NEPAL: Passing through a period of uncertainty: Update
no. 31
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
Political Parties take up the gauntlet:
Having failed to convince the King to take them along, the five
political parties ( Koirala’s Nepali Congress, UML, NWPP, NSP and PFN)
began the first phase of their mass movement on May 3rd. First
was the massive show of strength in a rally at the Tundikhel maidan,
addressed by G.P.Koirala and Madhav Nepal besides others. The programme
beginning from May 8 to May 13 included a 20 minute long silence on the
first day, boycott of all government functions, holding black flag rallies
throughout the country, burning effigies of "regression," torch
rallies and blocking government vehicles from plying on the streets on the
last day.
The demonstrations went off peacefully, though there were stray
incidents of violence and police lathi charges. Many of the volunteers
courted arrest. The anger of the political parties was mainly directed
towards the King. Both Madhav Nepal and G.P.Koirala were severely critical
of the King.
Statements like " A nation can never exist without its people, but
it can remain without the King" by Madhav Nepal, " Palace
is the root cause of all the instability that has beset the nation in the
past many years." by G.P.Koirala , could have been
avoided as such statements preclude any possibility of reconciliation
later.
The objective of the agitation were made very clear that it was to
"do away with the aspirations of the constitutional monarch to regain
powers as under active monarchy." The second phase of the agitation
commenced on May 16 with peace rallies all over the country, followed by
sit-in protests in VDCs and DDCs , gherao (blocking) of district
administrative offices and finally mass meetings along the highways on May
25.
One disturbing element, known all along, but came to surface recently,
was the appointment of Sarat Chandra Shah as advisor to the Prime
minister. Sarat Shah was a controversial and a notorious figure in the
Panchayat days and was a law unto himself. Though his official post at
that time was member secretary of the National Sports Council, he wielded
enormous influence with the palace particularly the present King. He had a
private army of an outfit by name Bhumigat Giroha which was responsible
for many acts of violence particularly against anti Panchayat elements.
His official induction since November last year bodes ill for the
democratic forces in the country.
Till now, the movement by the political parties was largely peaceful.
This has given them a chance to mobilise their followers in different
parts of the country which they could not do before the cease fire. There
is no guarantee that the movement will continue to be peaceful. There are
bad elements in the parties who may provoke large scale violence. There
could be violence from the government side with the shadowy figure of
Sarat Chandra Shah giving guidance to break the movement. A repetition of
1990 movement is possible. But this time, the Maoists are on the side of
the King.
The Maoists and the Peace talks:
There is a famous quote of Mao that has words to the effect
"sitting on top of a mountain and watching two tigers fight at the
base." This is exactly what the Maoists are doing. While the two
tigers- the monarch and his government and the political parties are
fighting, the Maoists are watching the fun from the top. In any event such
a confrontation would weaken both the parties fighting below and at an
opportune moment they ( Maoists) could step in. This needs to be
understood both by the King and the political parties, as any weakening of
either of the two institutions would only help the Maoists who do not
believe either in the monarchy or in democracy as is understood generally.
By taking extreme positions, both the monarch and the political parties
are playing into the hands of the Maoists. Strangely, the King has gone
openly to the Press to air his grievances!.
The first round of talks:
The first round of talks between the government and the Maoists took
place on April 27 at Kathmandu. A four-page document was handed over by
the Maoists which also dealt with their views on the cease fire, human
rights, code of conduct besides their substantive demands. The government
team included besides Pun and Pandey, the Dy. Pm. Badri Prasad Mandal,
Health minister Dr. Upendra Devkota and Assistant Minster Anuradha
Koirala. The Maoist’s team included besides Mahara and Bhattarai, Dev
Gurung and Matrika Yadav.
A four-member facilitating team was named. The team included besides
the two peace negotiators of 2001 talks, Padma Ratna Tuladhar and Daman
Nath Dungana, former foreign minister Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay and former
chief secretary Kama Doj Adhiikari. The facilitators do not seem to have
an idea of what their role could be. Already, one of them Dungana has
declared that he would opt out if the peace process does not lead to a
constituent assembly. If he had such strong views then he should not be a
facilitator at al! .In the second round, a code of conduct for the
facilitators has also been agreed upon.
The document was full of jargon about the new political power balance,
contradiction between sovereign and state powers, state power in the hands
of the people etc. and significantly it demanded that the interim
administration be handed over to the Maoists.
Some specific points made were
* An integrated army with the merger of the Royal Nepal army with the
People’s liberation Army.
* Making Nepal a secular state and not a Hindu Kingdom.
* Regulation of Nepal India border
* Closing of Gurkha recruitment centres.
* Ending foreign monopoly in industry and commerce.
* New land rights for the tiller and health, education and employment
to be made fundamental rights.
The second round of talks:
The second round of talks took place in Kathmandu on May 9. Three major
decisions were taken.
1. The government is said to have agreed to limit the patrolling of
armed forces within five kilometers radius from the barracks.
2. The government will begin the process of releasing the Maoists in
their custody. Three important leaders were already released.
3. A thirteen member committee to monitor the implementation of the
code of conduct for cease- fire has been formed. Besides some individual
members, representatives one each from six institutions the NHRC ( Nepal
Human Rights Commission), NBA ( Nepal Bar Association), FNJ ( Federation
of Nepal Journalists, NWC ( National Women’s commission), NDA ( Nepal
Dalit Association), ANN ( Association of Nepalese nationalities) and
FNCCI (Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries). The
NHRC representative will head the committee.
It looks that the government has given in too much to the Maoists. It
is understood that the government representatives Pun and Pande had an
audience with the King a day prior to the talks and his approval may have
been taken. The most controversial part is the restriction placed on the
Army. While the Army has been restricted to five Kms from its barracks,
the Maoists are now free to roam about allover. There have been very many
instances of Maoists forcibly recruiting, meting out punishments to
villagers, forcing private schools to either close or reduce the fees,
forcing villagers to give up traditional festivals and go for "people’s
culture"- in Mao’s style, extortion of money and in some instances
from tourists and in some cases abductions.
The mechanism placed for overseeing the code of conduct is weak and
they are too few in number.
There are reports that the Army is very unhappy with the decision taken
in the peace talks about the restrictions placed on them. If the King had
given his clearance prior to the talks, they cannot complain, but would he
have taken such a decision without consulting the Defence council?
There is a view that Maoists have become popular only because they were
the ones who brought to surface the latent religious, cultural, regional
and linguistic issues that remained subsumed under a monolithic identity
during the Rana rule, the Panchayat days and in the current Constitutional
monarchy period. This is said to be one of the reasons why the Maoists
insisted on inclusion of representatives of the Dalits and women in the
monitoring committee. This view is too simplistic and would need a deeper
analysis of the present crisis.
The next round of talks is being held in Maoist territory in Rolpa or
Dolpa. This is another concession to the Maoists, conceding a defacto hold
in the territory by them. In the meeting the Maoists are certain to make
arrangements on security, venue etc. while the government and the army
organisations will be mere spectators!
The confrontation that is going on between the King and the political
parties is likely to undermine both the monarchy and the multi party
democracy. The present government does not appear to be competent
enough to deal with the complex issues that have risen. With the Army on
the defensive, the Maoists are continuing to consolidate their hold in
remote areas. There is an urgent need for the political parties to give up
their agitation and the King will also have to give in to some extent. He
has perhaps been wrongly advised that the current movement will fizzle
out. It may not.
