Posted by: commando April 29, 2009
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| Prime Minister and Maoist party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s most brilliant move is taking shape. Cornered by leaders and cadres of his own party as well combatants and commanders of People´´ Liberation Army, Dahal has managed to deflect the spotlight on his nepotism and lack of performance to that of civilian supremacy versus military might. A section of nagarik samaj on Monday met President Dr Ram Baran Yadav and asked him to abide by constitutional norms while pointing out the limitations of his office. Some of the members in the delegation who went to meet the president are highly-respected individuals. They fought an absolute monarchy – backed by the army – without any weapons and defeated it. No one can question their integrity. But even people with integrity are vulnerable to propaganda and may arrive at a wrong conclusion. I think they have erred this time. The timing of this error is crucial, one that can have far-reaching consequences. Whether it is military coup (as is being trumpeted by Maoists and some section of the media) or Maoist totalitarian rule (as is being suspected by others), it is again these members of the society who will have to come to the forefront and fight another dictatorship. But we can avoid that situation only if we can see who started this latest round of conflict and why. Let’s just see this ‘defiance by army chief’ angle. It all began with the recruitment controversy. On October 15, the army informed the Defense Ministry about the recruitment. Two weeks later, it advertised for about 3,000 vacant positions in Gorkhapatra daily. Nothing happened all this while. Then on December 22, Deputy Commander of the Maoist army, Chandra Prasad Khanal, declared that the ex-rebels would recruit more youths into PLA ranks if the army did not stop its recruitment drive. Two days later, the Maoist-headed Defense Ministry asked the army to stop recruitment. On March 13, the Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to the recruitment but added that the army should refrain from such an act in future until the court took a final decision on it. We also need to take into account the crucial gap between apex court’s interim ruling on brigadier-generals’ retirement case and clarification sought by the cabinet. Dahal took it personally when the Nepal Army pulled out from six events in the National Games in which the PLA team participated. That was on April 7. Then came the cabinet move of seeking clarification from Katawal, on April 19. Something transpired between April 7 and 19. Maoist chairman Dahal was put under tremendous pressure by Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and other party colleagues for doing nothing on Katawal’s ‘defiance’. Initially, the chairman tried to talk his comrades out of their insistence as is his wont. But this time, no one was willing to hear any placating words. Dahal had to act. But he would have looked foolish to act on old issues, issues on which the Supreme Court was involved. (Those who talk about civilian supremacy also need to reflect that the government sought clarification on issues being dealt by the Supreme Court). Something had to be done. Then came the news about ‘soft’ coup. It might just be sheer coincidence that Dahal’s desperate search for an excuse to nail the army chief and the coup news came about the same time. After the ‘soft’ coup news, there’s been a crescendo from vested quarters to sack Katawal. Why are we offering our shoulders to bail a manipulative party chief who so obviously indulges in nepotism? (I am sure most of us have heard the list of Dahal clan occupying various offices at the expense of the state’s exchequer) And why are we becoming facilitators in allowing the internal turmoil of one party to hold the entire nation hostage? Have we given enough thought on what will happen if 1) there is an en masse induction of 19,000-plus politically indoctrinated PLA into the national army and 2) senior positions in the army are given to PLA commanders if 70 generals have to retire once the government implements the 30-year service cap in the army? Do give the consequences of this possibility some thought before baying for Katawal’s blood. There has been a lot of debate about civilian supremacy over the army. No democracy- and rule of law-loving citizen can dispute that the army should be under civilian control. But is this really an issue of civilian supremacy over the army? Let’s not forget that Maoist PLA and the Nepal Army were in opposing camps during the conflict. We are still in post-conflict transition. This government is functioning under an interim constitution. And until we successfully conclude the transition phase, let us not disturb the interim arrangement under any pretext. Given the Maoists’ animosity toward Katawal, it is not surprising that they would love to see his ouster four months prior to the end of his tenure and claim ‘victory’ of sorts, and trumpet that they ‘defeated’ the army too. But what is the civil society’s compulsion? It is not a case of Katawal, an individual. The issue is about one party in conflict trying to destabilize its opponent while the conflict is still far from reaching a logical conclusion. More importantly, this is happening at a time when we have not even written the preamble of the new constitution. In the light of all this, I would ask the civil society stalwarts to rethink their move. The choice is theirs but the consequences will be the entire country´s. damakant@myrepublica.com | ||