Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Urban aggression!

Niraj Aryal

Amid the Maoists' growing violence and atrocities and the government led forces inability to deal with the situation, plus the present government's failure to reconcile with the democratic forces and also of the annoying of the media has amplified the situation to such an extent that gives an impression that the country is poised for a big change.

The joint movement in the 1990 that reinstated the democratic setup had seen an urban centered aggression against the autocratic panchayati rule. The panchayati regime’s vulnerability to handle the situation or to a greater extent the magnanimity of the late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev had seen the multi-party system restored.

This time though the case seems to be entirely different, in addition to the urban centered aggression, the 15 year long insurgency demanding for a republican setup have added to the problem and strengthened the aggression and vice versa. What change this magnitude of aggression in the long run would bring to this country is not easy to predict at the moment. However, predictably any wrong moves on the part of the present government could bring a disaster of a greater magnitude to the country, this is very easy to predict.

Another major question that comes in mind at this point is that will the current government under the direct aegis of His Majesty the King be able to turn the tide of this urban centered aggression or yield to their political demands? On the other hand even if a point of settlement is reached with the urbanites and a government thereafter is formed this becomes not as important as to all the previous governments and also to the present government taming the insurgency is becoming out of question.

Though the rebels as yet have not been able to gather popular support in the urban centers but have been able to strike hard to government led forces and thus confusing the remote mass as to who should they rely on. The Maoists in the remote areas be it a forceful or voluntary have been able to gather support and always gaining in strength. Their presence close to the urban centers cannot be neglected at this time.

In the mean time signals coming out from south of the country suggests that our closest neighbor, India is getting edgy with the current situation here. Indian defense minister Pranab Mukharjee’s recent remark on Nepali situation suggest this fact and brings us back to pre-democratic period in 1990 during the last few days of panchayat rule.

The King then had tried to make a compromise with the political parties fighting against the regime for a multi party democracy instead of bowing down to popular Indian demands. Kudos to late King Birendra.