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Nepal: Road towards CA Polls yet to be mended

Amit Pyakurel - 3/19/2008

The political sphere in Nepal seems to have taken a great leap forward, following the recently attained agreement between the government and the two chief Madhesi groups. It's a hard-earned triumph, in view of some drastic demands by the Madhesi groups, which had rather shown almost no way-out towards reconciliation. The demands like autonomous Terai with the right to self-determination stroke hard to the government on the contemplation that the demands could disintegrate the nation by inviting revulsion among the citizens of ethnic or regional identities.

Nonetheless, through the ostensible intercession by our southern neighbor, there was finally a mutual accord, with the promise to fulfill some core, politically righteous demands of Madhesis, with seemingly some flexibility from both the government and the Madhesi parties on the demand of "one Madhes, one Pradesh," yet without enough elucidation on the actual deal made over the demand. Anyway, the agreement is encouraging as it has at least eased the way towards the CA polls.

But its only a half work done, since it's more imperative that the words meet proper execution. Just as it's worth taken seriously the displeasure shown by some Madhesi groups over the accord who have vowed to continue their agitation, even worse, to foil the polls. The groups, still embracing violence for their political haggle, like that of Jwala Singh and others, have cited that the Madhesis were "betrayed" by the understanding reached under the Indian canopy, and would continue their "struggle" unless the demands delineated by them were met before the CA polls.

Here, the situation demands that the Seven Party Alliance government correctly identify criminal or political outfits, and reciprocate accordingly. It was true that the government, though not intently, before had tried to concede to the genuine demands of the Madhesi groups inefficiently, but was finally forced to listen to the Madhesis who are rightfully concerned to the unequal share of state privileges and rights. Though their demands sounded aggressive and intrinsically anti-election, we could ascertain that it was moreover a pressure-tactic rather than an ultimate desire to wreck the election and lead the nation towards regression, given that the issue was finally resolved through negotiation.

The idea is that if the yet agitating factions in Madhes are all intended for equal rights and fair representation in the CA polls, they should come to the negotiating table and sort out the discrepancies peacefully. Also the government should give equal heed for the negotiation. In the event of total non-compliance by the agitators (which would illustrate that they are more for disintegration and regression, rather than for their rights), only then the government could resort to security measures to restrain any untoward activity causing harm to the CA polls and security of the general people. Likewise, it's worth considering the possible infliction of violence, aimed to disrupt the polls, from those not wanting the institution of monarchy to be uprooted.

The question of security has only been the major concern for now, though the political squabble, considered to be the key obstacle to conduct the election, has chiefly been dealt with. People's apprehension over security in the polls is, however, not going to be boiled down just by the mere rhetoric to provide "enough security" from the government. People are bound to have qualms over reasonable safety in the coming elections, due to the fact that they have witnessed a considerable level of impunity from the state to many brutal crimes and murders, during and even after the official end of the Maoists' "people's war" and after the joint oath by the major parties (including the former rebels) to give the country sustainable peace and progress by the mean of the CA polls.

Recalling and giving sensitive thoughts towards some brutal crimes of the past is not to facilitate pessimism at the time when there is a new found optimism for the momentous event of the CA polls. But this is to call for an assurance that such horrors are not repeated in the future. We have developed a sad and worrisome tendency of forgetting the past brutalities inflicted by different 'political' outfits, in one or the other pretexts, wreaked towards the innocent civilians. Given its past record of forgetting the pain inflicted towards the civilians and the ones having one or the other political affiliation, the government really needs to do a lot.

At least to ensure the general people for their security and rule of law, the government should perk up the security condition and punish the criminals who, as yet, seems to have been absolved for their misdemeanors by the passing time. The aspect of the clearly accredited culprits of Jana Andolan II also counts to a great deal in this regard. It's vital that the government recognize and punish the sheer criminal outfits, other than the genuinely political ones, who could impose violence and intimidation to foil the election.

The election is to shape the political future of the country and it's equally important that it need to be credible enough to be legitimized by the valued international bodies like UN and others keenly watching the current political development here. So it would also be a historic test for the professed democratic parties to make the CA polls a success, which the world is watching and the people are desperately anticipating.

The government's trend of reacting to the public's grievances, even those causing the deaths of their loved-ones and other irreparable losses, as the negligible incidents, is not only tragic in humanitarian perspective, but also a way to earn distrust and antipathy from the citizens. People's grievances could be the budding ground of instability for the nation in the long run, though it doesn't appear substantial in front of the big political aspects considered to be the 'only' major hurdles. It's worth to think the other way round. It's indispensable that the government strongly act
to eliminate impunity, so that the people could have faith that there's going to be enough security, which would eventually ensure the unreserved participation of the citizens in the coming elections.

General mood have definitely turned optimistic with the prospect of the historic election closer to reality than ever before. However, there should be a guarantee for the election to be fair and peaceful if to implement it successfully. This is to be a big opportunity believed to give the country a considerable political and social progress, and all the Nepalis are crossing their fingers for the success of this momentous event.