Leftists
Should Take Care Of Peace And True Democracy
By Hasan Tarique
Chowdhury
22 September, 2007
Countercurrents.org
After a decade long bloodbath
Nepali people had started hoping, a genuine hope for peace and for meaningful
democracy. It was not only good news for Nepalese but also for the peace
loving people of neighbouring country. As we al know that Nepali King
Gyanendra was forced to surrender his powers in April 2006 after the
Maoists and other Communist and democratic forces joined forces with
a coalition of seven political parties in a sustained campaign of street
protests against his direct rule. Afterwards an interim government was
formed accommodating the Maoist in the cabinet, fixed a roadmap to general
election and constitutional reform to abolish monarchy had been adopted
unanimously. Suddenly, on 18th September the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist) quitted the interim government demanding the immediate abolition
of the monarchy ahead of constituent assembly elections due to be held
in November.
International Herald Tribune reported on 20th September that Nepal's
former communist rebels refused to rejoin the coalition government despite
efforts by the ruling parties, which is going to deepening the Himalayan
nation's political crisis.
Prime Minister Girjia Prasad
Koirala called an emergency meeting of leaders of the ruling alliance
and the former rebels, who just walked out of the government on 18th
September after it failed to meet several of their demands, in an attempt
to overcome the crisis.
Despite the demand from the
Nepalese Prime Minister that his initiative to overcome the crisis was
sincere enough, but still there is a doubt. As Mr. Koirala had taken
a firm line in refusing to bow to the Maoists' demand that King Gyanendra
be stripped of his title and the monarchy abolished. That’s why
one of the Maoists in the interim cabinet, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, blamed
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala for the breakdown in talks. Also
Iswor Pokhrel, of the United Marxist Leninist Communist Party of Nepal,
another major partner in the coalition said the prime minister asked
Prachanda, the head of the CPN (Maoist), to reverse the decision to
withdraw from the government. Prachanda said he would discuss the matter
with his party colleagues and reply later. However, according to reports
of many Nepalese news media, primarily the negotiation process has not
yet been succeeded.
Previous political history
of Nepal clearly indicates that this failure of the political process
will again invite conflicting consequences in Nepal. Although the former
Maoist minister Mr Mahara ruled out any return to armed conflict and
said that they will focus on peaceful protests to meet their demands.
Nevertheless, the Maoists warned they would begin street protests, organize
a general strike and boycott an upcoming election for a Constituent
Assembly that will decide the country's future political system and
rewrite its Constitution. Therefore, it is quite normal that the ordinary
people of Nepal are seriously worried after the Maoist withdrawal from
the cabinet as because the previous nightmare is still alive in their
mind. Leading Nepalese newspaper Katmandu Post signaled on 20th September
that there is a high probability of Army deployment countrywide if the
Maoist does not change their mind.
Therefore, the present political
scenario clearly indicates further havoc in this impoverished country.
That will definitely devastate the national economy, foreign trade,
especially tourism industry of Nepal. Moreover, it will also negatively
influence the business with its neighboring countries. If the peace
initiative fails, innocent people of Nepal will pay the ultimate cost
for democracy. Because gun is always not the answer. Necessarily, this
will not strengthen the support base for the CPN (Maoist). The current
action taken by CPN (Maoist) has been criticized by some Nepalese analyst
as ‘anxiety disorder’. According to them ‘they have
lost the self-confidence to face the general public, mainly due to their
past activities’.
For this reason it is the
high time for the Nepali Maoists to win over the peoples mind and prove
themselves as true peace lover and to achieve their ultimate goal in
a democratic manner.Because the there are conspiracies from imperialist
forces to portray the leftists of Nepal as undemocratic.
[Hasan Tarique Chowdhury: Secretary, Bangladesh Peace
Council. Email: [email protected]]
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