Girija Prasad Koirala has, at last, found a
match who can pay him back in his own coin. Had Prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba been
bold enough to accept some sane advice during his first stint, his stature today would
have been totally different. Anyway, it is gratifying to see that he has matured in the
meantime. And now he is standing at the crossroad of his political future. At this
juncture Deuba does not need the support of viciously corrupt and anti-national leadership
of the Nepali Congress. Rather he must exert himself in winning over all patriotic forces.
This is not the time when he should be swayed over by petty coats, cronies, sycophants and
self-oriented politicians. The exigency of the situation demands that he count the
unstinted support of all honest, dedicated and nationalist people irrespective of their
political affiliations, if any, and form a nationalist government to restore peace. Since
peace is the top priority no avenue must be left out unexplored. The civil war plaguing
the country must be brought to most speedy end. And dialogue and negotiation are the only
alternatives. The international support Prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been able to
attract might make it more difficult for him to achieve his objective. It sounds
paradoxical but recent events that have happened in the capital have clearly demonstrated
that certain extra-territorial elements are unhappy at the development and are bent on
destabilizing politics in Nepal. Consequently, it has become the bounden duty of the small
but patriotic Nepalese intelligentsia to rally round and come to the rescue of the nation.
They must not forget that they have been exploited for a long time and it is high time
they broke the dragnet and worked unitedly for the country. As far as Prime minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba is concerned, he could not have found a better opportunity to cut down
Girija Prasad Koirala to his size, save the country from his evil machination to feed his
unsatiable avarice for power and pelf and expose the hidden hands that are muddling the
political waters of Nepal. Circumstances have provided Sher Bahadur Deuba an excellent
opportunity to establish himself as a nationalist politician. If he fails to rise to the
occasion and succumbs to temptations and threats, it will be better for him and for the
country to make room for somebody with more guts. If he can muster enough courage to stand
up to all the challenges like a true Nepali, he can rest assured all patriotic Nepalis
will offer him their unstinted support and cooperation.
The black clouds of a nuclear war in the
South Asian skies do not seem to scatter away. Even though the situation is very, very
scary, we are still optimistic that good sense will ultimately prevail and the region will
be saved of the nuclear holocaust. As it is, there can be no comparison between the two
belligerents. India is four times bigger in size and seven times bigger in population. She
has lined up three quarters of a million troops on the border whereas Pakistan has only
one quarter. But, in this age since size or number have no relevance, they might not be a
big advantage or handicap. Who wins and who loses, too, would not make big difference. But
the devastation the war would cause to the region would be incalculable and smaller
nations like Nepal would have to suffer immeasurable miseries for no fault of theirs.
Consequently, Nepal still has firm faith in the wisdom of the leaders of both countries
and the all out war will be averted. All those big statesmen working night and day will
surely succeed in persuading the leaders of the feuding countries to defuse the volatile
situation. At the same time, they must not fail to agree that they can no more delay the
final solution of the problem that keeps on generating such a situation all the time. As
far Nepal is concerned, she is always for the oppressed people and strongly believes that
they must be restored their fundamental right without any delay. |
