Seven parties bowed down to rebel agenda
When the Nepalese media had to get the full text of the much vaunted 12-point agreement between the seven political parties and the Maoists through a statement by the leader of the Maoist group, Prachanda, it was apparent that the whole thing was seriously awry, erroneous and culpable, damaging to the country and the people.
The first indication that the political parties might have sensed they were entrapped by well-orchestrated ploy of the Maoists was that those who were involved in make-it-look-like-an agreement balked from revealing the contents of the agreement. The leaders of the political parties, who claimed to have sat down for the negotiation, said that they would disclose the agreement at their convenient time. But the Maoists beat them to the hoot by bringing out the content of the agreement undersigned by Prachanda, the so-called leader of the terrorist outfit.
Anyone, who goes through the content and reads between the lines, is more than just clear that the Maoists drafted the text and the leaders of the political parties only put their signatures or gave their nod. Nowhere in the whole document, the political parties have their say. The language, jargon and pitch from the beginning to the end all reek with the tone no different from the earlier statements by Prachanda. By being the first to disclose the contents and putting everything they wanted to say, the Maoists have succeeded in making the political parties a second fiddle. It would not be an overstatement to say the Maoists played ?mouse? with the political parties.
Now, the leaders of the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal- United Marxist Leninist, the two biggest parties in the seven-party grouping, have virtually become the proxy for the Maoists lending voices to the latter?s? single political agenda of constituent assembly. If those parties think the constituent assembly is the only solution to the country?s political problems they are grossly mistaken.
This agreement or understanding, whatever the seven political parties, mainly the NC and UML may call it, again exposed the gross leadership inadequacies, lack of negotiating skill and ability to gauze the ground realities of the problem. No Nepali can believe that the parties who, upon His Majesty the King?s call, had failed to find a common candidate who could form a government or had pulled down their own governments in the past, could put a unified voice before the Maoists. In fact, they failed to assert their stance at all as the statement demonstrates. If they had any guts and were truly for peace and security in the country they could have convinced the Maoists to renounce the violence, killings, extortion and abductions, which the terrorists have been continuing despite the pretended cease-fire.
Another example that the political parties were taken for a ride is that the Maoists by giving little or nothing at all extracted so much from them. In the agreement, the Maoists said that the displaced ones, many of whom are workers and supporters of the NC and UML, would be allowed to return homes. The parties failed to argue that it was their right to go back to their homes and not a generosity on part of the Maoists.
Again, Prachanda?s 12-point statement said that the Maoists would return the house, land, and property, which they seized ?unjustly?. Here too, leaders like Girija Prasad Koirala and Madhav Kumar Nepal could not reason that everything the Maoists looted from individuals and the banks must also be returned. What if the Maoists said that they had looted or seized the house and property and they had done it justly? Again, the political parties have put them at the mercy of the Maoists. They have bowed down before the Maoists in agreeing that they would face investigations conducted by the Maoists followed by punished if guilty. What would Koirala, Nepal or others do if the Maoists said they would open the files of scams like Dhamija, Lauda or China Southwest or numerous other cases of corruption the parties had allegedly been involved in when they were in power?
The parties that claimed they would bring the Maoists into the political mainstream of the country instead fell into the trap because of their own folly. They would have succeeded only if they were able to bring the Maoists under the present constitution of multi-party democracy and constitutional monarchy. They failed miserably in this but rather became the pawns of the terrorists. But what is most reprehensible is that the parties thought it would be right to put the Royal Nepalese Army at par with a few thousand rebels who carry weapons just to kill and maim the common people instead of protecting them. How could they think the Royal Nepalese Army with several hundred years of history behind it and other security forces which were formed under the country?s law and constitution, with intention of safeguarding country?s national integrity, sovereignty and to enforce the law of the land could be equated with the politically indoctrinated or coerced and anarchical group formed less than 10 years ago and who are only trained to kill? The consequences of giving politically motivated armed groups the recognition of national army have already been seen in countries like Sierra Leone, Congo, Haiti and others.
It is, thus, certain that the 12-point agreement is totally detrimental and damaging to the country and to its sovereignty. Meanwhile, a large majority of the people and some even within the seven and other political parties have started to see the risk the 12-point agreement will bring about to the people and the country. There already are dissenting voices against what the seven parties and the Maoists have agreed upon. It might not be too late yet for the parties and their leaders to completely dissociate from what they have agreed with the Maoists and come back into the framework of the present constitution. If not, they would cut off their noses while trying to spite their faces.
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