Kathmandu: The Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies, NEFAS, organized recently a discussion among scholars and experts from various fields on conflict resolution in Nepal to provide a scholarly perspective to the prevailing conflict situation and the efforts aimed towards alleviating it.

About 66 participants indulged themselves in the discussions, which was divided into five sessions that went on for two days.

The first session introduced the theme of the discussions to the participants while the remaining four were working sessions where experts made their presentations and opinions of the participants solicited. The seminar began on May 17 and ended on 18. The programme was a product of NEFAS-Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) cooperation.

The first session was the inaugural where Prof. Ananda Srestha, the NEFAS executive director, introduced the theme of the discussions to the participants. He asked the participants to seek the reasons that had kept the Nepali society a peaceful one for a long time before the peace was broken.

“Searching for a solution in the rich Nepali traditions may produce a solution to the rising conflicts”, he said.

Mr. Yadav Kant Silwal, who had taken the chair of the inaugural session, said that conflict resolution could be a very twisting process in Nepal. He pointed to the Sri Lankan experience and said that in spite of the efforts put in from both international and domestic quarters, the insurgency there is still continuing. Silwal, who is also a former South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Secretary General, and an acclaimed diplomat said a United Nations mediation would have produced a better outcome in the Nepalese crisis scene. The reasons he gave for such a belief were: a) because the UN had offered it, it had a high credibility, its vested interests were limited to the development of this country and Nepal had participated in its peacekeeping operations since the fifties, hence, a good candidate, and b) a UN role would allay many apprehensions about Nepal going the Sikkim way.

On the ongoing peace talks between the government and the CPN (Maoist), Silwal showed dissatisfaction over the inability of the two sides to take up the economic and social agenda, thus far, which have been touted as the root cause of all conflicts in Nepal. “It is this that is going to make the talks a long and tortuous process,” he said. The working sessions followed the inaugural.

Associate Prof. Dev Raj Dahal presented his paper in the first session titled “Conflict Resolution: A Note on Contending Issues” wherein he explored the theoretical aspects of conflict in general with references of Nepal and other countries.

Those who commented in his paper were among others, Prof. Guna Nidhi Sharma, Shrish rana, K. R. Jha, and Lal Babu Yadav.

The session was chaired by Mr. Ananda Aditya. Excerpts from the floor discussions are given below.

The first session of the second day saw the presentation by Dr. Krishna Bahadur Bhattachan on “Sociological Perspectives on Internal Conflict Resolution/Management in Nepal”. In it he dwelt on the injustices meted out to ethnic groups of Nepal by state policies. Prof. Gunanidhi Sharma chaired the session. ( Excerpts only)