Posted on 11/22/2005 11:44:21 PM PST by sagar
A group of Maoist rebels pose in Triveni, western Nepal in this March 18, 2005 file picture. Nepal's government said on Wednesday it was still studying an accord between Maoist rebels and the country's main political parties, as analysts said the deal put new pressure on King Gyanendra to restore democracy. In a deal formally announced on Tuesday, Nepal's seven main political parties and the rebels agreed to work together to put an end to the absolute powers of the king, who sacked the government and took control of the country on Feb. 1. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar.
Nepalese people from different walks of life take part in a protest rally holding anti-monarch placards at Basantapur in Kathmandu, August 2005. Nepal's royal government blasted as 'unholy' an alliance between political parties and Maoist rebels aimed at restoring democracy, the state-run RSS news agency said.(AFP/File/Bijen Singh)
Nepal's veteran former prime minister G.P. Koirala said he has appealed to Maoist rebels to ally with mainstream parties to restore democracy in the insurgency-racked nation.(AFP/File/Devendra M. Singh)
Maoist guerrilla fighter : A Nepalese Maoist guerrilla woman holds a rifle while watching an armed exercise in Bhojpur, eastern Nepal. (AFP)
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Kathmandu's Durbar Square.
King of Nepal, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah
Pro-democracy activists demonstrate in Katmandu, Nepal, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005. Hundreds of activists marched on the streets of Katmandu Sunday to demand restoration of democracy and protest new media laws imposed by government. (AP Photo/Binod Joshi)
On the one hand, India was the first nation state (even before Nepal itself) to declare the Maoist organization as terrorists. On the other, India has largely ignored Nepali Maoists operating on its soil and according to some, has openly abetted and harbored the Maoists. Reasons behind why an external and ultra-nationalistic outfit has been tolerated on Indian territory for so long, defeats rationalization.
There are ample reports of Nepali security personnel training in Indian camps that previously hosted Nepali Maoists. So when senior security personnel state that no resolution of the Maoist insurgency exists (in the absence of Indian acquiescence), theyre not pointing fingers or shifting blame. Such sentiments are completely legitimate more so today, than they were a week ago.
On occasion, India has successfully modulated anti-Indian Maoist rhetoric by imprisoning the most radical of the bunch (C. P. Gajurel, Mohan Vaidya). Such actions have also served to assuage the perception of Indias duality (for the international audience) and sent a stern signal within the Maoist ranks that India favors a certain faction, but not the entire Maoist outfit. This was key a driver of the much publicized split within the Maoists, earlier this year.
As part of the patch-up process (within the Maoist party), meetings were held between the Maoists second man (Baburam Bhattarai) and a prominent leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Prakash Karat. Why a man with an Interpol-issued Red Corner Notice was chauffeured around New Delhi to meet with high-ranking Indian politicians is a discussion for another time. To put the issue mildly, nation states have gone to war for less.
This is not to suggest that Nepal should go to war with India, but a reaffirmation of the helplessness and frustration that Nepalis feel.
Indias treatment of Nepals Maoist insurgency has several interpretations. A belief is held within some circles that the regional powers conduct is a function of its pluralist nature that there is true tolerance for a range of political ideologies within the worlds most populous democracy.
By this rationale, Indias policy on Nepali Maoists is a manifestation of its tolerance for diversity. Apparently, even those deemed terrorists at a national level are tolerated (if the terrorized populous is non-Indian). Could Indias definition of terrorists differ for those who use terror as a tactic but uphold political change (through violence) as a strategy?? Perhaps this interpretation is why Pakistans refuses to recognize Kashmiri militants as terrorists.
Another interpretation is that Indias incapacity to control radical left-wing insurgencies within its own borders accounts for its inability to control Nepali Maoists also. By this logic, India is a regional power for its neighbors to reckon with and simultaneously a union of dysfunctional states that its own federal government struggles to control. Indias inability to tame its own insurgencies aside, how is it that Indian authorities could arrest some Nepali Maoists at will but not others?? And, how does one interpret the alleged presence of these imprisoned Maoist leaders during the talks between the 7-party alliance and the Nepali Maoists??
Policy wonks in Delhi say that this too-clever-by-half King has to be taught a lesson he wont forget in a hurry. Meanwhile, Indian intelligence has boasted preliminary contacts with the Maoist insurgents who are said to control three-fourths of Nepal. South Block groupies are busy going around arguing that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) isnt really a revolutionary outfit; it just wants land reforms. In the land of Gandhi and Nehru, it pays to feign loftiness. We even outdo the Americans in this department. Our track record is nobleslavish endorsement of the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, generous support for every corrupt African dictator, nurturing the LTTE in Sri Lanka and cutting deals with the generals in Myanmar and Pakistan, and the communist apparatchiks in China. Yet, as Saran said in his speech, Our sympathy will always be with democratic and secular forces.
Its great to have a slogan. In statecraft, however, it pays to pursue realism. The immediate conflict in Nepal is only peripherally between democracy and monarchy. If only it had been so simple. The war is between the Nepali state and Maoists. There may be lots hideously wrong with the present dispensation in Kathmandu.
The palace still runs along medieval lines, the Royal Nepalese Army lacks inspired leadership and the political parties are short-sighted, fractious and even corrupt. But let us not forget for a single moment that the Maoists began their insurgency in 1996 when in Nepal there was a civilian, elected government at the helm. The Maoists sing different tunes according to convenience.
First they railed against the politicians and the feudal order and demanded elections to a Constituent Assembly. Then, last December, they said that it was useless negotiating with a puppet government. They wanted the King to sit across the table with them. Now, they are calling for the overthrow of the monarchy.
It is prudent to recognise that democracy is incompatible with the agenda of the Maoists. They are communist variants of the Al Qaeda. A Maoist victory in Nepal would be akin to a Talibanised Afghanistan on our doorstep. The implications for national security would be catastrophic.
Their literature is quite categorical about the fact that their revolution will not stop at Nepals borders. To survive, a Maoist Nepal will need complementing liberated zones in India....
We can clobber the Nepal monarchy any day but does that help our national security? In any case, foreign policy has to be guided by national interests and not ideological compatibility. Judged by the Saran doctrine, India should be announcing its political and diplomatic support for the jailed Aung San Su Ki in Myanamar.
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