Pall over peace

Nepal is perhaps the richest country in South Asia in terms of the number of human rights groups. But their criticism of the incident was only a formality.

Birendra Saha’s murder in peace time by a party that is involved in the peace process shows that Nepal remains as dangerous a country for journalists as it was in the years of conflict. Two, the common slogan of the ruling political coalition — that consists of only seven political parties — and that of the influential human rights groups to end the culture of impunity means little, as there is a new group replacing the old one which will be above the reach of the law. All this indicates that the repeated postponement of polls to the constituent assembly has a pattern. Such a postponement will enable the present government and the ruling coalition to continue in power without any accountability. All that they look forward to is international support. There are also fears being expressed among a section of the people as well as academics that the United Nations Mission in Nepal — UNMIN — has failed to prove its effectiveness on the mandate it received — management of government, army and Maoist guerrillas, and to observe elections. UNMIN now wants an enlarged jurisdiction for itself, but the local sentiment is clearly against it.

For more than 16 months now, the seven parties have not only monopolised government, but have also had absolute control over the peace and political process. The international community which in principle strongly advocates ‘inclusive democracy’, maintains silence over the exclusion of forces outside the group of seven. Their ritualistic condemnation of journalist Saha’s murder was just a case in point. As frustration grows among the Nepalis, their ire seems directed against the international community as well for this visible dual standard. The emerging lesson for Nepal is: sustainable democracy and peace in the country cannot be achieved without independent, active and committed local actors; the international community’s role can only be secondary.