Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)]

Plea For Peace

The volume deals with key aspects of insurgency-related problems in relation to good governance

By A CORRESPONDENT

Peace is an important prerequisite for development and good governance. That statement is no longer the platitude it used to be treated as until five years ago. The country’s recent experience has shown that the absence of peace is a serious hindrance to implementing development activities successfully.

With the spread of the Maoist insurgency, the law-and-order machinery is virtually non-existent in many parts of the country. Because of insurgency-linked disturbances, many donor organizations and international non-governmental agencies have pulled out of programs in the affected districts.

In a poor country like Nepal, any rupture in development activities will have a highly negative impact. The disruption of development activities in one part of the country harms overall economic development. As human rights organizations and peace advocates have come to realize, it is not easy to bring warring parties to the negotiating table.

At a time when everyone is searching for a way to end the Maoist insurgency through peaceful means, SAP-Nepal, a non-government organization involved in development activities, organized seminars that saw the participation of eminent personalities of society. This book is a product of the initiative.

"The publication of SAP-Nepal, The Quest For Peace aims to make both the leadership of the insurgency and the government aware of the effects of the movement on the social and economic livelihood of the people and the violation of the human rights that have occurred," said Dr. Rohit Kumar Nepali, executive director of the organization.

Since the beginning of the Maoist insurgency in 1995, nearly 2,000 people, including women and children, have lost their lives. Many people have become disabled. In most of the rural parts of the country, the law-and-order situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the common citizens are living in an environment of fear, insecurity and uncertainty. In this scenario, peace is the only hope for the country’s development.

Over the past few years, many agencies have made efforts to understand and analyze the causes behind the Maoist insurgency. SAP-Nepal has taken a broader initiative by bringing all groups and factions together to analyze the problem.

The book includes article by many prominent writers, human rights activists, NGO workers, professors, political scientists, political leaders, and intellectuals from the left and Congress sides, historians and others.

The authors deal with the Maoist insurgency through different perspectives and analyze the consequences of the crisis. In his article, "Crisis of Governance and the Search for Peace", Ananda P. Shrestha discusses, among other things, the lapses in the quest for peace.

Bihari Krishna Shrestha, in his article "Maoist Movement and Peace Building Process in Nepal: The Development Perspective", discusses the impact of the Maoist movement from a development perspective and highlights other key aspects.

Shyam Shrestha, a prominent left-leaning intellectual, attempts to build a path towards resolving the Maoist insurgency through negotiations, which he describes as the best way.

In his article "Good Governance and Community Participation for the Peace Building Process in Respect of insurgency management," Chuda Bahadur Shrestha forms a historical perspective of the insurgency. With its many dimensions, managing the insurgency is a very complicated process — a reality this book has so persuasively highlights.

Quest For Peace
Published by South Asia Partnership Nepal
Pages: 209
Price: Rs.300