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| Kathmandu, Wednesday October 09, 2002 Ashwin 23, 2059. |
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Now is the time
The new Council of Ministers, in all likelihood,
will be in place soon. The cabinet will have an enormous task before it. Not only that it
has to fix the date for a free and fair election to install a ‘people’s
government’ at the earliest. It has to ensure that a normal law and order situation,
a pre-requisite for an election, prevails in the country. But a much bigger challenge lies
in how it handles the Maoist problem.
In the past few days, the Maoists have made it
amply clear that they are not interested in any negotiation now and that they would rather
want a joint struggle against the monarchy. Although it is very unlikely that the
political parties, which are not very happy with the assumption of the executive powers by
the King following the removal of Sher Bahadur Deuba as the Prime Minister on October 4,
will be part of the gun dictated politics of the Maoists, the rift among the political
parties and the King - both part of the constitutional system - will only go to the utmost
advantage of the Maoists. It will further help the ‘divide and destroy’ policy
being adopted by the insurgents. The present rift between the King and political parties
will place the Maoists in a much more advantageous position than they are now.
It is, therefore, very crucial that the new
government enjoys the confidence of both King and political parties, and if possible that
of the Maoists as well. That will give some minimum legitimacy to the new cabinet council
in the eyes of the people who all know that the next elections, effective and good
governance and so on would be a far cry unless the Maoist problem is solved.
Of course, the state and the Maoists are engaged
in a state of war and there has been no cease-fire declared yet. The statement of Maoist
leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai have indicated that the possibility of a
cease-fire has thinned out, especially after the October 4 episode. How will the new
Council of Ministers tackle the situation? Continued use of force may be necessary, but
meaningful dialogue and peace initiative should always get primacy despite the Maoists’
clear inclination to the contrary now.
However, the Maoists would prefer a situation
where the schism between the King and political parties becomes unbridgeable. No doubt,
the Maoists would be the happiest lot in the present context and continue to play their
game more vigorously than ever before. But political parties and the King need to realise
this threat more seriously, and sort out the problems and misunderstandings amicably. They
have a common fate and future which lies in charting out a way ahead together, and now.
Divided they may fall. |
