Editorial (Spotlight Weekly)

Now that the King is back from Pokhara, Kathmandu has started to buzz with all kinds of rumors and expectations. The comparative sense of security the scared and distressed people of Nepal felt to be in the capital has started to vanish. The so called peaceful agitations of the five political parties have almost paralyzed life in Kathmandu as they are turning into violent uprisings. Instead of using the grey cells, the government is using brute force to quell the demonstrations that naturally become violent since interested agent provocateurs would not miss such opportunities to fish in the troubled waters. The obsession of the poor people, whether it be in the hills or the terai, has been the quick restoration of peace and normalcy. And King Gyanendra has personally experienced how the people are pining for it. The continuous disruptions in their simple life by extortions, deaths and destructions have begun to even affect their reasoning. They no longer long for betterment and development. They just want their quiet and peaceful life back. But the government is finding it helpless to satisfy their even this very simple want. Before their hope and faith turn into frustration and they become malcontent, it is wise to take appropriate measures. We have never minced any words in our honest advice to the King. The Thapa government with its insensitive policies is only helping to wash the sins of the corrupt and discredited politicians. King Gyanendra has felt the pulse of his people and consequently given a call to make necessary preparations to hold the general elections in one year's time. And this demands an honest and effective government - a government which is clean and acceptable to the people, and which will be able to conduct a free and fair elections. All sensible people will agree that extraordinary situations demand extraordinary measures. And King Gyanendra is not only wise and experienced, but bold and imaginative. He has to take bold decisions if he wants to preserve constitutional monarchy. When he can easily find honest, dedicated men with vision and imagination, he need not fall back on corrupt and unsavory men, discarded by the nation. In accordance with his new year's message given to the people, the people are breathlessly waiting for him to act and act quick. While wishing a Happy New Year to all our countrymen, we do trust Lord Pashupati Nath will grant us wisdom to sink all the differences and save the country from disaster.

* * *

The newly appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse could not have said a better truth when he said that he needs India's cooperation to solve the long vexing Tamil problem in Sri Lanka. And this equally applies to the solution of Maoist insurgency in Nepal. India's surging ambition to become a giant in the world economy will be quite difficult to achieve if there is any lack of goodwill for her amongst her immediate neighbors and her neighborhood is bedevilled by violent insurgency. Because, it is not possible to check the spill over of terrorism, as is being evinced by the Nepali Maoists in recent days. Since it is in India's overall interest to keep her vicinity quiet and peaceful, India must renounce, once for all, the policy of rehotrics and come to the help of her neighbors with all sincerity. India cannot claim having exemplary relations with any of her neighbors. And it is high time India brought a total change in her mindset because the experiences of five decades must be able to teach us good lessons. Even Nepal-India relations need a detail review and new and practical paradigms set so that the relations always run on even keel. Regarding the distressing Maoist insurgency in Nepal, events have irrefutably proved that with the unstinted cooperation of India it can not only be contained but totally uprooted. Since the Nepali Maoists have been branded terrorists by India, why is India following discriminatory treatment to the Maoist leaders she apprehends is becoming enigmative. And it has also become quite clear that India can apprehend the Maoist leaders any time, if she wanted. Why do the Indian security forces fail to act when challenged by the Nepali Maoists? Such behavior can never become conducive to generate faith and trust. We had warned our Indian friends to become aware of Bhasmasurs and even our Maoists brethren of the Indian strategy. It seems none of them has heeded our counsel. Since it is in no body's interest to let this devastating insurgency to continue, India must join hands with Nepal to solve this problem. Because as Fareed Zakaria the noted Newsweek columnist too agrees with us when he says "Terrorism has become a Frankenstein's monster that has turned on the regimes that nurtured them." Even the Maoists must not fail to see signs on the horizon. As such, the sooner all of us become wiser, the better the chances for this scourge to be eradicated for good.