Editorial (Spotlight Weekly)

My main preoccupation of consultations with the physician having finished I have started dialogues with friends who are known as well wishers of Nepal. Like all good friends they all seem extremely concerned about the future of the country. And like all others they too are looking up to the King to come to the rescue of the nation. They do still believe that, “King Gyanendra like his illustrious father will not hesitate to take whatever steps necessary to defend the country from further ruin and devastation. Committed as he is to uphold democracy and constitutional monarchy it seems he wants to avoid any precipitate action that might smack of authoritarianism. And that must be the reason why he is persisting in taking advices knowing well that, at times, they might not meet the need of the hour. One should not harbour any kind of misgivings that King Gyanendra has lost control over the prevailing situation in Nepal. He can rise upto any occasion anytime he wants.” That was the sort of opinion expressed by persons who had travelled to Nepal recently. We too fully agree with this school of thought that King Gyanendra will not, at all, hesitate to take necessary steps at the appropriate time. The only question that bothers us is “When is the appropriate time?”

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It looks like the SAARC Summit will not be torpedoed this time. The thawing of the relations between India and Pakistan is the best guarantee for the smooth functioning of the SAARC, irrespective of the fact whether the Summits are, at all, productive. Since the Summit is fast approaching and the chairperson too is rounding off his official visits to all the SAARC countries without any hitch, it can be reasonably assumed that Islamabad will host this Summit in early January next year. Nepal’s Prime Minister, Surya Bahadur Thapa, the incumbent chairperson of the SAARC seems very optimistic. Thapa, five times Prime Minister of Nepal has a very towering personality in South Asian politics. He wields enormous influence with the biggest member of the organization. That must be why despite his own party’s ultimatum to resign he has been defying his party. While talking to reporters in Kathmandu recently Thapa said, “Islamabad Summit will confer SAARC with new vigour and distinct vision.” Does it mean that in the eighteen years of its existence SAARC had not been able to develop any vision at all? What has it been working for all this time? In the Kathmandu Summit the would be chairperson of SAARC, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, had provided an excellent opportunity for Nepal to exert her authority by his master stroke of diplomacy. Nepal totally failed to grab the occasion and exposed her naïveté and incompetence. Let us hope Thapa, who is expected to lead the delegation to the SAARC Summit at Islamabad will be able to play a more dominant role and succeed in bringing some revolutionary changes in the SAARC constitution so that it may justify its very existence. The eighteen year long experience has proved that the SAARC constitution needs to be more pragmatic and consequently demands some timely amendments. If the organization is to play a productive role in the overall development of the region, all the members must agree, without any kind of reservation whatsoever, to update the SAARC constitution so that no member need suffer from any kind of complex and all will be able to behave in equality. And they must not fail also to provide in the constitution that the Summit would not be affected if any member cannot attend it due to any kind of pressing urgency at home or abroad. Otherwise, these annual Summits will be nothing but an exercise in futility, a meeting of ideologies moving in opposing directions but still coming together to enjoy the pleasures of wining and dining, which these poor countries cannot afford to indulge in.