| Paagal |
Posted
on 07-Jun-04 07:05 AM
What kind of state is Nepal
SIDDHI B RANJITKAR
- It is little wonder a foreign friend of mine questioned me, ýIs Nepal not a failed State yet?ý
You do not know who is running the country. The rebels have been running the remote villages and towns for some years. The parliamentary parties have been on the streets for more than a year. The country has just a new government again appointed under Article 127 of the 1990 Constitution.
The palace, as other political parties and the rebels, has the least concern about the welfare of the people. So, people do not know what their future is. Newly appointed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba says the ýregressioný is over. Will people believe him? Has he any chance at winning credibility? Yes, if he is reinstated and the King has apologised to the people for overstepping the 1990 Constitution. If the King has appointed him under Article 127 of the 1990 Constitution, he is not different from two of his predecessors. If he is reinstated his government is a caretaker government; he needs to conduct general elections within six months. However, his appointment as a Prime Minister might well be the beginning of a new type of regression the king has been plotting for.
People feel very unsafe. Many people fear the security forces as much as the rebels. Many Nepalis have been the victims of the rebels as well as the police abuse including extortion, beatings, killings and sexual assaults. They cannot go to the police for help when the rebels harass them. Definitely, they do not know where to go when the security forces harass them.
The security forces suspect every Nepali as terrorist. They point their guns at the people on the streets in the name of security guarding. If anyone raises a voice against the armed forces they simply shoot and kill him/her, and label such a person as rebel. They do not need evidences for charging anyone with being a rebel.
In the absence of a peopleýs leader, the Nepalis have been living in such a terrible environment. We have seen how the rebels have burnt down a public bus near the RNAC building in broad daylight recently.
However, armed forces show least concern for tracking down the criminals. So, the rebels destroy public and private properties but they go unpunished.
The state-terrorism, rebel-terrorism and the street demonstration-terrorism have paralysed the normal life. No one can run business normally. Storeowners shut down their shutters when the five-party alliance cadres march on the streets to protest against regression.
Schools stop teaching children, transporters and other businesspersons have to stop their business when the rebels call for the closure of Nepal or one region or another of the country or the Kathmandu Valley and so on. Hoteliers do not have customers, and other businesspersons have been facing slackened business because of the never-ending political chaos.
Some Nepalis have begun to say ýNepal, a country without a rulerý. In fact, it is true to some extent when we see the political chaos. Anyone calls a strike for a day and rules the country on that particular day, as the current administration cannot do anything except for being a silent watcher.
The King neither appointed a government even for weeks nor was it different from the previous one. The rebels run the remote areas. The state-police run the country only at night. The five-party alliance controls the streets during the rallies. And the Nepalis do not know who is actually in control of the country.
The King has been enjoying the residual power he has inherited from his deceased brother-king. The King has been disregarding the troubles the Nepalis have been facing. If you go to the rebel areas you have to pay taxes to them, and comply with their rules and regulations, and face immediate punishment for crimes you have never committed. If you go to the security forces area they suspect you as a rebel and torture you, and ill-treat you to extract confession.
The security forces, rebels and the five-party alliance demonstrators often resort to intimidation to silence you, if you attempt to complain about how they treat you. Consequently, the innocent people suffer from those agents claiming to protect you, claiming for fighting for you, or claiming for regaining the sovereignty.
All these things happening certainly make one think really whether Nepal has been a failed state or not. The government is bankrupt. The Palace has become impotent. The Maoist rebels, who are criminals, project themselves as liberators. Development work has been no more a matter of concern for anyone.
News about kidnapping, looting, killing and destroying public and private properties has become a daily affair. But what makes one wonder is the way the Palace, political parties and the rebels have taken the current state into account.
Can we say that Nepal is not a failed sate? Is this the price the Nepalis have to pay for the constitutional monarchy and the multi-party democracy or for losing both? We need to rethink about it.
The King, rebels and the five-party alliance have been competing for power disregarding the peopleýs need for security, peace, political stability for development and so on. Such a competition for power has led Nepal almost to the status of a failed state. If they want to save Nepal from falling into that trap, they need to compromise on forming a coalition government.
The King, rebels and the five-party alliance do not offer any apparent vision or ideology for a future Nepal. This is the sadest part of the Nepali political life. As a result, they failed to win the hearts and minds of the Nepalis.
Now none could gain the public support. So, the Nepalis will back any other government that ensures security, peace, stability, development for poverty alleviation, and end of gender, ethnic and caste discrimination.
(The author can be reached at srilaxmi@wlink.com.np)
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