The King's administration is pushing ahead with its original plans of legitimising an authoritarian rule in Nepal despite unfavourable conditions both at home and abroad. The international community has reacted resentfully against the King's undemocratic moves but that has not been robust enough to force him to reinstate the pre-coup political situation in the country. Stepping back to the condition of stalemate as it was before February 1 is in itself not a better alternative to the current quagmire. The political leadership that advocates for multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy in Nepal has become so fragmented and degenerated that their plea is hardly going to appeal the Nepali public to rally behind them in the foreseeable future. The other force that was supposed to have some power to restrict the King from moving forward to his autocratic ambitions, the Maoists, have also lost their grounds in recent months. Firstly, they have suffered heavy loss in battle fields and secondly, the vocative rumble between party heavy weights Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai that was kept nonetheless clandestine has now been exposed blatantly. The later must have been the cause for the former to take effect. The failure of the international community to take stern actions, the weakening of political leadership and the quake in Maoists' fighting aptitude has all contributed to bolstering the King's confidence to inch forward for absolute monarchy. Albeit unfavourable circumstances, the royalists are gaining momentum towards their goal day by day. In a long-term perspective, the monarchy might be digging its own grave but it is inappropriate to make prophecies on politics. Right now, the drive for authoritarianism is on the acceleration and the longer the opposing sides take to stop it, the bigger will be the challenge to confront absolutism in Nepal. The three sides mentioned above as well as the majority of the intelligentsia, that doesnt want to see a full-fledged autocracy in Nepal should now explore a feasible scheme to counter the royal bands.
The drive for dictatorship With all intentions and purposes, King Gyanendra and his aides had been insinuating the probability of retaining executive power to the monarchy ever since he was ascended to the throne. The political parties and the Maoists could have and should have understood their connotations very early and acted shrewdly to prevent the emergence of a perfect stage for plotting the coup. They failed but more than because of themselves, their fiasco was propelled by a systematic assault from the monarchists who were able to conjure split on the political parties in one hand and in the other hand helped Maoists to appear as a stronger military proposition by abstaining the army to fight to their capabilities. This grand design debilitated the parties while the Maoists overestimated their strength, which resulted in the failure of peace negotiations between the government and the rebels. The monarchists never wanted the rebellion to be ended through dialogue or appeased by an effective mobilisation of the Royal Nepal Army. Because their intent was to prove that the parties were inept and only an authoritarian regime like the one at present can handle the Maoists properly and control their violence. It is unfortunate for both the sides that they have still not been able to discern this strategy of the rightist hardliners.
While King Gyanendra's rhetorical commitment to constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy is hallucinating some Nepalese intellectuals, his actions since February 1 clearly manifest his aspirations to become a dictator. The drive for dictatorship began with the abrupt suspension of fundamental civil rights including press freedom and the appointment of notorious Panchayati stalwarts Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista as co-chairmen of the royal cabinet. The creation of new anti-graft and human rights commission while the constitutionally formed bodies were still functioning well was another leap forward towards autocracy. The effort of institutionalising Panchayat style rule has got a kick-start after the reintroduction of regional and zonal administrators. The monarch is sprinting towards his despotic ambition and no national or international effort to restrain him has actually deterred him from driving his motives. The temporary suspension of military or financial aides from some of the donor countries and organisations as well as the pressure from the United Nations human rights commission has given some setback to the royal ambitions but the monarch has engineered a counterfeiting idea of municipal elections to put himself at bay. Now, he will try to lure some of the power hungry politicians in his camp and convince the international community that the parties have not been totally ignored and that they have their representation in the government. Once the international aid restarts funnelling, he will go hell bent to accomplish his objectives of strengthening a monarchy headed totalitarian regime in Nepal. The price to pay in the form of democracy and civil rights will be alarming if he is allowed to be successful.
Although the failure of democracy was a result of a conspiracy from the palace hardliners, the political parties and the Maoists and even the international community to a certain extent cannot be exempted for their irresponsible conduct. The political parties were at the helm of power for so many years but instead of trying to deliver for the aspirations of people, most of their leaders were busy amassing wealth through corruption. They sacrificed their ideology for petty personal gains and abandoned the ample public faith bestowed upon them. The command of Maoists comprised of communist leaders who were rejected by the people in general elections. However, most of their initial agendas before going underground encompassed the predicaments of the poor people. But as they strengthened their organisation, their socio-political agendas were over shadowed by their success in a number of attacks against the police force. They could build up to a sizeable military proposition in a decade but their political stature has crumbled into pieces. Because of the violent nature of their so-called peoples war, not only the sympathy for them has gone adrift but also many people have now started to concur their views with the government and label them as terrorists. Majority of the international community in the other hand could not play a substantially positive role for trying to help strengthening democracy in Nepal. Their cooperation was limited to providing unbinding financial aides followed by some military assistance when the Maoists rebellion enlarged. India, the southern neighbour, which has the biggest influence in Nepali politics, continued its ambiguous role contributing to the destabilisation of democracy. Their stance on water sharing, bilateral trade, Bhutanese refugees and Maoists insurgency issues were always dubious. The press and the intelligentsia also flopped.
Now that the collective failure has helped to resurrect the King's dominion, the only way to prevent brutal dictatorship intensifying in Nepal is to learn from the past blunders and unite for bringing back the political rights that were stripped off after the Feb 1 proclamation. There is an urgent need to understand the intensity of the dictatorial drive which most of the Nepalese seem to have been unable to figure out so far. Stopping the growing grip of power in the hands of the king and the army in Nepali politics should be the preference of everybody in order to avert a big crisis that may push our splendid country to becoming a failed state like Sudan or Rwanda. The assailants of our freedom are trying to divide and rule over us but there is no way to confront them other than being united for a single goal of reinstating our democratic rights in the first place. For this purpose, the political parties that severely disappointed the public during their twelve years of capricious rule should start their catharsis. Young dynamic leaders should replace the old convulsive leadership and the new command should make a number of bold decisions to win back mass support. The greedy old bunch of inefficient leaders should themselves step away from the scene or the new generation should forcibly bundle them off. The group of infamous corrupts should be axed from party membership and the fresh baton should apologise to the people for their misconduct. They should also devise a strategy to deal with the Maoists in the longer term and call the rebels to halt their violence unless the achievements of the 1990 revolution are reinstated. The Maoists in the other hand should declare a unilateral ceasefire and herald their readiness to take part in peace negotiations if the monarch forms an all-party government giving full executive power to it. At the same time the top brass of the Maoists should sort out their differences and prepare themselves for a result-oriented dialogue with the government. They must forget their utopian dream of leading the way to establishing a Maoists reign in the sub continent after conquering Nepal by their red army. The concept of COMPOSA (Coordinating Committee Of South Asian Maoist Parties & Organizations) will otherwise push their political career in the dead end and probably the ill fated Prachanda and Baburam and others will be killed in the hands of the Royal Nepal Army.
If the parties immediately start the process of cleansing themselves and demonstrate their unity in favour of democracy as well as the Maoists set a new all party government as a precondition for peace dialogues, King Gyanendra will have to succumb to the international pressure and duly step back from his autocratic ambitions. The international community should never ever trust him unless all restrictions on civil rights and press freedom are lifted and an all-party coalition government is formed. That should be made the threshold for the redemption of financial aides from the international donors. If the international communities let the flow of finance in Nepal without the king taking concrete moves in favour of democracy and civil liberties, they will be held responsible for the bloodshed that will invigorate after the military dictatorship takes it foothold in the sovereign. The demonstration of purification and unity amongst the parties and the preparedness from the Maoists to indulge in serious peace negotiations will only help to avert the looming danger of authoritarian regime in Nepal. There is no other outlet.
The drive for dictatorship With all intentions and purposes, King Gyanendra and his aides had been insinuating the probability of retaining executive power to the monarchy ever since he was ascended to the throne. The political parties and the Maoists could have and should have understood their connotations very early and acted shrewdly to prevent the emergence of a perfect stage for plotting the coup. They failed but more than because of themselves, their fiasco was propelled by a systematic assault from the monarchists who were able to conjure split on the political parties in one hand and in the other hand helped Maoists to appear as a stronger military proposition by abstaining the army to fight to their capabilities. This grand design debilitated the parties while the Maoists overestimated their strength, which resulted in the failure of peace negotiations between the government and the rebels. The monarchists never wanted the rebellion to be ended through dialogue or appeased by an effective mobilisation of the Royal Nepal Army. Because their intent was to prove that the parties were inept and only an authoritarian regime like the one at present can handle the Maoists properly and control their violence. It is unfortunate for both the sides that they have still not been able to discern this strategy of the rightist hardliners.
While King Gyanendra's rhetorical commitment to constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy is hallucinating some Nepalese intellectuals, his actions since February 1 clearly manifest his aspirations to become a dictator. The drive for dictatorship began with the abrupt suspension of fundamental civil rights including press freedom and the appointment of notorious Panchayati stalwarts Tulsi Giri and Kirtinidhi Bista as co-chairmen of the royal cabinet. The creation of new anti-graft and human rights commission while the constitutionally formed bodies were still functioning well was another leap forward towards autocracy. The effort of institutionalising Panchayat style rule has got a kick-start after the reintroduction of regional and zonal administrators. The monarch is sprinting towards his despotic ambition and no national or international effort to restrain him has actually deterred him from driving his motives. The temporary suspension of military or financial aides from some of the donor countries and organisations as well as the pressure from the United Nations human rights commission has given some setback to the royal ambitions but the monarch has engineered a counterfeiting idea of municipal elections to put himself at bay. Now, he will try to lure some of the power hungry politicians in his camp and convince the international community that the parties have not been totally ignored and that they have their representation in the government. Once the international aid restarts funnelling, he will go hell bent to accomplish his objectives of strengthening a monarchy headed totalitarian regime in Nepal. The price to pay in the form of democracy and civil rights will be alarming if he is allowed to be successful.
Although the failure of democracy was a result of a conspiracy from the palace hardliners, the political parties and the Maoists and even the international community to a certain extent cannot be exempted for their irresponsible conduct. The political parties were at the helm of power for so many years but instead of trying to deliver for the aspirations of people, most of their leaders were busy amassing wealth through corruption. They sacrificed their ideology for petty personal gains and abandoned the ample public faith bestowed upon them. The command of Maoists comprised of communist leaders who were rejected by the people in general elections. However, most of their initial agendas before going underground encompassed the predicaments of the poor people. But as they strengthened their organisation, their socio-political agendas were over shadowed by their success in a number of attacks against the police force. They could build up to a sizeable military proposition in a decade but their political stature has crumbled into pieces. Because of the violent nature of their so-called peoples war, not only the sympathy for them has gone adrift but also many people have now started to concur their views with the government and label them as terrorists. Majority of the international community in the other hand could not play a substantially positive role for trying to help strengthening democracy in Nepal. Their cooperation was limited to providing unbinding financial aides followed by some military assistance when the Maoists rebellion enlarged. India, the southern neighbour, which has the biggest influence in Nepali politics, continued its ambiguous role contributing to the destabilisation of democracy. Their stance on water sharing, bilateral trade, Bhutanese refugees and Maoists insurgency issues were always dubious. The press and the intelligentsia also flopped.
Now that the collective failure has helped to resurrect the King's dominion, the only way to prevent brutal dictatorship intensifying in Nepal is to learn from the past blunders and unite for bringing back the political rights that were stripped off after the Feb 1 proclamation. There is an urgent need to understand the intensity of the dictatorial drive which most of the Nepalese seem to have been unable to figure out so far. Stopping the growing grip of power in the hands of the king and the army in Nepali politics should be the preference of everybody in order to avert a big crisis that may push our splendid country to becoming a failed state like Sudan or Rwanda. The assailants of our freedom are trying to divide and rule over us but there is no way to confront them other than being united for a single goal of reinstating our democratic rights in the first place. For this purpose, the political parties that severely disappointed the public during their twelve years of capricious rule should start their catharsis. Young dynamic leaders should replace the old convulsive leadership and the new command should make a number of bold decisions to win back mass support. The greedy old bunch of inefficient leaders should themselves step away from the scene or the new generation should forcibly bundle them off. The group of infamous corrupts should be axed from party membership and the fresh baton should apologise to the people for their misconduct. They should also devise a strategy to deal with the Maoists in the longer term and call the rebels to halt their violence unless the achievements of the 1990 revolution are reinstated. The Maoists in the other hand should declare a unilateral ceasefire and herald their readiness to take part in peace negotiations if the monarch forms an all-party government giving full executive power to it. At the same time the top brass of the Maoists should sort out their differences and prepare themselves for a result-oriented dialogue with the government. They must forget their utopian dream of leading the way to establishing a Maoists reign in the sub continent after conquering Nepal by their red army. The concept of COMPOSA (Coordinating Committee Of South Asian Maoist Parties & Organizations) will otherwise push their political career in the dead end and probably the ill fated Prachanda and Baburam and others will be killed in the hands of the Royal Nepal Army.
If the parties immediately start the process of cleansing themselves and demonstrate their unity in favour of democracy as well as the Maoists set a new all party government as a precondition for peace dialogues, King Gyanendra will have to succumb to the international pressure and duly step back from his autocratic ambitions. The international community should never ever trust him unless all restrictions on civil rights and press freedom are lifted and an all-party coalition government is formed. That should be made the threshold for the redemption of financial aides from the international donors. If the international communities let the flow of finance in Nepal without the king taking concrete moves in favour of democracy and civil liberties, they will be held responsible for the bloodshed that will invigorate after the military dictatorship takes it foothold in the sovereign. The demonstration of purification and unity amongst the parties and the preparedness from the Maoists to indulge in serious peace negotiations will only help to avert the looming danger of authoritarian regime in Nepal. There is no other outlet.
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