Message Of Hope
FROM Monday, Nepal entered a new year and a new decade. His
Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, as the beloved monarch of all Nepalese, spoke
their fervent sentiments when His Majesty in a message to the nation said that the dawn of
the New Year brings with it a message of hope. On New Year's day every year of these
recent troubled years, hopes of an average Nepalese were invariably related to yearning
for peace. Buffeted by violence of unprecedented scale, Nepalese hoped and hoped that a
New Year would bring with it promise of peace. For the first time in many years, the
Nepalese welcoming the year 2060 on Monday had some real reasons to expect that the
violence and uncertainty becomes a thing of the past. Certainly, they would like to see
2060 a much better year than the violence- ridden 2059. As His Majesty the King pointed
out, the year 2059 had started in a cloud of political instability and confusion where
violence and destruction of infrastructure were on the rise. But since the past six
months, His Majesty said, everyone has experienced an improvement in the situation, as a
result of which the New Year 2060 commences with the hopes and enthusiasm of the common
man and the international community's confidence gradually being regained.
The much-welcomed cease-fire between the government and
Maoists in January came after much blood-bath among the Nepalese. They had been witness to
the once peaceful nation torn as under by violence that soaked the Nepalese hills and
plains, while stability continued to become a rare thing in the political landscape.
Simply put, political parties were engaged in their low-level politicking as the nation
continued to burn. With stability as the first casualty of a political culture that saw
the political actors hardly rising above their petty party interests, it was no wonder
that peace, security and good governance-the very foundations of stability-were consigned
to the backburner. Without stability, what kind of future the Nepalese could hope for is
all too imaginable. All should heed His Majesty's advice that the need of the day now is
to assure the people of a bright future by strengthening these foundations and leading the
country on the path of progress. The actions of all-the government, the political parties,
the civil society and others-must be geared in the coming days to fulfil the general
hopes, aspirations and wishes of the people that they continue to nurture.
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