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How to fail Nepal |
Suhas Chakma |
Situations
similar to the one in Nepal are familiar to the UN
Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). Over 9,000
people have been killed, thousands have been
displaced and hundreds of people have arrested
since the start of the Maoists uprising in 1996.
After the collapse of the ceasefire agreement on
August 27, 2003, Nepal has descended into anarchy.
King Gyanendra has been ruling "Democratic Nepal"
with a proxy government of the royalist Rashtriya
Prajatantra Party. After dismissing then Prime
Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's Government in a
virtual coup on October 4, 2002, King Gyanendra's
regime has failed to deliver - its honeymoon with
the Maoists was
short-lived.
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A draft resolution
at the ongoing 60th session of the UNCHR by Switzerland
and European Union on advisory services and technical
cooperation in the field of human rights to Nepal has
raised a storm over a tea cup. The draft resolution
urges Nepal to invite the office of the UNCHR to open an
office to monitor violations of human rights and
humanitarian laws both by the security forces and the
Maoists; and strengthen capacity of Nepal's human rights
mechanisms.
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The Brahmins in
Kathmandu and New Delhi consider the draft resolution as
interference in sovereign Nepal's internal affairs. This
despite that in the UN circle, technical cooperation
assistance implying more aid is seen as reward for human
rights violations. Often, when a country is consistently
censured under agenda item 9 on country situations, it
requests for technical cooperation to get off the
hook.
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Nepalese Foreign
Minister Bhekh Bahadur Thapa met External Affairs
Minister Yashwant Sinha on his way to address the 60th
session of CHR. After addressing the CHR on March 18,
2004, Foreign Minister Thapa has subsequently been
lobbying in Brussels. In a further attempt to scuttle
the draft resolution, on March 26, 2004, Prime Minister
Surya Bahadur Thapa revealed a 25-point commitment paper
on human rights which is a sad commentary about Nepal's
human rights record. Apart from its commitment to issue
directives on Common Article 3 of the Geneva
Conventions, all rights are guaranteed under the
Constitution of Nepal but the security forces have been
violating these rights with impunity.
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Those who arm Nepal
(India, Belgium and US) and those who oppose
international mediation (India) are pushing Nepal to the
brink of collapse. While the issue of strengthening
Nepal to depend itself against Maoists takeover is
understandable, the question is whether Nepal could find
a military solution to the Maoist problem. In a country
where the main source of information are chief district
officers and superintendent of police or the army
spokesman, Col Deepak Gurung, the killings of civilians
are often touted as the killings of the Maoists. The
Maoists too have been responsible for widespread and
severe violations of human rights, including murder,
torture, mutilations, bombings, extortion,
etc.
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Nepal is in the
middle of a full-scale civil war with half the country
under the control of Maoists. Apart from Terai, the
Nepalese Government's writ is restricted to the
buildings housing the chief district officers or
security camps. The edifice of state structure has
collapsed in most parts of Nepal. As neither the
Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) nor
both factions of the Nepali Congress (Deuba and Koirala
factions) were sure of the outcome of the elections,
then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had no
alternative but to suggest formation of a national
government.
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The King known for
his appetite for power dismissed Prime Minister Deuba on
October 4, 2002. International community remained silent
against the Royal coup in the name of countering the
Maoists. After the dispensation of absolute rule in the
last one and half years, the possibility of holding free
and fair elections in Nepal remains a mirage. While the
Maoists continue to rule half the country; the King
rules the other half. The democrats have no role. The
United States and India, which have been blindly
supporting the administration in Kathmandu, have been
doing irreparable damage to Nepal.
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The outreach of the
Maoists or their support base - coerced or spontaneous -
is substantial across the country. Nepal simply does not
have the resources to deal with the Maoists. Attempts by
domestic interlocutors of Nepal to start the peace
process have failed. It is essential New Delhi sees the
value in allowing the UN Secretary General to explore
the possibilities of a negotiated settlement rather than
leading Nepal to virtual collapse. Unfortunately, the
Swiss resolution does not even touch upon this issue.
Yet, the resolution is being touted as interference in
internal affairs.
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Nepal and India must
remember they have been consistently supporting the
statement of the chairman of the UNCHR on the situation
of human rights in Colombia, which faces the communist
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
guerrillas. The High Commissioner of Human Rights
maintains an office in Bogota pursuant to the Chairman's
statement and Colombia's sovereignty has not been dented
by its presence. The misplaced Cold War psyche is more
suited to Indian diplomats and Kathmandu must not see
everything through New Delhi's
prism.
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