Editorial»
End this nightmare
DEC 15 - Despite repeated pleas from human rights groups, the press, civil society and even some foreign governments, the Surya Bahadur
Thapa administration has gone ahead with implementing one of its most controversial projects: the arming of civilians to combat Maoist insurgents.
The Royal Nepal Army’s chief eastern division commander, Maj. Gen. Pradip Pratap Bam Malla said on December 5 that the RNA was ready to arm civilians who are to be selected by an all-party committee. These civilians will be given arms and training to protect their communities from the rebels.
What Maj. Gen. Malla didn’t say was that the RNA was not just “going to” but had already begun training civilian groups in Sudama village of Sarlahi district in the eastern Terai. This is the same district where a few months ago, locals allegedly chased away Maoist rebels from a village. The Maoists later denied that they were involved in the village fracas, but who notices such inconvenient denials?
Though no arms have been distributed yet to Sudama villagers, a senior RNA officer in the Eastern Regional Command said that weapons would soon be provided to the villagers. “We will then expand the programme to other villages,” the RNA officer told me.
With the implementation of this controversial programme, our worst fears have come true. But these fears are nothing compared to the nightmare that lies ahead. Nepal is now firmly on its way to not just nation-wide militarization, but a dangerous gun culture which has the potential to tear society and communities apart. This is something which even the Maoists couldn’t have hoped for in their wildest dreams.
To be sure, it is the Maoists who brought the country to this stage. Their rejection of parliamentary democracy and subsequent reign of terror and mayhem didn’t just throw political parties and democratic institutions in disarray but also opened the way for a royalist takeover, triggering the path to militarization. No one knows where this path will eventually lead, but the signs are not good.
The rampant violations of human rights, the disappearances of scores of citizens, the killings of innocent children and civilians – they all tell a sorry tale.
Both sides, the government forces and the Maoists, appear bent on escalating the violence to gain strategic advantage in what has often been called an unwinnable war. If the war is unwinnable - and most government leaders and RNA officers admit that in private - then what is stopping the powers that be to de-escalate and instead try and win the peace?
By now everyone knows that the prescription to end this mayhem lies in getting the political parties on board a broad-based government and giving it the task of negotiating with the Maoists. That will not end the war immediately, but it will turn the three-way conflict into a two-way conflict by aligning the interests of the monarchy with the parties. That in turn could pave the ground for another cessation of hostilities and peace talks.
But no, that is not likely to happen anytime soon. In spite of the incessant rumours that Prime Minister Thapa could soon be on his way out and replaced by a new broad-based government, no such signs are on the horizon. Instead, Kathmandu’s power elite appear comfortable with the way things are, and there is no incentive for change.
What is rather happening now is that in their bid to outdo each other, the Palace and the parties are locked in an intricate game of one-upmanship which can only lead to disaster. While the two sides lock horns, the Maoists are happily expanding their influence areas, now even hitting Nepal’s economic and agriculture heartland – the Terai.
You can see where this will lead to next: the productivity of the Terai – Nepal’s food bowl – is certain to dwindle, and Kathmandu and rest of the mountainous countryside is likely to face an acute food crisis in the near future. The security forces will be drawn into defending precarious supply lines to the urban centers in the hills, allowing the Maoists to increase influence even further in the lowlands. The government’s predictable response will be to increase the number of security forces and import more arms and ammunition. Aside from benefiting the war profiteers, such policies will of course lead to further escalation. A vicious cycle if there ever was one.
The only way to put an end to this vicious cycle is to get all sides talking. And that doesn’t only mean the Palace, parties and the Maoists, but also the RNA (which sometimes appears to have an independent mind of its own) and some of our foreign friends like India and the US.
(The writer can be reached at <suman 66 @hotmail.com>)Posted on: 2003-12-15 02:54
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