mainlogo2.jpg (11011 bytes)

telelogo4.jpg (7056 bytes)   Kathmandu, Wednesday, 25 September 2002

E D I T O R I A L


Blame should go primarily to the politicians!

Whether one liked it or not but the fact is that majority of the population does not possess any sympathy or for that matter respect as it should have been for the lame-duck caretaker government of Sher Bahadur Deuba. In effect, the people denied this sympathy for the executive branch of the State long back when Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala remained instrumental in bringing in the Dhamija and the Lauda scam into the mainstream national politics. Now that Sher Bahadur Deuba, a long time associate of Koirala who is now a declared political enemy of the latter, neither has been able to assure the people of their basic and fundamental right to live a secured life nor he has succeeded in bringing in the Maoists insurgency to attend talks. The threat to the lives of the population continues unabated. This is his Himalayan failure. Add to this the near-impossible of the convening of the elections on the dates declared by Sher Bahadur Deuba on count of various seen and unseen reasons. The result has been that people do not at all feel the very existence of a government in the truest sense of the term. Albeit the country is running because it has to run. This amply implies that the executive organ of the system has become already defunct. It is also so because informed citizenry maintain that if the congress rules in the capital district then it is the UML, which dominates the districts with its presence. Likewise, the remote villages we are told still being massively controlled by the Maoists insurgents. This means that the executive organ is fragmented into three equally competent and diametrically opposed parts. This is the reality indeed even if some one liked it or not. It has rightly been said that Nepal's executive organ sine 1990 remained engaged in "consent-manufacturing" only but never cared to "perform and function".

Likewise, the legislative organ of the system is perhaps the most disliked one in the sense that it is this organ and the men housed therein at different intervals of time in the past twelve years or so made the people allergic to them and they did so by exhibiting their excessive lust for power and money. In the process the lawmakers extorted money as and when they wished to do so from the national exchequer which saw a climax when one male lawmaker managed some how or the other to enjoy "pregnancy" benefits from the parliament secretariat. Others managed to extort money from this organ to buy a highly expensive "life-saving" capsule called "Fortran" which they never used at all because they were not sick at that particular time when they applied for the disbursement of the money thus talked to have been utilized to get the said capsule for their personal use. Unfair means galore. Thus the legislative organ of this system became defunct much ahead of the executive, to say the least.

The third very important organ of the system, the judiciary, too came under severe criticisms giving rise to various wanted and unwanted speculations against the very sanctity of this organ itself. With highest regard to the nation's judicial system and its various verdicts and rulings, what would be most appropriate here to pen is that the men handling the judicial organ too now come under the ambit of suspicion for it is said that acts of corruption were abundant in this sector and thus this organ too has lost its unquestioned credibility which it used to enjoy in the not too distant past. If the allegations made against this organ were true then what could be advised to the men manning this sector must now work hard in order to regain its already lost prestige and credibility. This is just an advice, which is not aimed at all in undermining the sovereignty of the judicial organ of this "democratic" state. We possess immense respect for the nation's judicial system which at least is considered to be yet not that polluted as other organs of the system had been. But then yet it means that nation's judicial system too could be now brought under discussion. This is no less a damage to this organ's uninterrupted and continued prestige it enjoyed in the eyes of the majority of the national population until a few years back.

And finally, the fourth estate that is the press and is widely considered to be the fourth pillar of the nation-state too more often than not been described as an excessively partisan lot which instead of informing and educating the population has been confusing through its politically biased reporting. This means that this organ too is not free from criticisms. That the Nepali press is a damaged lot got its reflection only last week when the visiting International Media Leaders from the International Press Institute bluntly revealed that the Nepali press and the men involved in this profession lacked "professionalism". Though the revelation and the conclusion arrived at by the members of the IPI delegation was very difficult to digest as it came from "foreign" observers but one had to gulp this bitter pill simply because many a people right here in the country had been voicing the same for quite long. This means that the fourth estate too has lost its credibility and hence could be concluded that this sector too has become more or less defunct.

And finally, the fifth organ of the democratic system as is largely called and considered, the civil society, too could not function as was expected of it but instead kept itself engaged in advocating the political vibrations of political parties to which it was in essence attached to or affiliated with. This means that the civil society too could not live up to its role.

Given all the universally accepted and recognized pillars of the nation-state had more or less become defunct in the country which should mean that the system now in vogue has been very badly and disgustingly managed by those who claim themselves to be democrats and members of the civil society and the men from the media sector. All perhaps ignored the very basic tenets of the system which make it a democratic state in truest sense of the term. Who is to be primarily blamed for inviting such a chaotic state? Certainly the politicians and the leaders of today's Nepal.


Chief-Editor : Narendra Prasad Upadhyaya
Editor : Surendra Aryal
Circulation Manager   Machhindra Pandey
Printed at : Hisi offset Press, Kathmandu
Office : Ghattekulo, Dillibazar
Telephone : 977-1-770370
E-mail : tgw@ntc.net.np
Post Box No. : 4063, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Headline | National | 5 Question  | 2nd Impression | International | Past


Send your comments and letters to the editor at tgw@ntc.net.np
2002 © Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. P.O. Box 876, Durbar Marg, Kathmandu, NEPAL. Tel : 977 1 220 773, 243566 (6 lines). Fax: 977 1 225 407.Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior permission. No part of the articles which appear in the internet version on The Weekly Telegraph may be reproduced without the permission of Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. For reprinting rights, please write to US. Send us your feedback: CONTACT US  ABOUT US  HOME ADVERTISE WITH US  TOP