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Nepal Political 'Elites' Lacking Sensibility

Amit Pyakurel - 9/16/2007

The aftermath discourse about the triple blasts (on September 2nd) in Kathmandu among the political 'elites' have been too occupied by the "all important" political conjectures, which but seems to be underestimating the invaluable human facet relating to this grievous incident. The optimism and worries regarding the proposed CA polls are reasonable. But at the same time there seems a lack of human sensitivity towards the ill-timed loss of lives and irreparable trauma of the victims and their close ones out of this and similar other heinous acts.

When we stare back, we see several grievous moments in the country when innocents were brutally tortured, or purposely caused irrevocable injuries and deaths. But have any culprits been punished so far? Have we forgot all those? Further, we also tend to be gradually forgetting this latest deliberately caused ordeal that killed two college students and a woman, and left many others irredeemably injured or handicapped, entirely in the public places. But, besides the political elites also other analysts and intellectuals appear unsympathetic but 'practical' not to give much heed to such a 'trivial' issue.

Parties are too busy on blame game and on citing the obvious cause that "it's to disrupt the CA polls," but no one looks sincere on finding and punishing the real culprits. Linking the event with the current volatile situation and our "all familiar" mode of violence and killings, also seem to give an ordinary face to the incident. Due to "practical" reasons, even a shocking and agonizing incident would cease to hold its prominence after one or two days of front-page newspaper coverage or on-air highlights. But the actual sufferers and families or close ones of the victims would retain their pain for a long time to come, yet devoid of any answer that why it happened to them, along with the question: Are the real culprits actually punished?

One may profess that the world doesn't stop and 'life has to go on,' though if "a few" (innocents) happen to encounter such a dire fate of deliberate violence. But are we securing enough the safety of others in coming days who are, as yet, lucky enough not to encounter such grave fate in their lives? Ability to forget the past pains to move ahead could be a good tendency. But while we slowly get over our pains, we also gradually forget the dreadful causes behind such unlucky incidents (especially if the victim/s are not someone close to us) and our once-elevated urge for fair investigation and stern action against the culprits would steadily subside, thus compromising our vital human sensitivity against our "get going" attitude. Let's well acknowledge that if such crimes go unpunished, the criminals could inflict similar atrocities against others in the future.

Similarly, seeking an ordinary ground to the recent act of terror by simply relating the incident to the grievous days of insurgency in the past also sounds untenable. There's no denying that culprits who victimized the innocents during the insurgency should be recognized and sternly punished, though the acts were "unintentional" as per the policy of the Maoists and the state. But the impunity to the past atrocities should never mean to rationalize the latest evil or give any qualm to the criminals about their barbarity and their liability for a harsh punishment.

We saw several casualties previously during the insurgency, yet the sheer act of terrorism like this is the first of its kind that deliberately targeted innocent bystanders in public places, the atrocious act that can never justify any "political intention," nor is the crime forgivable at any cost.

Another painful aspect is the numerical calculation of the human fatalities. It's by some "practical analysts" who tend to relate the number of dead with other greater war casualties. The Maoist supremo Prachanda had calculated that the insurgency caused "only" the deaths of around 13,000 citizens as compared to other similar revolts around the world. Similarly, we've some heartless assessment that "only" three dead from three bombs in Kathmandu is a "minor" event. Both the assessments have pitilessly underrated the value of human life.

Loss of human lives is equally regrettable, be it in thousands or "just" one, because even a single life lost would lose the whole world of him or her although it can be impassively compared with the greater number of lives lost in other scenarios. There may be a "greater cause" ahead, so we may underrate this "oversensitivity." But as we move ahead disregarding such human anguish, without rightly considering the victims' pain and justice they deserve, the yet elusive destination we may reach would look all cheerless when we look behind and see there is too much pain to celebrate our hard-earned "triumph."

Since the preceding times our country has seen a steady trend of impunity against similar atrocities. Still, there's nothing much to cheer even if the real culprits are arrested. There's no affirmative ground that would ensure a "harsh punishment" to the culprits. Further, what's really the "harsh" punishment? It's considerable that even the democratic countries like the U.S., India, among others, gives capital punishment to the terrorists who intently bomb in the public places and kill civilians. But in our country which is a 'zone of peace' that holds incongruous recognition of 'human rights,' such criminals would never get a harsh action as capital punishment.

A lawyer in his recent article on a national daily rightly pointed out that considering "human rights" to the inhuman beings has given them amnesty for their evil acts. The inadequate law, moreover its ineffective implementation has forced the aggrieved ones to live in a lasting psychological despair as they are rarely convinced that whoever killed or injured their close ones are rightly punished or even punished at all. While the lives lost or dismemberment of hands or legs that causes lifetime ordeal is irreparable, it would adjoin more emotional pain to the victims and their close ones if their all-expected justice remains intangible.

There have been the finger pointing against the Maoists, Palace, some agitating Terai groups, or to the all elusive "regressive" elements. But the fact is that whoever the culprits are; they are accountable for punishment, regardless of their regional identity or political vicinity or influence. A strong independent body, devoid of any political intention or leverage, could be more efficient to investigate the issue and punish the culprits. If the government's yet repeated "assurance to punish" the culprits is not fulfilled, it will yet again make the justice ever evasive for the victims and their kiths and kins.

Despite the majority's wish for a long-term peace and stability, we have still seen some inhuman ("political"?) elements who have acknowledged they could attain their goal of jeopardizing the CA polls by violence and targeting helpless civilians, without being accountable on what they did. People need a tangible answer: which was the heinous and all mysterious element behind this bloodshed? The government should act urgently before the culprits, who victimize innocents as their bargaining tool or out of their ill-intention, could cause any further destructions. If the filthy trend of impunity is to continue, the fear and insecurity among the public won't cave in, besides it would retain and increase the mental anguish of the direct sufferers of this and similar other incidents.