Foreign policy: A realistic approach is needed

Madhav Shrestha

Nepal’s foreign policy is continuing on its old path despite the dramatic changes that have been experienced in the region and beyond. Notwithstanding the dramatic political changes at home, there seems to be no visible indicator of which direction the new Nepal needs to take in order to achieve its twin goals of security and socio-economic development. Time is ripe for Nepal to decide its course of action in its external dealings in light of the developing regional and international scenario in the last one and a half decade. Regrettably, the domestic political scene is fuzzy and unpredictable.

Experts on international affairs believe the world is now less politicised and more interconnected as a result of technological advancement. Eminent authors like Jacques Derrida, Michael Foucault, Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Zizek are noted poststructuralists who have highlighted the forces of technology replacing politics in interstate relationship. They imply depoliticisation sustained by technology that guides the management of foreign policy, initiated by technical experts in tandem with bureaucrats.

But the world would never be depoliticised till the decision-making power remains under the grip of politicians. True, the behaviour of the key political players in foreign affairs is now more influenced by non-political elements. But politics is still a highly important ingredient in international affairs. An eminent writer, Jenny Edkins, thinks so because visible fights between democracies and non-democracies are a reality now. This is undeniable under the globally prevailing circumstances. A weaker country like Nepal with a fledgling democracy has to look into the intricacies of interstate relationship. This is imminent as Nepal needs to make its external journey both pragmatic and expedient to keep up with the evolving trend.

In this context, observers believe that the underpinning components of (a) connectivity (b) commonality (c) conditionality and (d) compatibility are now the most important elements in the conduct of the foreign policy of Nepal as its relations with the internal community, and international and regional organisations are realistically related. Experts believe that ground realities instead of lofty ideals and assumed principles need to chart the course of foreign policy.

First, in execution of Nepal’s foreign policy, the highly realistic importance of connectivity, especially geographic and contractual, assumes top priority in its dealings with India and China. Of course, our historic connectivity with the UK and the US cannot be undermined. This element should indeed lay the foundation to build on our relations with those countries. There should be no emotive feelings while trying to achieve the primary objective of constructing appropriately designed contacts with them.Second, the need to see the commonalities between the problems of the underdeveloped and land-locked countries around the world is of no less concern. In reality, prevalence of poverty in other countries like Nepal naturally compels them to unite to make their voices heard in international forums. The united stance taken by the countries of similar socio-economic backgrounds could, in turn, help the developed countries see and help cure their festering wounds. Nepal together with like-minded countries should move ahead in initiating the policy to work together.Third, the question of conditionality should also capture the attention of those who implement the country’s foreign policy as challenges of terrorism, extremism and separatism remain as destructive forces hovering over the nations that vow to fight such evil tendencies.

Nepal, as a country suffering the consequences of such nefarious elements, should work towards making international alliance comprising the nations in similar plight in order to root out such ills. Alliance for such purposes should remain in place until forces with sinister motives are dead and buried.Fourth, the question of compatibility, if the above components are embraced, will hardly arise in the conduct of Nepal’s foreign policy as it does no harm to us or to any country which enjoys bilateral contacts with Nepal; nor will it restrict the option of any country to act independently as a sovereign and responsible political member. Nepal as an independent political entity need not deviate from what it has embraced for long, nor feel constrained to participate in the international forums gainfully. In the prevailing situation, these factors are cogent elements that Nepal should embrace, instead of deliberating on other non-realistic concerns, to steer its foreign policy towards the achievement of greater national interests. Nepal can safely conduct a consistent and coherent foreign policy with the adoption of these new elements on the basis of a realistic approach. There needs to be no deviation from Nepal’s independent stance as well.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 22, 2007

Adventure Tourism

ADVENTURE tourism has been steadily gaining in popularity over the years. This form of tourism is a new concept, which a country like Nepal possessing immense potential for such tourism should be able to cash on. Nepal's lofty mountains have been attracting mountaineers from all over the world, thereby, contributing to raise the standard of people working in various expeditions. Besides the money accruing from mountain tourism has been percolating to the grassroots level benefiting the people who reside in the remote regions of the country. The mighty mountains will continue to lure mountaineers who cannot resist the challenge of ascending them. Besides the mountains the country is blessed with numerous mountain rivers considered to be among the best for rafters. For them there is nothing to beat the thrill of shooting the rapids of these exotic rivers. The tourists apart from enjoying the rafting will be able to sight various attractions en route such as the way of the living of the people residing by the riverside.

The lifestyle varies even in short distances. This and other things would make the experience of white water rafting in Nepal unique. It is now up to the tourism entrepreneurs to promote the rivers of the country for rafting. Should they succeed in doing so then this would be another form of attraction for adventure seeking tourists. What is interesting to note is that rafting is also slowly gaining in popularity amongst the Nepalese people. This should by all account be encouraged for this would not only provide the rafters kicks but also contribute to the equitable distribution of income. In this context, rafting a programme to promote rafting in the Trishuli River is being organized. The programme envisages giving a fillip to domestic and foreign tourism by exploiting the potential of rafting. Adventure tourism is now recognized as one of the important forms of tourism. Publicizing rafting in now a policy of the tourism industry. There are many rivers in Nepal famous for rafting. The rivers like Karnali, Kaligandaki, Trishuli, Bhotekoshi and Sunkoshi, among others, are considered to be among the best for adventure rafting. As there are many other rivers in the country, which are equally ideal for this purpose, they could also be opened for rafter. As the rivers originate in the high altitude Himalayas the flow of the water in these is of great speed. Thus, promoting rafting would help boost the local economy at the same time raising the national revenue.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 22, 2007

Peace Stability Operations

S.K.Acharya

In order to address the post-conflict situation, especially when people of Nepal are willing and prepared to make a profound and active contribution in nation building, it is crucial for all political parties to come out with a common agenda for country development and establishment of peace and security. Only Government's efforts to re-establish rule of law and administration of justice after the peace process agreements are not sufficient. Instances of human rights violation, violation of the rule of law, inadequate law enforcement are increasing. Demand of the situation at this phase is through, thorough discussion the parties should be able to project a joint policy and approach to deal effectively with the 'threats' confronting the country and commitment in establishing rule of law.

Expectations

After entering into the peace process and into the government, Maoists are expected to actively participate in the areas of disarmament, establishment of peace and security, and economic and social development. Since the initiation of peace process, the expectations of the Nepalese people and their hope for betterment and development have increased despite so many disturbances.Except for the formation of the coalition government, political parties have neither projected nor expressed their willingness of any joint approach to deal with the present deteriorating peace and security situation faced by the country, which is an issue of vital importance and the government alone is unable to take effective measures to resolve the problems. Everyone especially, all political parties should actively participate in peace keeping process. It is also important that anticipating the probable threat, all parties should decide course of action by actively discussing among themselves and involving experts from all parties in a decision making process. All political parties needs to be aware of that all Nepalese people are concerned and watching the party's role and effectiveness in establishing stability, peace and security in the country. As everyone is aware that all political parties can agree on so many things and can sign so many agreements to handle the situation, why can't they come up with a joint agenda to cope with the deteriorating peace and security situations?

It is the belief of the people that in restructuring the country, a more active and constructive role of the Maoists would definitely improve the effectiveness of country's development effort.Peace and security should be the prime objective of any programme or strategy designed for stability operations. Without the climate of the peace and security, any effort for the infrastructural development, holding elections and overall efforts of nation building would be undermined. One year's stability operations process show that the government is trying very hard and is moving very slowly and patiently. Everyone observing the situation can conclude that without any cooperation and commitment from other parties, organizations, and international help, the government alone can not establish peace and security on time and in a desired manner. The government seems to have their own constraints of proper resources and capabilities to carry out the law and order situation. In addition, the government lacks a clear and cohesive plan for interparty cooperation for peace stability operations and rule of law. It is very difficult at this moment to effectively measure whether the stability operations process so far indicates success or failure in establishing rule of law and peace in the country. However, the government's patient is paying and there are enough reasons to be optimistic. But the process is very slow and dissatisfaction of the people can be felt.

The government needs to have a clear organizational understanding on how to achieve these goals and how to get the cooperation of parties, other organization and international partners. Taking the reign in its hand and making room for all voices and expertise from all parties and international partners, the government should be able to lead by developing and implementing policies and strategy necessary to establish rule of law in the country. And government should publicly announce their policies and plan of action to win the heart of the people.However, establishing peace and stability after a post-conflict environments is not an easy job and cannot be compared to fighting a small war. Implementing rule of law, which emphasizes civil and political rights after post-conflict environments will be a great challenge. During this period it is very difficult for governing authority to establish or implement rule of law while taking into consideration legal framework, the law of armed conflict, international humanitarian law, human rights law, and local law rooted in custom or religion.

Rule of law is a vital element in establishing security and peace in the country. It is necessary for all to understand and respect rule of law, which forms the ground rules by which government policies and legislation are formulated, and administrative works are accomplished. Moreover, since the initiation of the peace process, it is necessary for all to understand that the government is subject to law.In simple words, the rule of law, in brief, means the principle of legality. In a rule of law society, everything must be done in accordance with the law and nobody is above the law. The Government should also derive its powers from the law and should exercise in accordance with the law. Those in the government must understand that the Government is vested with certain discretionary powers, its discretion must be exercised rationally and without procedural impropriety, and the courts are there which can prevent abuse of power. It is the right of the citizens to challenge in courts the legality of acts of the government.

Strategy

In a democratic system, if somebody wants to change the system or if somebody advocates any new system, he should be allowed to do so provided he does not incite others to accept the change through treason, subversion, or violence or public disorder.Achieving sustainable peace in the post-conflict environment requires developing local rule of law capacities. Effective planning for the transition from peace keeping operations to peace building and long term development is vital.The involvement of political parties and other partners in the policy making process, and a fruitful relationship with the civil society should be among the priorities of any post-conflict strategy

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 22, 2007

Party Unity : Ideological Basis A Must

Yuba Nath Lamsal

The recent remarks of the Maoist chairman Prachanda's on the possible unity among the leftist forces have sent quick and serious ripples in the Nepali political spectrum. Some centrist and rightist political groups are busy in readjustment, realignment and polarization following the Maoist supremo's remarks which was later echoed by CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal. CounterThe two factions of the Nepali Congress are more seriously doing groundwork for the unification. Similarly, the chairman of the Rastriya Janasakti Party Surya Bahadur Thapa, immediately after returning from the Delhi sojourn, hinted the need for forging a "democratic alliance" to counter the left forces.The talk of the left unity has, of course, created paranoia in the rightist camp. It is because the leftist parties dominate the interim parliament and, if the constituent assembly polls are held on the united platform, there is a strong likelihood of left parties sweeping the elections. Political parties are assets in the multi-party democracy. There must be different political parties on ideological ground. At present, three political forces are representing different ideologies and these three forces are dominating Nepali politics.

However, all of these forces are divided and fragmented. Nepali Congress represents the centrist ideology with democratic socialism as its official document, although in practice it has been promoting capitalism and Westminster type of democracy. The Nepali Congress was the only party that had been representing the centrist politics for more than five decade. As the Nepali Congress remained united as the only centrist party, it dominated Nepali politics and remained in power more than any other political force in the post 1990 political era. But it was divided four years ago as a faction led by its Sher Bahadur Deuba broke the relation with the mother party and formed a new group called Nepali Congress (Democratic) party.The Nepali Congress, right from its inception, championed and fought for multi-party political system, political freedom, human rights and open society. For its unflinching faith in multi-party democracy, the western countries supported the Nepali Congress as the only democratic force in Nepal. But much change has taken place in Nepali politics over the years. All other political forces have come up embracing multi-party democracy and open society more vocally and vibrantly.

However, the western countries still view Nepali politics and political parties with the same old eyes. The leftists are strong in Nepal. If all the leftist parties were combined, they are in majority. But Nepali communists are always divided and fragmented. As a result, they always remained in opposition. At present, more than a dozen communist parties exist in Nepal and each party claims to be the genuine representative of the poor and downtrodden people. Now CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML are the strong and mainstream leftist forces in Nepal. They have equal number of seats in the interim parliament and equal share in the cabinet. The difference between the two is that CPN-UML was established as a second largest force through the verdict of people in the last general election. CPN-Maoist has been established as a force through the armed revolution, and it has recently joined peaceful and competitive politics.

In terms of popular verdict, it is yet to be tested. The rightist force is also in existence in Nepal. This force, too, is fragmented. The monarchy and feudal system is its ideological base and support. Since the monarchy, the patron of feudalism, is on the verge of crumbling, the rightist force is seeking a new ideological ground and tactics for its survival and existence. It is trying to create a new political alignment so that its existence and identity would remain intact. For more than three-decade during the king's absolute regime called the Panchayat system, this palace pampered rightist force enjoyed political power summarily suppressing the people's fundamental rights and party activities. Strangely, these rightist forces are trying to portray themselves as the democratic force and forging an alliance with the Nepali Congress to counter the rising left force in Nepal. The two factions of the Nepali Congress advocate the same ideology and political and economic programme. Both the factions revere BP Koirala as their source of inspiration. Similarly, all the communist parties believe in Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.

All of them revere Marx, Lenin and Mao as their international leaders and source of inspiration. The rightist parties support he monarchy and feudalism. Although some of them have lately spoken of a republican set up, it is their tactical move to survive in the changed political context and serve their long-term goal and interest. In a multi-party democracy, parties with similar ideology and programmes should not remain divided and fragmented. The parties should be created and united on the basis of ideological basis. If the alignment and polorisation is just for power devoid of ideological basis, the unity would not last long. Such alignment among the differing ideological bases would be disastrous for themselves in the long-run. It would create a crowd of visionless and opportunist people instead of a party with committed and dedicated cadres. We have a bitter experience of the past. After the 1990 political change, the major political, parties especially the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, welcomed everyone, including those who had been tainted in corruption and misuse of power during the Panchayat regime.

These people entered the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML with a design to defame and damage the image of the parties. They were, to a large degree, successful in their mission. When king Gyanendra took over power, these people jumped into the royal camp. The political parties did not understand this design. Now the rightist elements are talking of a 'new democratic alliance', which could be another plot to damage the parties. Moreover, there should not be any paranoia among other political forces as the Nepali communist parties can never be united. The history is witness that Nepali communists have never learnt lesson from the past and they will prefer to remain in a small groups rather than in creating a strong and united party.

Caution

The Jana Andolan II succeeded because of the unity of the eight parties. The mission of the Jana Andolan II has not been over. The mission would be over only after the election to a constituent assembly. Thus, the unity among the eight parties must remain intact until the election to a constituent assembly. The move for a new equation excluding the leftist force could be a conspiracy to derail the ongoing political and peace process. We can easily imagine who could benefit if the present political process was derailed. The political parties especially the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN-Maoists need to be extra cautious in this present scenario.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 22, 2007

NAC in trafficking

The people involved in human trafficking constantly explore creative techniques to exploit poor laborers by exporting them illegally to labor-deficient countries. These human traffickers get heavily compensated from the unemployed youth, who are ready to take any risk for the job abroad. The agents also get hefty commission from the labor recipients, who enjoy cheap Nepali labor force. The Nepal Airlines Corporations, Department of Immigration and security personnel have been found involved in human trafficking. The traffickers have established a strong nexus among these three institutions to ferry people to the United Arab Emirates without visa. The UAE immigration and security could also be suspected for their involvement in letting the trafficked people the back-door entry. This racket has to be immediately stopped by both the Nepali and UAE governments.

The incident in which 22 Nepalis were stranded at Dubai airport for about two weeks, and NAC received subsequent warning from the UAE Immigration Department has posed a serious question. The government should immediately form an investigation committee to unmask the NAC staff, immigration and police involved in the racket. NAC has claimed that its staff might have been deceived by the laborers as the labor visa comes in a loose paper from Arab countries. However, the reports say that most of the 22 Nepalis stranded at Dubai airport did not have any official paper whatsoever. So, the question of genuine or fake does not arise. Moreover, even if NAC failed to distinguish fake from genuine, the immigration staff should have stopped the human trade because they are trained for the purpose. And it is their responsibility to check any illegal emigrant. The security force is undoubtedly involved in the trade as it has been an opportunity for its personnel to earn money.

What is the problem if Nepalis are getting employment abroad -- be it legal or illegal? The problem is that the illegal laborers, who enter foreign countries without papers, are exploited to death. They can never recover the money they spend in finding the job abroad. Neither can they come back, even if they wish to do so. Such an illegal and illegitimate human trade tarnishes the country's image. Not only the UAE, soon all other countries where Nepali laborers aspire to go will debar NAC from flying. This act has also incurred huge losses to NAC because it has to bring back all the stranded people who fail to enter the country for free. The most dangerous aspect is that the illegal migrants are smuggled into war torn Iraq and Afghanistan. They may lose their lives as unidentified persons. So, the government should stop human trade and punish those involved in it - be they NAC staff, immigration officials or security personnel.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 22, 2007