciprocal gesture but in reality there are still many events that took place despite all this. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that the initiatives for talks with the Maoists have come to a dead end. It only shows that if both sides respect each other it would have been better.

The government on its part has released the Maoists held in custody but this alone does not seem to have impressed the other side fully. Unless and until the demands are reasonable it is difficult to fulfil them. One of the demands of the Maoists, which have been publicised to a great extent, include the establishment of a republic. But the government on its part has made it clear that all talks to be held with the Maoists will have to remain within the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990. Any deviation from it would not come in the agenda of any further meets.

It is barely a week, on August 30, that for the first time the government team and the representatives of the Maoists sat down for talks. The talks, the first of its kind in almost six years that their movement had begun with the presentation of the 40 point demand, should be taken in a positive light. It at least gave both sides the opportunity to present their views and points to base their talks in the future. It must be remembered that another round of talks is supposed to take place within two weeks of the first one. Though no date has been specified for the next meeting, hope remains that they will sit down for talks soon.

Now, the mass meeting of the Maoists scheduled in the third week of September has raised many eyebrows. Even Prime Minister Deuba has warned that the second round of talks could be hampered if Maoists continued with their "activities like mass meetings, and forceful collection of donations" and so on. He emphasised that these activities which are still continuing are contrary to the commitments made during government-Maoist meeting last week.

This is a significant development at a time when the government has been quite lenient in its dealings with the Maoist so that the return of normalcy in the affected districts would be a reality. Deuba was of the firm opinion that the Maoist problem would be resolved through dialogue and in this direction he would be giving his whole attention. The commitment of Prime Minister Deuba is under no doubt as he considers his duty to achieve the objective stated as soon as he became the prime minister for the second time. Resolving the Maoist issue has been his top priority. And the first round of talks and stopping all actions against the Maoists has been significant achievements. But the response from the Maoists has not gone to the fullest extent as expected.

Though both sides in the first ever face to face dialogue stressed the need to shun violence and to resolve the problem or rather the differences through peaceful dialogue, the recent activities of the Maoists in the districts offer some room for doubt. Assurance given to the government delegates by the Maoist coordinator at the talks that all forceful activities would be avoided on their part does not seem to have been followed as it should have been. This might be the reason why Prime Minister Deuba took the opportunity to express his views at a function organised by the Ex-Parliamentarians’ Club on last Wednesday.

A serious matter that it is the government has been doing all the needful in this regard. Reciprocal gestures are an integral part of sitting down for talks in the future also. Optimism, of course, has been raised with the Maoists sitting down for talks despite the differences that exist. It is not yet time to see what twists and turns take place before the problem is resolved.

Such events are part and parcel of every country’s political sphere, but the other side of the coin also shows that solutions are possible. The give and take theory holds ground even in the most complex situations. Here also it has been noticed that one of the most difficult demands to be fulfilled namely the release of the Maoists in custody has been met. May be that paved the way for the government-Maoist talks last week. The meeting was part of a confidence building measure and in that it can be said to have succeeded. The terrain in the coming days will not be as easy as stating one’s views only. Now the tough part of negotiating has to be traversed. This will not be easy despite the commitments made in the past as everything has to be taken into account as it is the interest of the whole country that is the focus.

Can Dalits Speak?

By Hari Ram Adhikari

The term Dalit is generally used to refer to the people socially, economically and culturally oppressed and discriminated in Hindu fundamentalist social structure. In spite of its wider use in the cultural economical and political arena, there are still debates about the identification of the real Dalits. As Nepal has many ethnic groups, most of the groups feel comfortable to identify themselves with the Dalits. The government has only partly recognised the 61 ethnic groups as indigenous groups by calling them as nationalities. They are defined in terms of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Similarly, the number of ethnic groups usually identified as Dalits is quite low compared to the real existence of people falling under the category used for the special programme, under the Ministry of Women and Social Welfarre. Despite this fact, the Dalits are not adequately represented in the constitution and other state laws of the country. Moreover, the constitution is silent about the term. However the realities about them can’t be denied.

In spite of the voices raised about the Dalits in the media, the realities about them still remain unaltered. In the context of Nepal, the term Dalit is often used synonymously with ‘untouchability’, but there are many other ethnic groups which are free from the discriminatory practice of untouchability too. Therefore the social workers, non-governmental organisations and political leaders who claim to represent the Dalits are themselves unclear about the domain of their work.

Although the voices against the social discrimination based on the caste system were raised even before the restoration of democracy in Nepal in 1990, the movement took a greater leap afterwards. A number of organisations have evolved with the goal of ending the age old suppression against the Dalits. Among them the pattern of representing the voice of the Dalits are different according to the socio-economic and political background of the leaders. Political leaders, whether they are left-wingers, right-wingers or neutral claim that their parties are committed to abolish the discriminatory practices. But this in confined to mere sloganering. They shout slogans against the government for not being able to find a way out. Political leaders from the upper caste Brahmins and Chettris disown responsibility for the existing discriminatory practices. When they step to power, they begin to turn deaf ears to any social vices, and the problems of the Dalits is hardly an exception.

Secondly the NGOs, which are thousands in number, never forget to use the buzz words like advocacy, awareness, uplift of the Dalits, Kamaiyas, women, poor and unprivileged people, elimination of social evils poverty alleviation and so on. However the Dalits are living through the same hardships and discrimination. If we accumulate the annual reports of only a hundred NGOs working in this area, we find that every year thousands of Dalits, Kamaiyas and the downtrodden people obtain training on various income generation activities. The reports read as if they are working as the redeemers of the poor and the underprivileged including the Dalits.

Similarly, there are considerable number of organisations established by the Dalit leaders with the sole motive of working as the representatives of the Dalits who don’t have the voice of their own. The claim the problems of the Dalits are better understood only by those who have personally undergone the bitter experiences of social discrimination. Certainly they can better represent the suppressed than any dollar gobbling NGOs and the political leaders who happen to be leaders by lot. They have suffered the discrimination of the system and they can see the problem more critically than others. However, the question still unexplored is whether they have been working for themselves or for the section of the society under suppression. Are their voices selfless or have they adopted this profession seeing it as the priority area among the donor communities?

Likewise, there is another party which does not raise the issue as the political or NGO leaders do. It is the party of writers who always attack the evils prevailing in the society. For them the issue of Dalits is a very fertile area. Here they represent the Dalits as the utterly suppressed and downtrodden faction of the society which can never speak on their own. Their representatives are mostly written from the perspectives of their own (especially that or the center). They also claim that they read the realities in the face of the society and portray them in their texts. Even then, their creations are not successful in depicting the realities essentially.

Lastly, there is the media representation of the Dalits. In a country like Nepal, the media is responsible not only in bringing the sensitive and yet unexplored issues into the limelight, but also in unnecessarily sensilising the issues and distorting the facts. This is mainly because the media personnel are yet to grow especially with regards to their professional ethic. The media usually highlight some issue being driven by their commercial motive, irrespective of their concern with the facts. Likewise, they often hesitate to unravel some important issues only if they fear that the political party or industrialists they side with will be displeased.

Due to the faulty and weak pattern of representation, the voices of the actual sufferers are hardly heard. In a few days the world is meeting in Durban, South Africa for forging solidarity among the social workers, political leaders and the victims’ representatives to combat the discriminatory practices existing in various forms in different parts of the world. We can be at least hopeful that this World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), 2001 will prepare the ground for the real Dalits to speak. The Dalit movement will question upon the pattern of their representation and enable themselves to march ahead especially towards putting an end to the discriminatory practices deep rooted in the Nepalese society.