National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

Anxious Times

The peace prospects still seem further away despite the commitment by the government to pursue the path of negotiations

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

Despite the initial euphoria of increasing prospects of peace talks leading to lasting peace in this war-ravaged impoverished Himalayan Kingdom following the appointment of new government that promised to end the conflict through negotiations, things have not moved in the positive direction – in fact, the Maoists have stepped up their violent activities across the country.

Two months after his appointment, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has started to reject declaring unilateral ceasefire. “I do not want another peace process, which would be aborted in months,” said PM Deuba, who during his earlier tenure in 2001 had declared unilateral ceasefire – which was immediately welcomed and followed by the Maoists.

A bombed bus : Shocking sight

The Maoists, on their part, have not made clear whether they would be willing to sit in dialogue with the present government. In various statements, Maoist leaders have continued to push for inviting the United Nations to mediate the talks. And they have also taken every opportunity to deplore Deuba government and term it as “a stooge of the palace and foreign reactionaries”.

A day after the government had stated it is ready to sit for talks with the Maoists, the Maoist chairman Prachanda ruled out the possibility of immediate ceasefire and/or peace talks with the government. In a statement released on July 20, Prachanda has criticized the “attitude of the Deuba government”. He blasted the government for stating that it cannot negotiate beyond the current constitution. In his statement, Prachanda has reiterated their demand to go for the election of constituent assembly following the peace talks that is held under the UN mediation.

On July 13, Bamdev Chhetri, a central member of the Maoists, said that although the government is talking about ceasefire, there was no plan on their side of announcing truce anytime soon. Speaking at a public program in Simaltari of Gulmi district in western Nepal, Chhetri said that even though government announces unilateral ceasefire, the Maoists would consider it only after getting assurances that the government is willing to talk on constitutional assembly and that, too, under the mediation of the United Nations.

Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari has started to say that the efforts of the government (for achieving peace) would start bearing fruits in next couple of months. “The environment for peace is building,” he believes.

Even as the process to initiate peace talks lingers on, the Maoists have stepped up their violent activities across the country. On July 2, Maoists shot to death Harka Bahadur Gurung, mayor of Pokhara – the major tourist city of Nepal.

Last week, a group of armed Maoists looted three trucks of food grains that was being transported to Achham district – in rural mid-western Nepal - where people are suffering from food shortage. The food grain belonged to the World Food Program (WFP).

On July 5, twelve police personnel and a civilian died after a police vehicle fell into a roadside ambush laid by the Maoists near Gardol of Parsa district – a district in central Nepal that borders with India.

A bitter clash between the Maoists and the security forces in Kalimati Kalche area of Salyan district of far-western Nepal on July 6 resulted in the deaths of 11 security personnel as well as the same number of Maoists.

On the same day Maoists shot to death a deputy superintendent of police and a ward chairman in two separate incidents in Kathmandu. The Maoists also shot to death an employee of the Home Ministry in Kathmandu the following day. The Maoists have shot to death mayor Dhan Bahadur Bam of Dhangadhi municipality of far-western district of Kailali on July 12. Two suspected Maoists killed a teacher on July 14 in Kathmandu.

On June 18, 14 Armed Police Force (APF) personnel and four civilians were killed in a landmine explosion followed by exchange of fire at Dhankhola of mid-western district of Dang. In the same month, Maoists crushed the legs of eight persons charging them of working against their policy in mid-western district of Achham. They were hammered in their leg for working in the farm of their landlords as agriculture laborers. In the last one week alone, two innocent civilians were killed in two separate bomb explosions by the Maoists in public places in Kathmandu.

In a letter addressed to Maoist chairman Prachanda, the London-based Amnesty International (AI) has asked the Maoists to refrain from the series of murders and other grave human rights abuses. The AI, in its letter submitted two weeks ago, has asked Prachanda to immediately instruct his cadres to stop attacking civilians. In the letter sent by its Asia and Pacific Regional Director, the AI has stated that in the last two weeks of June alone the Maoists have killed 10 civilians. The letter also protests the en masse abductions by the Maoists. It has expressed concern over the impact on the children due to the conflict and abductions.

Meanwhile, the civil society representatives and human rights activists have called on the government and the Maoists to immediately announce ceasefire and engage in peace talks. “If the Maoists and the government both exhibit due seriousness, a fruitful peace talks is likely,” said Padma Ratna Tuladhar, former facilitator of the government-Maoist talks.

Dr. Sundar Mani Dixit, coordinator of the Civil Society for Peace – a campaign for peace-building, has asked the Deuba government to initiate the process by withdrawing terrorist tags and red corner notices (issued through the Interpol) against the Maoist leaders. “Withdrawing of the terrorist tags will be the first step towards the holding of peace talks,” said Dr. Dixit.

Subodh Raj Pyakurel, chairman of Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) – the leading human rights organization – has been consistently asking the government to invite the UN mediation. “The mediation is necessary for effective negotiation,” he said.

Since the Maoists launched their ‘People’s war’ in February, 1996, nearly 10,000 people have already lost their lives. Already the government and the Maoists have sat for talks twice – in 2001 and in 2003. Both the times, the Maoists unilaterally walked out of the peace talks after the government refused to entertain their demand for the election of constitutional assembly – which they want in order to frame a new constitution for Nepal.

“The two pillars of Nepal – constitutional monarchy and multi party democracy – are non-negotiable. The government will adopt maximum flexibility to address other concerns raised by the Maoists,” said PM Deuba recently hinting that the government is still sticking to its gun.

“This is unfortunate. The Maoists are not going to sit for talks unless the government is prepared to discuss about the constitutional assembly. Such rigid stance by the government will kill the chances of peace talks,” said Shyam Shrestha, editor of Mulyankan monthly magazine.

As PM Deuba waits for fruitful talks and the Maoists continue to engage in violent spree, the people of Nepal desperately yearn for the restoration of peace in their lives.

Making Women Visible

In what appears to be for the first time in the history of Nepal, Sancharika Samuha in collaboration with the International Association for Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) is organizing a 4-day video camera training workshop (July 26-29) to women journalists.

The workshop has been initiated with the objective of providing the camera hardware as well as the content development knowledge of women journalists in order to bring out the gender-sensitive perspective in media.

“We are not concerned just with providing the knowledge of using a camera – anybody can do that. The more important aspect is to put women in control so that they can use the machine and come up with news reporting from their perspective,” said Kavita Joshi, director of Impulse – a New Delhi-based organization that provide training to people about producing documentaries and so on. Joshi is one of the resource persons for the training.

Around 12 women journalists – including three from outside Kathmandu – are taking part in the workshop. “This is a history-making event. We want to set the trend so that more women take up this job and use their capabilities to provide balanced reporting,” said Bandana Rana, president of Sancharika Samuha.

“This is an encouraging program. On behalf of the Nepal Television, I would like to offer the trainees to work as stringers,” said Durga Nath Sharma, general manager of the NTV. Sharma stressed that the trainees should focus more on content-development side rather than technological aspects of using camera.

Jaya Chandiram, president of IAWRT, emphasized the importance of women taking up jobs in media. “Over the years, there has been gradual increase in the number of women working in media. But they are yet to make the impact on the overall reporting as they are still not in top, decision-making level,” she said.