The convocation address by the Chief of the Army Staff Gen.
Prajwalla Shamsher Rana, at the graduation ceremony of the Command and Staff College a
little more than a week ago has raised a storm in the tea cup. This was neither a
political speech nor delivered to a public audience. The General was performing his duty.
As the top security officer of the country he was duty bound to educate as well as warn
his graduating officers of the ominous situation persisting in the country. Why should it
have irked the politicians? Like the old proverb -- a straw in the thief's beard -- the
politicians who are mainly responsible for pushing the country to such a terrible
situation it is in today, they have been threatened out of their wits by the convocation
speech of the army chief. At a time when the whole country has been hankering for the
scalps of the corrupt politicians, this address by the general has come as a great
comfort, hope and confidence to the people at large. A random sample survey by telephone
carried out by our office of some twenty persons belonging to different sections of
society has proven beyond any doubt that they agree with the general in toto. 95 percent
of the interrogated expressed their opinion that only army can teach the politicians the
lesson they require so badly. If the country is to survive the political and democratic
chaos plaguing it; if the hard won democracy is to be saved; if the disastrous civil war
that is taking a heavy toll of innocent human lives is to be brought to a speedy end and
if the invisible forces that are aggravating the miseries of poor Nepalese are to be
exposed, all Nepalese have to rally behind the Royal Nepal Army and offer them unstinted
support and cooperation. Since the politicians, who have misruled have been severely
condemned by almost the whole nation and badly criticized by all donor agencies and
friendly countries for their bad governance, for their blatant corruption and for their
immoral behavior, they must not only be thrown out of the government but also totally
banned from preaching politics as long they do not win back the confidence of the people
and reform themselves. How dare these unscrupulous politicians, who are continuously
destabilizing politics in Nepal in order to serve their petty personal interests,
castigate the Royal Nepal Army who is shouldering the responsibility of defending the
integrity of the country? We have, time and again, exhorted the king to take bold steps to
rescue the country from the clutches of these self-serving politicians. But, so far, we
have not met with any success. Now, the situation in the country has become extremely
grave. The civil war has totally devastated the economy of the country. Our friendly
neighbor, India, is not doing anything to stop the Maoists in their cross border terrorist
activities against Nepal despite the firm commitment to fight terrorism. It is almost an
open secret that Nepalese Maoists are enjoying the warm hospitality of our friendly
neighbor in India. And our rulers cannot even take up the issue with them strongly.
Consequently, the need of the hour is a strong and upright government that can safeguard
the country's interest without fear or favor. Twelve years is a long time in the life of a
poor country like Nepal where millions of people go hungry. And the politicians who have
ruled the country during this period have sucked the country dry and brought it to the
brink of disaster. And now they are stooping to the nefarious activities of demoralizing
the security forces. Since our security forces are dedicated to their job of defending the
sovereignty of the nation, they cannot be distracted by the senseless outbursts of the
politicians whose loyalty to the nation is suspect. The top priority the nation is facing
at the moment is to end the civil war most expeditiously. And this can happen only when we
have a government of honest and patriotic men that can command respect and support from
the people. And this demands immediate dissolution of the house, formation of a caretaker
government of honest and patriotic people which will hold a free and fair election within
one year and restore real democracy back to the people. This caretaker government must
negotiate with the Maoists, assuage their grievances and bring them to the mainstream of
Nepal's political life. All these can be possible only if the king can rise up to the
occasion. The poor Nepalese, betrayed by the corrupt politicians, are looking up to him.
If he still hesitates to act, it may not only generate deep frustrations amongst the
people, but may bode ill for the country with far-reaching repercussions. Since we are
only advocating a brief suspension of the constitution so that the newly elected
government might focus their whole attention on strengthening democracy, we do hope the
king will give due consideration to our humble suggestions. We can assure him that the
whole people of Nepal along with the security forces will whole-heartedly support him in
this noble task of defending the integrity of the nation and invigorating our hard won
democracy. |
