Resume the dialogue process at the earliest

At time of preparing this write up Monday afternoon, the Rolpa stalemate remains intact leaving all to keep their fingers crossed and interpreting the whole mess in a manner suiting to one's political interests. It is simply because no reports were trickling from Rolpa or were simply blocked by the establishment for reasons unknown to us. Rumors and contradictory statements emanating from various interested quarters have confused the national population. The government at such times as is usual comes out with "structured" statements which leads to nowhere and hence the population prefer to dismiss the government's claims or at best ignores their manipulated version of the scheme of things.

Be that as it may, the Rolpa deadlock has several messages worth pondering over.

Firstly, it becomes pretty clear that the Nepali army obeys the orders of the establishment when properly convinced. Secondly, the Nepali army visibly possesses the acumen and the needed strength to face the threats from the Maoists insurgents. Thirdly, the army contrary to claims made otherwise is adequately trained to meet such eventualities. Most importantly, fourthly, the Nepali army too prefers not to direct their bullets towards their own Nepali brethren albeit in the Maoists camp provided they were not attacked from the other side.

And finally the Nepali army remains firm in its previous demand that they be provided with an all party consensus prior to recruiting them on such missions. It has also become faintly clear that the Nepali army has gone to Rolpa only "in aid of civil authority". It remains still unclear what if they are told by the government to wage a sort of war on the Maoists insurgents without an all party consensus? Will they abide by the government's orders or will remain adamant in getting their move sanctioned by all of the political forces operating in the Kingdom will perhaps determine the future course of their actions against the insurgents. In addition to this the army also wishes to take control over the area where they will be told to proceed. It is here that the government perhaps remains hesitant and wishes the military to remain under the command of the local administration to which the military politely dismisses. The fact is that excluding the ruling party, the rest of the political parties prefer the resumption of a dialogue between the two warring rivals instead of the mobilization of the army. This is a fact the army knows better. These were some of the nitty-gritty, which must be taken into proper account prior to the mobilization of the army to the affected areas in the far-flung western districts. The gist is that the Nepali army too wishes to refrain from killing of the Nepali insurgents. They too apparently wish the problem getting solved through the dialogues.

The other side of the story is that the army too must take into account of the fact that despite their colossal strength, the insurgents have forced them to remain where they are since three days or so. This means that the insurgents too could not be dismissed outrightly. It is altogether a different matter that the insurgent's using the abducted policemen as human shield, as the rumors have it, has come under scathing criticism from all possible quarters. Some even say that the insurgents' have managed innocent civilians as their shield against the possible attacks from the military who apparently have encircled the entire jungle wherein the insurgents together with the abducted policemen were currently in. However, the consoling part is that the Maoists too have told that they would not be the first to use the guns against the army. This means that they too prefer to refrain from the use of the bullets.

In our opinion, had Koirala been liberal enough with his friend Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and allowed the latter to continue in the Prime Ministerial chair some seventeen months back, the dialogue process what had already been in progress with the Maoists, things would have by now taken a very positive turn and presumably the country would have restored at least a sort of normalcy. It was Koirala's lust for power that he denied this opportunity to his rival-friend and disturbed the whole atmosphere and brought us all to this chaotic stage wherein a Nepali brother is all out prepared to kill his other brother should the things go out of hand in Rolpa.

In the absence of full details regarding the ongoing events at the moment in and around Rolpa what else could be advised to both the confronting Nepali brothers is that think twice before you let the bullet come out of the barrel.

In the same spirit, what could be best advised to both the government and the insurgents is that come to the negotiating table and shun violence so that the rest of the Nepali brethren live in an atmosphere of peace which has definitely become a rare commodity indeed.

May the Almighty bless both the establishment and the insurgents.

The melodrama " Democracy" that is being played in the backs of the citizen is getting harder and harder to swallow these days. The Political leaders are nothing but soap stars who are here only to fill-up their pockets by the display of their shenanigans – which is nothing but comical and has reached the point of absurdity. And the leaders of proper lineage with badge of honor of being dissident in the past, the septuagenarians, are only after absolute power and establishing dynastic oriented political hierarchy in the name of democracy. And I say welcome to democracy in Nepal.

In careful analysis of these troubling and despairing times we the " thinking people" have had a bad case of inertia fed by apathy and introspection that borders on self destruction. We have a silent voice that does not have the resounding effect of populist rhetoric nor do we have the rapt audience who can understand our message in the bottle -shaped by foreign MBAs’ or just let us say of different prospective. The fault lies not with the people but us- we have made no effort to connect with the people and have taken high handed attitude as if we are insulated from the ills and effects that is present in the system. We tend to over intellectualize, rationalize, and have limited our discussions & debates among closed inner circle of like-minded people. It is the crux of the problem.

Now we have to make an effort to spread the message that transcends all strata of population. We should propose model of practical democracy that is home grown and readily accepted because of its capacity to accommodate and not marginalize rights and issue of the country and its citizens. Unless a system of governance can give value to its citizen – it is not a valid system and should therefore be discarded. Nation should have the capacity to make wrongs right – this does not mean people who see things in different light should be branded undemocratic or anti – government. They have the equal right to profess and undertake such initiative. The question might arise what is home grown democracy? Briefly, it is a democracy that should be molded to fit the nation’s aspirations based on its overall geopolitical situation, economical and social indicators. The focus should be in tackling grass root issues and problems- that creates awareness, due importance, and most of all makes people locally active in their own development work. The community based development work is critical in bringing the community together and enhancing their skills in identifying their own unique problems and hence solutions. The alienation of community, among citizens, and among the political is mostly due to Center government acting as the " be all, and end of all." Instead of creating a transparent society there is more and more indication that every spheres of life is influenced by dark force that cannot be seen only heard. The Mafia like grouping of race, class, and region is taking a hold of this country. Is this what Democracy is all about.

Political parties have had a field day in showing their true colors and they have morphed to be the nemesis they fought against. The case scenario is just the same -few elitist have hijacked the course of the nation on a pretext of so-called- mandate own by coercion, vote buying, playing race card, and simply enjoying the naivete of illiterate masses. All that is to show for is mansions for few and skill development on horse trading- that is it. Has a nation benefited by getting their civil liberties – not the least instead they are busy protecting their civil liberties from disorder and fringe outfits such as Maobadis. The feeling of alienation, insecurity, and total apathy towards the government is the general feeling of the citizen. Who is to be blamed – the leaders of course but we are also to be blamed. It the duty of responsible citizen to demand better governance not take anything lying down. If political parties can rule on the basis of our support then they are also liable to act for our best interest but it is not the case. What has happened in Nepal after the restoration of democracy is that the political parties have been thoroughly effective in creating divide on basis of political affiliation of the masses. This gives them huge advantage. It is so because for citizens we lose our one voice that can make or break any government. This schism has been created not intentionally but by nature of political structure we have adopted. In quest to become Thomas Jefferson – it did not occur to people entrusted to build constitution to have a look in the mirror. The system works well only in environment that is conditioned or society that has the maturity to accept. None is true in case of Nepal. The freedom fighters heavily influenced by the people from the South just took for granted that once in power everything will work out fine because they were fighting for just war and that was democracy. It is like Maobadis taking control without the clue of governance but just on the basis of their ideology, right or wrong. After ten years of abuse of power it is conclusive now that it looks as if only transfer of power took place not the promise of good governance based on tenets of democracy.

Instead of being unifying factor the political parties are hell bent on bringing fissures amongst the people by liberally using colors and signs to divide and rule. The political discourse has taken a new meaning - it is almost a religion verging on zealotry. Democracy in Nepal is what people in the pulpit say it is. And is it any wonder that definition is correlated with their best interest or interest served first, and if by any chance they see the threat or perceive threat then they jointly condemn, left & right, without giving benefit of the doubt. This is what democracy is all about in Nepal - from dropouts, to common man, and by & for exclusive members of parliament. I need not go any further. It is a sorry state of things and everyone is aware of it but no sensible man wants to dip his hand in pool of sharks but may be this is where everything has gone wrong. The problem is evident and so is the solution. Time may not be too far when we as Nepali have to make a hard choice to standup and be counted or just be a head count in a system that has no social or economical value for an individual or a society.

We stand witness to the biggest flawed experiment on the life of common citizen. In the name of upholding civil liberty and principle of democracy- nation is slowly and gradually disintegrating into nation that has collectively resigned to accept the hara-kiri of decay and destitution. The thinking and doer citizens of the nation have nothing to show for except wallow in incrimination and attend seminars that outline the flaws and sorry state of the nation. In a nation run by third class political actors, most of them high school dropouts, bent on holding onto power without the care in the world for common people – it is only matter of time before start of the fire. Welcome to hopelessly democratic Nepal.

By : Pravin, Lainchour, Kathmandu

Date : June22nd,2001

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