Editorial (Spotlight Weekly)

It is high time the Maoist leadership sits down and gives serious consideration on its activities that have taken the country to the brink of disaster. Since it is a lose-lose situation for both feuding parties, wisdom dictates that they should sit down together and thrash out their problems at the negotiating table. Indeed, the Maoists are finding it very difficult whom to sit down with, since all the main political parties that are in the government and all their splinter groups have totally exposed their true character. They are most undependable as they would stoop to any depth to grab the chair of authority. No wonder the Maoists are reluctant to deal with them. The Maoists must not lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming number of Nepalis that are in no way associated with the corrupt political parties want the turmoil to end immediately. The Maoists must also not fail to realize that the continued chaos and lawlessness, of not stopped, will usher in a situation that might induce the interested alien powers to pluck courage to directly interfere in our domestic affairs. Surely, they don't want that to happen. The Maoist leadership must have become wiser now to see how they are being used. They are not that naīve also not to notice changes in the horizon and to understand that the people they are relying on will never help them achieve their objective. Their fight is with the system. Maybe, their fight is with the King. That can be easily sorted out if they decide to sit with the right set of people. We had already offered our unsolicited services once before to bring peace and normalcy in the country. We do it again hoping the Maoists will take the offer quite seriously this time.

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It will be sheer waste of time and energy to discuss about Prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's most recent visit to New Delhi. Since we all had foreknowledge about what would Deuba achieve, we neither got frustrated nor disappointed. We are rather happy that he did not concede anything substantial as far as we know. If the Indians do not treat their Nepali counterparts as their equals, we should not blame them. One must be able to command respect. And no person without any character and integrity can ever command any respect anywhere. So, if we were at that end, perhaps, we would behave similarly. Those who are singing praises of Deuba's achievements are trying to fish for some kind of sinecure. They belong to the same flock that don't hesitate to sell their souls for personal gains. And we don't think it is, at all, worthwhile to even think about the lapses in protocol. Again, protocol assumes importance only when no party is downgraded and both the hosts and the guests look upon each other as equals. As such, we will rather wait for King Gyanendra's imminent visit to New Delhi. Since, all other problems except the Maoists can be shelved for the time being, all patriotic Nepalis are impatiently counting the hours and minutes to see whether King Gyanendra will be able to impress the Indians to be sincere in their promises, stop the double standards and try to win our respect and gratitude by showing their honesty, for a change. Even though a large number of Nepalis might find it hard to swallow it as long we don't buckle down and grant the Indian what they want, sometimes miracles do happen. For this to happen, King Gyanendra must take, in his entourage, men with stature and character who can stand up to the Indians to defend their national interests.