Giving 'peace a chance' in Nepal!

The new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has reasons to be optimistic regarding his impending talks with the Maoists insurgents. On the contrary the people perhaps possess no concrete reasons to be fully optimistic as at the moment Deuba could be. The reasons are obvious.

For Deuba, the personalities with whom he is intending to go for a "meaningful dialogue" soon are known. What is also known to Deuba are the demands of the insurgents. Apart from that Deuba also knows that he as a liberal man now equipped with party's mandate and sympathies from all segments of the Nepali society perhaps could hand over some extra concessions to the other camp in order to give "peace a chance" in this totally battered Kingdom and yet will not be losing his face. This means that Deuba for the moment is the one and the only personality who could bargain peace with the insurgents and bring them back from the jungles to Kathmandu streets. Some might think on these lines, however, things will not move as some might have in their imaginations. To put it mildly, the insurgents will not move the Deuba way.

Regarding the perception of the lay men regarding Deuba's credentials, what could be best said here is that among the crowd of the many congressites, Deuba could be the best at least in finding a solution to this overly stretched imbroglio which has already taken two thousand precious lives. The lay men expect a positive change in the country because it was Deuba's tenure in government then when the insurgents found their way to the jungles. In one way Deuba could be blamed for all the sad happenings because had he attended to some of the Maoists demands presented to him then, the Maoists insurgency would have not taken this form and dimension. The people would wish to get this problem resolved from the person whose total negligence then towards the insurgents' problem facilitated the latter to go berserk.

Most importantly, Deuba must understand that he is talking to the insurgents at a time when for so many reasons the government's hands were down vis-à-vis the Maoists. The insurgents' superiority over the establishment's security system that was amply visible during the past encounters must have emboldened the insurgents and they would wish not to settle for less. However, the fact is that Deuba's hands are definitely tied by the existing constitution which means that the negotiators from the government's side can't move an inch even on matters that they were not supposed to discuss even. It is here that the real political acumen of a beaming Deuba would be put to rigorous test. This means that Deuba will have to walk a tight rope during the talks which means that the people must be, as one scholar has put it, cautiously optimistic.

Be that as it may, Deuba must be encouraged for whatever he is doing at the moment regarding the Himalayan issue of the Maoists insurgency.

By the same token, the insurgents must also be told that they too if wish to bag sympathies of the common men of the country must renounce the path of violence. Too much of violence will definitely boomerang to their cause or whatsoever. As Nepali nationals they too must understand the fact that this Nepali breed has ever exhibited its hatred for the excessive shedding of blood, be it here or even abroad. It is time that they too understand the fragile state of Nepal's politics and join the mainstream national politics and serve the nation not hiding in the jungles but being very much inside the parliament. That would be the time when the national population will judge their new "people's representatives" in parliament and carefully watch how they push the matters of the lay men for which they apparently entered into the jungles.

Wisdom must prevail on both the sides during the talks. Both must feel that they were talking on behalf of the people and people only. A negative peace, as suggested by Dr. Bhattachan, would be of no use to the nation. The government must exhibit proper magnanimity during the talks as the other camp has some demands that could be easily met with by the establishment if it really is concerned for the welfare and the upliftment of the people who remained ever neglected by the state. The insurgents too understand that Deuba set-up too has its limits. Any undue pressure would perhaps disturb the peace-like atmosphere which has dawned in the nation only recently.

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