Editorial (Spotlight Weekly)

Now that the Dashain and Tihar festivities are over, Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has to gird up his loins and start functioning. We have already expressed the feelings of the man in the street about his machinations to lure the same corrupt and anti-nationalist parties to join the government. If he has any self-confidence, he must not enlist any member of the discredited parties in the government. He must have known that he won't have an easy time before he accepted the responsibility. Now, he must be prepared to take upon himself all the kudos or blame for his success or failure. Chand is, indeed, a soft speaking, simple and patriotic person. But, a Prime Minister in Nepal, specially at this juncture, must be equipped with much more than that. His initial imperatives are to win the confidence of the people and to convince them that he possesses the ingenuity to control the explosive situation persisting in the country. Since his mandate is limited to starting a dialogue with the rebels and holding the elections as early as possible, he must forbear from saying and doing things that may prove to be controversial and might even mitigate the justification of his appointment. Neither should he permit his junior colleagues to cross the "Laxman Rekha." But the manner his deputy, Badri Prasad mandal, has tried to rake up the citizenship issue at this specific time, might boomerang against the government. Mandal, perhaps, has totally overlooked the glaring fact that he could be the only oddity in the present cabinet. He surely would not like the skeletons in his closet to come out. If he is a wise man he must not let his unattainable ambitions ride too high and try to use this opportunity to fan them. All knowledgeable people know well where do his Samson's locks lie. As such, Chand's job is not only unenviable, it is most difficult and unpleasant as well. If he still preseveres in his attempts to win over the discredited politicians to join his caretaker government instead of inducting new faces that could prove to be honest, efficient and patriotic, he would be precipitating his own ruin and that of his country. His only concern should be to function, to deliver and to achieve. Since his belief, his reputation and his country are at stake, he must only concentrate on how to preserve them rather than be led astray by the opinions of peoples who do not have any stake whatsoever. He must not fail to realize that all those who offer him their precious advice or pressurize him to tow their line are not suffering at all and neither ever will. And he must also try to understand how sincerely anxious they are for us, our poor people and our wretched country. If their sympathy were not clouded with their own interest, would not they have genuinely come to our help to solve this vexing problem long ago? And the most important thing for him not to overlook is that he is trying to induce those politicians to join his government who have become notorious as pawns. If Chand does not want to learn from experience, that would be his destiny. We can only take the horse to the water, we cannot make it drink.

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The acceleration in their violent activities by the Maoists in recent days and their decision not to call off the three day bandh are clear indications that they want to strengthen their position for bargaining in the ensuing dialogue with the government. Even though the belligerent parties always want to start a dialogue from the position of strength, what do the Maoists want to achieve by destroying the very infrastructures of development of our poor country?They will be only alienating the sympathies of their poorer brethren. Why don't they realize that their vandalism does not hurt the corrupt politicians nor the richer section of the society? It only aggravates the hardships and miseries of the poor people in whose interests they have been raging this disastrous civil war. Some day, sooner or later, this civil war has to come to an end and, may be, the Maoists too might become a part of the government. How would they like to be in the shoes of the present day politicians ruling the country? We have, time and again, exhorted them not to play in the hands of the enemies of the country. Perhaps, they need not be told that their violent activities have not helped their cause at all. We too are not at all happy with all those political parties that wielded power in the last twelve years and want them punished for their rampant corruption and anti-national behavior. But we cannot agree that the poor and innocents should pay for the crimes committed by the hardened criminals. And that is exactly what is happening now. The Maoists have to come to the negotiating table. And the sooner they came, the better for everybody. If they are not being tools in the hands of the enemies of state, it is high time they decided to stop their deaths and destructions. They must state quite explicitly whom they want to negotiate with. They should have no doubts whatsoever that King Gyanendra would be more than cooperative once they renounced violence and agreed to a dialogue. They must understand that it is never too late to realize a mistake and make necessary retributions. It demands not only exceptional courage and a lot of statesmanship, but also a great wisdom and love for their countrymen. The Maoist leadership have to prove that, unlike the unscrupulous Nepalese politicians who are mainly responsible for this terrible situation in our poor country, they are men of vision, character and integrity.