Leave no one out

by PRAVAT J GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 170 (February 2010) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Ok, the war on who has better hold on Nepal continues between China and India. 2009 saw a lot of dignitaries flying in and come 2010, we see a lot of Indian officials flying in too. Soon after the Indian Foreign Minister flew out, in came the Indian Army General. While the Chinese officials visited Birgunj, the Indian Minister made it a point to visit Mustang. What's the deal here?

The High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM) was formed and Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was not even a part of the committee.  How strange! But when the UML and NC pressurised the Unified Maoist to include the PM in the committee, the Maoists allowed the PM to be an invitee member.  After all, each decision does have to pass through him. Years of waiting, Madhav Kumar Nepal becomes the PM, and now they won't even let him into their mechanism. Next one on queue is our very own Sujata Koirala.

At this rate, we shouldn't be surprised if this committee will be even bigger than the 44-member government. What we don't understand is, couldn't the party leaders just discuss and sort out the political deadlock? Why was it oh-so-important to form the HLPM?

The formation of the HLPM led the U-CPM to cancel the indefinite strike but they threatened to launch a bigger protest program if the discussion failed. To show what they meant, the YCL raided hotels in Chitwan and held couples who were found involved in 'illicit' activities. Those apprehended were an employee of UNICEF, a daughter of CPN-UML's district leader, two Army personnel and a policeman. All were handed over to the police and spent the night in the cooler. Under the CDO's order, the girls were released to their parents while the guys were released amongst journalists. Talk about taking the law into their own hands.

In other news, PM Nepal is not in talking terms with Defense Minister Bidhya Bhandari. How mature is that? Nepal had telephoned Bhandari and sought her over her statement that her ministry would defy any attempt to integrate Maoists into the Nepal Army. Bhandari clarified that she had just conveyed that representation of her ministry and the NA should be ensured in the special committee if any decision has to be made regarding the issue of army integration. So the bottom line is that she and NA officials should be in the HLPM too.

We have a bright idea. The Cabinet and the CA members should all be in the HLPM. That way no one will feel left out which is more important than solving the current deadlock.