Editorial»
Musical chair won’t solve the problem
JAN 05 - In an attempt to take the steam off the street protests, King Gyanendra appoints perennially-waiting Madhav Kumar Nepal, the CPN-UML General Secretary, as the new Prime Minister of this beleaguered nation. The UML chief persuades Nepali Congress, People’s Front, Nepal, Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi faction) and Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party to join his government. Or perhaps the eager leaders of these parties may need no persuasion at all.
The mandate is same: restore peace, hold elections and resolve the Maoist-initiated conflict.
Everyone is happy, save those who lost out on the latest round of musical chair. They will cry hoarse and would not lose any opportunity to berate the government of the five-party alliance. This is one likely scenario in the coming days.
The other scenario is that the king will appoint old war-horse Kirti Nidhi Bista or any of the leftovers from the Panchayati era who still like to think they matter in national politics will be occupying the hot seat. Again the mandate will be similar. The king may try this experiment and keep the ace (government by the five-party alliance which will be closer to all-party government) for the last.
In such a case, the five-party alliance which would lose the momentum provided by the nation-wide student stir would cry wolf, yet again. Some of them might even rue the lost opportunity provided by the students’ massive protest that gave the much-needed oxygen to the dying “movement against regression”.
Only history will tell us whether this compromise, which is all likely, will go on to prove a very costly blunder.
It is near certain that the Surya Bahadur Thapa government is in its last stretch of the race (give it any distance you would like) and the new set up will take over.
Sadly, however, it will not resolve any of the pressing problems faced by the
Himalayan Kingdom.
This is not to say that the king and the parties should not strike a deal to find a way out of the political impasse dogging the nation. The sooner the two forces come to an understanding the better for the nation. There are two opinions about this.
But neither of the set-ups in their currently expected form can provide a panacea to the problems that have to be resolved for all time to come.
The five-party government (that is, the NC agrees to hitch its wagon to the UML star) is not an end in itself, but merely a means to resolve the pressing problems. And the problems include Maoist conflict, a monarchy that has stepped out of the constitutional lakshman rekha due to the parties’ fault, a burgeoning army that is making development expenditure shrink by the day, spiralling unemployment and poverty and devastated infrastructure. And not to forget, healing the scar of the nation that has been torn asunder by the conflict.
No government, whatever its composition, can last long and can provide respite unless these issues are seriously dealt with. Any half-hearted measure or ignorance to their existence will be the proverbial Damocles’ sword hanging over future government(s).
Chances are that the parties will be happy to occupy different ministries inside the Singha Durbar.
But if they truly want to resolve the crisis (I know I am hoping too much) then they must have a free and frank discussion on at least three issues: Maoist insurgency, a constitutional monarch in letter and spirit and the army. The others will be taken up in due course, hopefully. But these three, individually and collectively, have a serious bearing on the future of this country and keeping them at abeyance for future resolution would not be prudent. We will be where we are now; rather, if there is any movement at all, it will only be backwards.
Reports of the meeting between the king and various leaders speak of the monarch’s desire that the parties first formulate a united view on how to resolve the Maoist insurgency. Well, it should be a two-way process. Not only it is essential that the parties come up with a credible solution that even the battle-hardened rebels will find it difficult to ignore, it is equally imperative that the parties ask the king to state how far he is willing to compromise.
The two peace negotiations have shown that unless there is a hard-ball negotiations with the will to make compromises, we can have as many cease-fires and any number of peace talks but there will be no real improvement in the situation.
A lot has been said about the monarchy stepping out of its constitutional bounds, although the palace may say that it had no option other than what it did, October 4, 2002 et all). For any water-tight guarantee that will ensure the monarchy will be in true sense a constitutional one, the parties need to take up the issue with the king before they agree to be nominated by him. Yes, under the present dispensation, it will not be any better than the nominated one. And to ensure that the coming one will be a last nomination and thereafter king appointing a leader of the parliament, this must be dealt with here and now.
The army, as per available reports, is now 70,000+ strong force (up from 42,000+ two years back) with talks of more recruits in the offing. Currently, the failure to contain the Maoists may look like a reason to increase the strength of the Royal Nepalese Army. But what must be borne in mind is that the rebels are not waging a conventional war. So what we need a highly efficient strike-force and that can be achieved by training, not increasing the number.
Moreover, have the powers-that-be ever given thought how our country, one of the poorest nations in the world, can sustain the cost of a big army? Already education and health, among other sectors, have become seriously injured, gasping for breath. More armymen means more siphoning off the budget from development.
The parties would do well to think about this before accepting the offer for Singha Durbar.Posted on: 2004-01-05 02:16
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