Building Bridges for Peace in Nepal

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Recently, the Centre for Economic and Technical Studies in cooperation with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung of Germany organized two-day national seminar at Centre for Constitutional Dialogue, Kathmandu on the theme "Building Bridges for Peace in Nepal." If the views expressed by the seminar participants representing people from various walks of life including the intellectuals, journalists, academicians and civil society are the reflections of people's perceptions, it gave some genuine messages for the establishment of sustainable peace in the country. 

Major themes that were discussed during six sessions of the seminar covered wider issues related to peace in Nepal like the constitution as a mechanism of peace, religion and peace, federalism and economic development, strengths and weaknesses of peace process, challenges of journalists and the role of media in peace process. Ideas generated through comments and suggestions on the papers in different sessions of the seminar in free, frank and fearless manner rather proved more useful for establishing sustainable peace in the country.    

Many of the participants in the seminar held the leadership in major political parties of the country incapable to give a new direction to the country. People in leadership positions had neither vision nor dedication for the welfare of the state. Petty vested interests dominated the scene of the politics. People's representatives were more involved in the game of for dropping or forming the governments. They behaved in a way as if the people were for them and not that they were for the people. This was also due to the fact that the political parties in general turned into an industrial ventures rather than institutions of cadres willing to work for the welfare of the country.

Like in any other commercial ventures, many of the people in positions in political parties in general think and act with 'investment' and 'profit' motive, which is posing danger to the nascent democratic system and long-term peace in the country.  Can there be more ominous scene than this that certain percentage of Constituent Assembly members got innings in the Assembly elections in 2008 solely by greasing the party leadership through money?

The sole purpose for which the Constituent Assembly was created was to write constitution in which people should have developed a sense of ownership. Does the behaviour of major political parties show if at all they were interested in producing such constitution to the people? Issues other than writing the constitution are in priority for them. The 601-member of Constituent Assembly is more a liability rather than asset for many of the Nepalese as they are not proving worth for writing the constitution. For a long time, the Assembly has come to a halt and as a result the normal functioning of the state is largely affected. This symbolized not the culture of 'politics' but 'anti politics' for which none but the leadership in parties were responsible.

There is a growing realization that the the government is not 'for' the people, 'of' the people and 'by' the people. Instead, its irresponsible behaviour created a feeling that it was 'against' the people, 'off' the people and "bye" the people. Therefore, there was major failure in restoring law and order situation in various parts of the country, particularly in the Terai. Abductions, killings and anarchy had become rampant in the region, though the law and order situation has slightly improved during the tenure of CPN-UML led government. However, there is hardly any point of complacency in the post-conflict situation, which is overtaken by "new breed of conflict."

However, it would not be justified to hold the political actors responsible for all the ills in the country. They had made certain efforts in addressing the decade-long insurgency movement beginning from 1996, abolishing monarchial system and paving way for the restructuring of the state and formation of federal states. And they were successful in meeting some of these goals.

The declaration of the country as federal state was important as under the unitary system the Madheshis, women and other disadvantaged communities like the Janajatis and Dalits found themselves voiceless and deprived. There has been a feeling that federalism itself would redeem many of the socio-economic and political problems in Nepal. It is, however, forgotten that federal structure in itself is not panacea of all the ills. What it merely does is that it creates conducive environment for peace and development in the country.

There are many hurdles in the country that need to be resolved to give concrete shape to the concept of federalism. One of such hurdles is that there has been no consensus among the political actors on the criteria of forming the states and sharing of resources between the centre and the states. However, considering the present situation it would be difficult to restructure the states if the criteria are based on linguistic and/or ethnic factors. In the present situation, it would be most appropriate if the states are formed on the basis of geo-economic factors. In that case, there should be provision for the formation of only three states in Nepal i.e. the Terai state, the hill state and the Himalayan state.

In each of the three states, there could be provision for the formation of at least five sub-autonomous regions. The nation might reap the benefits of comparative advantage if there are three states and fifteen sub-autonomous regions. Such a provision will satisfy all those who advocate for the formation of states east to west on ecological basis and also those who favour the formation of certain units north to south. The states would be formed east to west and the sub-autonomous regions will be formed north to south.   

Importantly, it was realized that the religious sector, including the Hinduism and Buddhism could play an important role in establishing permanent peace in the country. However, the religious conversion of population by certain religious groups by luring the ordinary people to money was decried. Also, certain participants wanted the revival of Hinduism in the place of secularism in the country.

In order to make the peace process sustainable, the agreements made by the governments with the rebel groups or other conflicting groups needed to be implemented. Anomalies created in the implementation of agreements might create confusion and erase people's faith in the government and their own representatives.

It was rediculous that the media's role in maintaining peace in the country proved controversial. Certain media houses in the past aggravated conflict rather than resolved them. However, there are also examples that many of the journalists sacrificed their lives in their bid to promote peace in the country.

It was concluded that the failure of the political actors in Nepal was a major challenge for all those who wished to give a new direction to the country and make the life of the people in the country better. However, it was felt that the vacuum created in leadership in various political parties might be filled by the intellectuals, academicians, journalists, civil society groups and all those who really loved Nepal and the Nepalis by forging an alliance. Since the technological revolution has given immense power to each individual, the prospects for serving Nepal and the Nepalis is better through the change of the old guards by the new ones both within and outside the frame of political parties. 

[1] Jha is Professor of Economics and Executive Director of Centre for Economic and Technical Studies in Nepal.