[Marxism] Nepal: Out of the Barrel of a Gun

["Politicus E." <epoliticus@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks for all the comments on PDF to text conversion (and the hint).

Below, the comrades will find an editorial from the current issue of
Economic & Political Weekly on the political situation in Nepal.  Let
me jump into the fray here by expressing substantial agreement with
the position of comrade Munckton.

epoliticus

==========
India and elements of the Nepali polity turn a blind eye to violation
of the principle of civilian supremacy.

No doubt Nepal is now a âsecular, democratic republicâ, no longer a
âHindu kingdomâ. The âRoyalâ tag of the Nepal Army (NA) has been
dispensed with too. But that narrow stratum of the upper caste elite
that has commanded the army and the administration remains in place.
And, if the crisis precipitated by the (ceremonial) president revoking
the order of the Ministry of Defense sacking Chief of Army Staff,
Rookmangud Katawal for repeated insubordination and deïance, which
provoked the resignation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal
(Prachanda), is anything to go by, the top brass of the army and the
leadership of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the centre-left Communist
Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) [CPN(UML)] can count on each
other in the struggle to retain what is left of the âold orderâ. The
feudal monarchy at the centre of that order is gone, but the rest of
the structure of the state and the economic base remains â Nepali
capital continues to play second ïddle to Indian capital; the
semi-feudal satraps retain their power and privileges, while social
discrimination and economic deprivation continue to be rife.

Even as the process of drafting the constitution of the ânew Nepalâ is
underway, the key to a New Democratic Nepal is the
integration of the Peopleâs Liberation Army (PLA) into the NA, and
alongside, the ârestructuringâ and âdemocratisationâ of the
latter. Besides, âintegrationâ, ârestructuringâ and 
âdemocratisationâ
are imperatives that have been written into the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA) 2006 and the Interim Constitution. Indeed, with
the integration of some 20,000 guerrillas of the PLA into the 90,000
strong NA, and assuming that the ofïcer core also maintains the same
proportion, the possibility of a reactionary coup of the kind that
Gyanendra, with the backing of the Royal Nepal Army, staged in
February 2005 diminishes drastically, as also,
apprehensions that the integrated army will become a force taking
orders from the Maoists outside the conïnes of the constitution will
have little rational basis.

As regards democratisation of the NA, the ïrst step has already been
taken with the Army Act of 2007, which gives the civilian
government control over the army. In fact, the sacking of Katawal came
in the wake of his refusal to submit to the control of the
Ministry of Defense, defying the latter with respect to three issues.
The CPA 2006 explicitly prohibits recruitment by both the PLA
and the NA, but the army chief went ahead with the enlisting of around
3,000 soldiers despite the ministry directing him to
refrain from doing so. Then, he extended the services of eight
brigadier generals based on norms that predated the Army Act
of 2007, even though the Ministry of Defence had denied these ofïcers
a service extension, and the matter was slated for appeal
in the Supreme Court. He again deïed civilian authority by withdrawing
the NA from the National Games when the PLA was
allowed to participate. How could any democratically elected
government have tolerated such blatant violation of the principle
of civilian control of the army? The general was refusing to implement
policy decisions; he was even told of the consequences
of such insubordination, and yet he chose to defy Defence Minister Ram
Bahadur Thapa (Badal).

In all this, Katawal knew he had the support of South Block (Indiaâs
Ministry of External Affairs) and Washington (indeed,
the two are now strategic partners), as well as the political
opposition, the NC and the CPN(UML), the latter, a coalition partner
of the Maoists in government. South Block, Washington, and hitherto
Nepalâs two largest parties, the NC and the CPN(UML),
were conïdent that the Maoists would be relegated to third place in
the Constituent Assembly election last year, but the latter, now
the Uniïed Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) [UCPN(M)], got more seats
than the combined strength of NC and the CPN(UML)
in the assembly. Further, in recent by-elections in six
constituencies, the UCPN(M) not only retained the seats it held, but
even won a seat previously held by the NC, and came second in one of
the Madhesi constituencies, despite one of its main Madhesi leaders,
Matrika Yadavâs bitter split from the party.

The NC and the CPN(UML) fear a loss of their dominance in Nepalâs
polity. They are acutely aware of the fact that the authority of the
Maoists in Nepalâs polity essentially comes from the organisational
strength of the UCPN(M) and its various mass
organisations. No doubt, the Maoists have only a little less than 40%
of the total number of seats in the Constituent Assembly,
but the new constitution has to be approved by a two-thirds majority,
and thus they will not be able to write a constitution for
a New Democratic Nepal, in their vision, âa Nepal on the road to
socialismâ. Nevertheless, the NC and the CPN(UML) â albeit, the
latter seems vertically split on this issue â as also, South Block, in
engaging in a power politics that condones, indeed, endorses
violation of the principle of civilian supremacy, want the NA as a
deïnite power centre in Nepali politics, as a powerful counter to
the growing inïuence of the Maoists. In extending their support to a
reneging on the agreed integration of the PLA into the NA, it
is the self-proclaimed fountainheads of democracy that are now going
by the Maoist adage that âpolitical power grows out of the
barrel of a gunâ.

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