National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

New Unification Campaign Needed

By KAMAL SHRESTHA

Nepal is in dire need of another unification campaign. The critical stage the nation has reached today has confronted the people with a giant dilemma. The bloody spree unleashed by Maoist guerrillas has become a serious concern. Innocent people are being killed across the country. Development infrastructure the country painstakingly built over the decades are being blown up. Once recognised as a land of peace, Nepal has turned into a region of relentless disputes, violence and battles.

"The deteriorating situation of the country over the last few years has now reached a critical point. It is imperative to ask who led the country to this situation." This question raised by army chief General Prajwalla SJB Rana at Shivapuri on March 27 triggered a storm of protests from the political class. However, one cannot deny the fact that it is a question thousands of Nepalis are asking today.

The last 12 years of multiparty democracy have proved to be a bane for the nation. After the fall of the partyless Panchayat system, people thought they had attained democracy of the people, for the people and by people. What they got instead was misrule perpetrated in the name of the people.

Democracy in Nepal has become a funny political game that entertains our neighbors, not us. It has proved beneficial not to the people who should have been the catalyst of change, but to the political parties and their leaders bent on preserving their fiefdom. Almost all the parties in parliament have become part of the government in the last 12 years. But, as Gen. Rana questioned, "Have these elected representatives been fulfilling their duty in their constituencies?"

Most Nepalis think their lives have taken a turn for the worse after the restoration of multiparty democracy. Who is responsible for creating this disorder, apart from politicians? If anyone else is responsible, it is the people who have become mute spectators to the mockery the political class has made of democracy.

The country is in stage of utter confusion and unprecedented crisis because of years of neglect from the rulers, bad governance and extreme politicization of state institutions and society. The voices raised against corruption, misrule and disorder have had no hearing. While making pious pronouncements on the people's freedom to express themselves, politicians have plugged their ears. With the people's hopes and concerns out of the way, politicians are busy subverting rivals in an endless game for power and are shifting responsibility. If the people's perception is that politicians are always creating confusion in order to grab power, it is not one without validity.

The country is facing a great challenge in the form of escalating Maoist violence. At a time when the country needs to unite to defeat terrorism, some politicians are still trying to exploit the situation for their petty interests. Those who accused Gen. Rana of overstepping his authority as a military man should have first considered their own failure to provide effective government. Those who saw the army chief's speech as a ploy to create rifts within the ruling party should have considered whether political parties in Nepal have ever been united.

The deaths of thousands of innocent people could not bring even a semblance of change in the behavior of the political class. But the army chief's brutally candid comments triggered an outcry. Gen. Rana has single-handedly performed a remarkable feat in shaking our politicians from their stupor.

Politicians have their own story. They say it would not be difficult to shoulder the responsibilities entrusted to them if minor disputes and differences were put aside hands in the interest of a broader democratic alliance. They exhort the people to remember that sensitivity, unity and consensus would strengthen the spirit, objective and achievements of the historic people's movement.

But why don't they acknowledge that they themselves are responsible for creating these "minor disputes and differences". They are busy blaming each other for the country's ills and are pulling each other's legs when they should have been providing political support to the anti-insurgency operations of the security forces. Instead, political actors are busy questioning each other's motives and potentials. Moreover, they have the audacity to say that violence has escalated after the state of emergency was declared.

The time has come for all political parties, civil society and the general people to move ahead together to resolve the problems of the country. Joint efforts are needed not only to combat terrorism but also to overcome all other challenges Nepal will undoubtedly face in its quest to emerge out of poverty and despair.

The country needs genuine patriotism and unity to safeguard democracy, ensure peace and promote development. United we stand, divided we fall.