This piece from Akhilesh Tripathi in KOL: - http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=90848 History Made By Akhilesh Tripathi It was already 12 at night and nothing was coming out of Baluwatar. November 8 was beginning to seem like it was just going to be another day of talks. Then, when it was least expected, the moment came. On the second day of the fifth round of summit talks, after over 20 hours of rigorous deliberations and discussions, the ruling seven-party alliance and the Maoists had, finally, made history. Overcoming all kinds of suspicions and apprehensions, they had reached the much-awaited peace deal, signing agreements on all political and arms issues and paving the way for the restoration of permanent peace in Nepal. Both the ruling seven-party alliance and the Maoists deserve a special pat on the back for making the historic peace deal. They have proved the conception that "the Maoists cannot be trusted" and "the government, too, is not serious about establishing peace" as wrong. After more than a decade of deadly conflict and the Maoists living in the shadows, the November 8 Agreement is the strongest indicator that lasting peace will finally come. As mandated by the April Movement, a complete restructuring of the state, too, looks very near. Indeed, the agreement marks the beginning of the final stage of the delicate and unique experiment of ending the bloody conflict and establishing sustainable peace that began in Nepal in the wake of the success of the April Movement. It has sealed secure the process of drawing the violent Maoist insurgency into open politics and integrating the rebels into the political mainstream. Any misgivings the people may have had, that the leaders may be tempted to go for just mere adjustment of power, just a tuning up of an old system, is gone. All of them now know and have decided what needs to be done- how and when. The historic agreement has clearly spelled out the roadmap for a new Nepal. The paper work is now over. Real work lies ahead. There is no time for dilly-dallying. If the Constituent Assembly elections are to be held by mid-June 2007, as has been agreed, then swift action will be required. What has been agreed on paper needs to be implemented in practice. And for this to happen, the time line that the two sides have set for forming the interim government and legislature, promulgating the interim constitution etc has to be strictly adhered to. We hope both sides have learnt from the over six months that took them to make the final peace deal that a change is possible only if the parties trying to make the change are ready to change themselves first with time. While the historic agreement reached at Baluwatar is in fact an expression of their will to change, it must be willed into action. The Maoist leadership has been time and again accused of failing to bridge the gaping chasm seen between what it says from the national pulpit and its ability to transform its armed cadres at the ground level. Reports of rebel extortions, intimidations and bullying still keep coming in. This has to stop. With the rebel leadership now publicly abandoning the People's War, political re-orientation of their ground-level cadres and activists, so that they can learn to live in an open society, is the order of the day. There is no other way forward. Maoist Chairman Prachanda's announcement within hours of reaching the groundbreaking agreement with the government that the November 10 convention of the Newa Mukti Morcha has been cancelled is a significant gesture towards this end. For the convention, which the Maoists were touting to be a mass gathering of a million in the capital, the rebels had been pressing the valley dwellers really hard to give shelter and food to their cadres and supporters who were going to attend the programme. Instead they have decided to celebrate for the next three days. Such gestures must continue. On the seven parties' part, what needs to be changed is the usual political infighting, which they tend to become more vulnerable to when any change in government is made. This shouldn't be the case with the interim government ready to be formed later this month. No political party or figure is bigger than the nation. The change the nation wants is perhaps possible only if the concerned sides realise this. The Baluwatar agreement has certainly opened a new exit but it will take solid effort and total commitment to make use of it and take the nation out of the centuries-old problems that came to a head in a violent and deadly manner in the last one decade. In short, the country stands on the brink of a historic changing of the guard, and both the government and the rebels, the latter in large measure, hold the key to whether the peace process ultimately ends up treading the path of confrontation or final conciliation.