Nepal’s Violent History Brushed Under the Carpet

Arati Singh

By setting up a High Level Investigation Commission last year, the government in Nepal tried to uncover the crimes of the state during people’s movement of April 2006. Since its inception those who had played momentous roles during the King Gyanendra’s direct rule had been questioned for investigation including the King himself. It is, however pessimistically queer to find our confinement of the spectrum to see only that as a period of atrocities.

A brief analysis on the history of crime by the State or political parties in Nepal reveals how unfair it is to limit ourselves to post 2004 age, when the King took over the political power in Nepal. Certainly the oppressors of the human rights must be punished. But by limiting utterly to a particular period Nepal is obscuring the history of crimes committed by the Maoists and the State.

Political leaders and intellectuals argue that what was done in the past must be forgotten with a commitment not to commit same kind of mistakes again. Moreover they opine that during this transitional phase it is not in the benefits of the peace to bring up the matters related to past atrocities of the Maoists and the State.

By forgetting the past Nepal cannot clean its thirteen year old violent history bloodless. Estimated 300,000 internally displaced people, 17,000 disappeared people by both the State and the Maoist, 1,480 deaths of police personals, a total death of 11,790 of Maoist cadres, civilians and army personals, losses of national property and economy at 1.5 billion USD and unreported but presumably numerous cases of killings, abductions, torture, extortion, and use of children for military purposes by the Maoists, these data design truth of Nepal. How can Nepal afford to bury these facts as if they had never happened? Millions of people still survive by the wounds of the violent past. Many have fled the country, many more have lost their beloved, many are rendered homeless, and tens of thousands of children have lost their educational age. How can the leaders prepare to be oblivion to these facts that has structured Nepal’s modern history?

On 8th November 2006, when Maoist and Seven political parties reached the historic agreement of consensus many leaders including Prime Minsiter Grija Prasad Koirala marked the day as a vantage time for the beginning of a new democratic Nepali era. However I think Nepal’s new era must start by going back to the history not eluding it. The leaders must remember the history and should begin from there. They should begin by being apologetic to the Nepali people for their grave abuses of human rights, torture, national destruction and trauma given. All the parties must start with a political practice of self criticism.

Once I had heard a political intellectual saying that only when political elites are willing to accept negative feedback from people who do not have their power and start structured self criticism, can a government reasonably claim to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We have seen successive governments in Germany being symbolically self critical for its barbarism against Jews and, US governments to the “black” in many ways.

In an interview with BBC Radio on 7 October 2006, Prachanda, Supreme of CPN Maoist said that the lives lost and economic losses during the 13 years long political revolution must be considered as a part of Nepal’s movement towards enlightenment. This clearly shows he and his party are not critical of their past violent actions. And no wonder Young Communist League, a youth wing of Maoist today freely practice atrocities, torture and crimes. The other involved political parties too have so far maintained a kind of carefree attitude towards their past mistakes that had resulted in rampant atrocities and violation of human rights.

The leaders’ political growth directs country towards its development. Therefore the political parties instead of portraying their past actions perfect to the situation, must create their own space for growth by adopting a tradition of self criticism. Unless the leaders take responsibility of their past actions and be apologetic they can never win the trust of people. Attempts to justify the past violence simply give them mileage to continue more violence

The crisis of human rights violation in Nepal and rampantly growing sense of insecurity among civilians have steamed up because people have little or no faith on the leaders. The political leaders have failed to assure people that they have indeed given up violence and the violent history will not be repeated again. How those political parties, that are perceived as a threat and violent by the people can democratize and develop a country? The leaders must politically grow, followed by the country and its people.

Source: The American Chronicle, August 13, 2007

Nepal's Ex-Rebels Threaten to Quit Govt

BINAJ GURUBACHARYA

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's former rebels threatened Sunday to quit an interim coalition government unless their demands were met, which include the creation of a republic and protection against attacks from rival groups.
Communist rebel leader Prachanda told reporters his faction would leave the coalition government, formed as part of a peace deal, and launch protests unless other members of the administration meet the demands.
"We will decide within a week or 10 days," said Prachanda, who goes by one name.
The communists gave up a decade-old armed revolt last year to join the peace process and became part of the Parliament and government this year.
The former rebels have threatened to walk out of the government several times in recent months, but Sunday's warning was likely to be taken more seriously as it came after a weeklong meeting in the capital, Katmandu, between local and national-level leaders of the communist movement.
Former communist activists have been attacked by rival groups in recent months. At least 28 communist supporters were killed during one attack by an ethnic minority group on a communist rally in March in southern Nepal.
The former rebels also want other members of the coalition government to reveal the location of hundreds of their militants missing during years of fighting.
The other coalition partners in Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's government did not comment on Prachanda's threat.
The government is to hold elections for a special assembly in November that would decide on a political system for Nepal, currently a constitutional monarchy, and rewrite the constitution.

Source: The Washington Post, August 13, 2007

Poor side of you

After a lull of a few days, the Maoist-aligned Communication, Printing and Publications Workers' Union (CPPWU) has done it again — disrupt the distribution of The Himalayan Times and Annapurna Post. Last time, the disruption went on for a week, and the publishers lost millions of rupees. This time, they have also obstructed the printing (Sunday's edition). All this ostensibly because the two newspapers carried Patan Appellate Court's summons to three union leaders asking them why the court should not issue a stay order against such disruptions. On Saturday night, union workers gheraoed the printing press and threatened staffers there. On Saturday morning, they seized all copies of both papers on the grounds that the editions carried news against them . On Friday evening, they had threatened editorial staffers at Annapurna Post with obstructing the distribution if the paper carried the news.The union workers have crossed reasonable limits. Now that the question of the news is over, how can they defend the continued disruption of printing or publication? Present union action at these newspapers has been over the demands of the cycle boys who deliver these papers and who are also allied with CPPWU. However, the boys are related to these newspapers only indirectly, as they are, for all legal and practical purposes, the employees of the nine distributors of these newspapers. This legal fact has made the workers' action all the more galling. They are supposed to put their demands or grievances before their management — the distributors concerned. In this, therefore, the International Media Network Nepal (Pvt) Ltd., the publisher of THT, and the News Media (Pvt) Ltd., the publisher of Annapurna Post, are not involved in any way. The union's illegal action has endangered the livelihood of 350 families directly dependent on these organisations.

CPPWU members have started a go-slow at the Kantipur Publications too, threatening stronger action. Some time ago, they had done it at Kamana Prakashan. Recently, their action led to the suspension of services of HBC FM. However, it may not mean that all of their grievances are necessarily unreasonable. This is something to be tested at the negotiating table if the disputants come with a flexible approach. What has been stressed here is the wrongness of their method. Obstruction of the publication or distribution of newspapers amounts to an assault on the independent functioning of the news media and this does not in any way promote democracy. Above all, the unionists have trampled upon the citizen's right to know. It is a universal marketing practice and also perfectly legal in Nepal to have newspapers reached to the ultimate consumers through a network of independent distributors. It becomes the duty of the government to protect the publishers faced with such illegal obstructions and threats. On their part, the Maoist leadership must become sensitive to the agreements they have signed in which they have expressed their commitment to free press, competitive politics and democracy.

Source: The Himalayan Times, August 13, 2007

State Of Impunity Must End

Narayan Upadhyay

After a pro-tracted wait, the Krishna Jung Rayamajhi Commission Report was made public through the Legislature Parliament. Completed some eight months ago, the report has now put to an end the lingering suspicion whether the recommendations made in the report would be implemented in true spirit.

The commission completed its report after undertaking gruelling investigation, interrogations, and grilling of people accused of having used excessive force, abused positions and misused state coffers in their attempt to trample the Janandolan-II. As the movement picked, the then administration used all the state machinery to an unwarranted degree to quell the popular uprising, killing about 26 people, maiming and injuring thousands.The longer-than-expected delay in bringing the report in the open had also made the government a suspect in the eyes of the people. The government drew massive flak for showing reluctance to mete out punishment to 201 indicted persons as per the recommendations of the 1148-page report. Among the indicted, 35 were the members of from the council of ministers headed by none other than the King Gyanendra, five were the regional administrators, 13 zonal administrators, 115 security personnel from the police, army and armed police forces. A cursory glance at the report makes it clear that the Rayamajhi Commission has suggested taking action against the accused under four categories in accordance with the existing civil code, civil service, military and police acts and accused should be tried for various crimes ranging from the murder of pro-democracy protestors to abuse of authority and corruption. The report has also recommended for the departmental action for few accused. The most important part of the report is that it has suggested the government to enact new laws to punish many of the accused including, vice presidents and ministers of the King led- council of ministers, army top brasses, King’s advisors and many supporters who played vital role to crush the movement.

But the report has had its share of controversies. After the presentation of the report, conflicting statements have been made from the senior members of the government. Many legislators rapped the report for not including the King as the recipient of punishment. The Home Minister said that those accused in the report had already been penalized in one way or other while many believe that the punishment meted out to the accused is just a rap on their knuckles. Even the commissioner Rayamajhi himself said that the government had failed to take action against accused as per the words and spirit of the recommendations. All these statements help arouse lots of suspicion on the part of the government which was accused of dilly-dallying in implementing the recommendations.The long reigning trepidation among the Nepali people that the recommendations conclusions made by any commission set up to investigate into some atrocities, corruption, crimes and accidents are not implemented has been justified on many occasions. Governments when they come to the helm through some revolutions or movements tend to forget or try to tone down the severity of punishments sought in the commission findings. Not long ago, ditto had happened when the people of the nation had fought to restore democracy in 1991. The then government had formed a commission, known as the Mallik Commission, to investigate and then incriminate the people involved in making atrocities against the leaders, activists and supporters of the different political parties participating in the popular people’s movement. The government that was formed just after the restoration of democracy not only failed to action against the people indicted in the Mallik report, but also allowed all of them to participate in politics and take benefits from the various public positions.

The leniency of the then government saw many of the Panchayat followers, indicted by the Mallik Commission, riding to powerful and important ministerial portfolios in later years. But with the presentation of the Rayamajhi Commission report at the Legislature Parliament, a place for the people’s representatives, the days of the state of impunity that has tarnished the Nepali politics, bureaucracy and society as a whole for long are numbered now. The government is under duress to take action against the wrong-doers in accordance with the commission report. The task for the government in taking action seems to be easier now because the government has all the support from every quarter to prosecute the accused. If the present eight-party alliance government was to augment its image, then it must aim to fulfill the people’s aspirations and restore people’s faith on it. Now the government must take a quick and positive move so that it can implement the recommendation in true democratic manner. This is necessary to spread the message among the masses that the government really cares for the rule of law and the protection of people’s human rights. In the past, the many corruption tainted leaders, bureaucrats and civil servants walked freely taking advantage of their clout over the nation’s politics, bureaucracy.

Now, as the Rayamajhi Commission report has come into the open, the eight-party government must not allow persons accused of subverting people’s love and aspiration for democracy and the violators of the human rights roam scot-free. They must be penalized as suitably as suggested in the report.

Source: The Himalayan Times, August 13, 2007