Kathmandu: The inevitable has happened. The official declaration of the state of emergency in the country Monday evening did not come as a surprise for those responsible and sensible citizens who found some time to analyze last Wednesday’s statement issued by Comrade Prachanda wherein the Maoists insurgency supremo had clearly told that the ongoing talks with the establishment have abruptly come to an end.

The common men could sense that the end of the talks meant that the insurgency could once again follow the same path of violence which is what they accomplished.

The tragedy had been that the government side neither understood the hidden message therein in Prachanda’s statement nor could prepare itself for any untoward incident.

Presumably, the biggest surprise would have come for the nation’s Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, for he was the one who trusted most the Maoists leaders and concluded that the fourth round of talks would resume despite Prachanda’s Wednesday’s expressions.

What ever happened on last Friday and Sunday in the country facilitated or for that matter encouraged the Deuba establishment to go in for a stringent measure to tame the growing threats of the Maoists insurgency.

Looking at the manner the insurgents exhibited their unjustifiable wrath against the policemen and the nation’s military forces in, for example, Dang, Syangja and Solu, one could conclude that the Deuba establishment by imposing a state of emergency and mobilizing the army in the country to tame the Maoists insurgency did a timely job.

In effect, the day the Maoists insurgents dared to attack the military cantonment in Dang district perhaps they did so for their own peril. To recall, the Nepali armed forces had time and again avoided its direct confrontation with the Maoists insurgents thinking that they will spare the latter till they were equipped with their due “‘legitimate role”‘ offered to it by the concerned State authorities. This was also guided by the fact that the army preferred not to shed the blood of their own brethren belonging to the other camp as became evident from the Holerie incident.

However, this time things took a different turn. In essence, the Nepali military force presumably came into action much ahead of the “legitimate role” allowed to them by the State on Monday evening for the Maoists insurgents tried to test the acumen of a sleeping lion.

Now that the country is armed and equipped with the state of emergency followed by the mobilization of the army, one could expect that things will improve and the common men will take a sigh of relief.

As the luck would have it, the Deuba administration also enjoys the “‘timely” political supports for its new move from the lone super power, the United States of America and the European Union as well. Though the two separate statements differ slightly, however, the gist of both the statements undoubtedly strengthen the hands of Deuba regime.

Notably, the US embassy press release issued, (Monday afternoon) much ahead of the declaration of the state of emergency suggests the Maoists leaders to “lay down their arms and pursue their goals peacefully within the democratic framework established by Nepal Constitution”‘. The European Union release “calls urgently upon the leadership and cadres of the CPN (M) to desist at once from all such acts of violence and intimidation, and to return to the search for a negotiated outcome”.

While the US statement impresses upon the Maoists to follow the path of the constitution, the EU release stresses the need to go in for yet another round of talks. However, both apparently possess the same meaning.

Be that as it may, the country has entered into a new phase. The national population will perhaps experience this kind of “political situation” first time. How the government uses the “Terrorist and Disruptive activities, prevention and control” act brought through the use of Royal Ordinance will have to be carefully watched. The promulgation of this new move that already has assumed the force of a law is considered to be very stringent measure indeed. Many political parties fear that this law could be used to harass the political enemies by the men now handling the nation’s affairs. The government says it would not use it for any other purposes other than to tame the Maoists threats.