The Necessity Of Peace

THE 53rd National Democracy Day on Wednesday has again served as an occasion for the Nepalese people to cherish the democracy that Nepal is and remember and pay homage to His late Majesty King Tribhuvan, the architect of democracy in Nepal, and the martyrs who laid down their lives to the cause of democracy. But democracy is not only an abstract concept; it is the vehicle through which people's wishes and aspirations are fulfilled. In a message to the nation on the occasion, His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev very aptly described what democracy means to the general masses. Democracy can flourish and take roots, His Majesty said, only if the people could experience its tangible benefits. All must therefore make a sincere effort to work together to make democracy meaningful by shunning blaming and doubting each other and leading a life of virtue and character. His Majesty's emphasis on the truism that eschewing the notion of "I" and embracing the principle of "We" was a basic exercise in democracy, has a particular resonance in these times for Nepal and the Nepalese when the country is going through difficult times engendered by lack of peace, harmony and stability.

Those who have experienced the functioning of multi-party democracy since its advent in 1990 know only too well the many shortcomings in its exercise by those who were entrusted with making it functional. Additionally, faced with the spiral of death and destruction prevailing in the country over the recent years, the Nepalese people have intensely wished for an end to this state through dialogue. His Majesty pointed out that such a hopeful endeavour was already under way, and emphasised categorically that peace was our necessity, multi-party democracy our conviction, nationalism our cornerstone and the happiness of the Nepalese people our political faith. Needless to say, all must keep in mind the exhortation by His Majesty that all the political parties, civic society as well as the countrymen should devote themselves to the creation of a peaceful and prosperious Nepal through mutual understanding and harmonious co-existence. This exhortation also found an echo in Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand's message whose major thrust was that positive cooperation of all the political parties, intellectuals and civic society was expected in resolving the national issues. Let's hope that this year's democracy day spur all towards a meeting point from where they could contribute actively to bring lasting peace to the nation and the business of developing this country starts in earnest with a true, real practice of democracy.

Redefining Foreign Policy

PRIME Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has said that Nepal needs to redefine its foreign policy shifting focus from geo-politics to geo-economics under the present changed global context. Addressing a function organised by the Nepal Council of World Affairs in Lalitpur the other day, Prime Minister Chand said that in view of the hard reality of globalisation and liberalisation, Nepal has been focusing on economic diplomacy to enable it to benefit from the liberalised and globalised world markets. Nepal's foreign policy has been consistent enough right from the beginning since it emerged as a nation state. The basic objective of Nepal's foreign policy and strategy has been to promote Nepal's interest and maintain friendly and cooperative relations with all nations in the world. The foreign policy of Nepal has been guided by its strict adherence to the charter of the United Nations and non-alignment and peaceful co-existence. Keeping these ideals intact, Nepal has reprioritised its foreign policy to serve its national interest and achieve social and economic development. Lately, the government is giving greater importance and priority to economic diplomacy in order to raise Nepal's economic standard. As, a peace-loving nation Nepal has always been championing for world peace and, at the call of the United Nations, has accordingly played active and important role in peace building and peacekeeping efforts in different trouble spots of the world. Over 40,000 soldiers as well as civilian and military observers have already participated in the UN peacekeeping operations in the world. This, as observed by Prime Minister Chand, speaks of Nepal's commitment to international peace and security. Similarly, Nepal, as per the directives of His late Majesty Prithivi Narayan Shah, has been maintaining equal friendly relations with our two neighbours-India and China. Even during the height of the Cold War, Nepal has been one of the few countries in the world, which had friendly and cooperative relations with rival camps in the world. This is the uniqueness of Nepal and its foreign policy. This stance and role of Nepal has, in deed, earned much appreciation and praise from the international community. At the same time, Nepal has been consistently pursuing to give further boost to regional cooperation under the framework of the SAARC. There is no divided view on Nepal's foreign policy and the strength of Nepal's foreign policy comes largely form our unity, cohesiveness and consensus.