Among the deceivers

April 17, 2006
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The day of reckoning is coming closer for Messrs Thapa, Thapa, Thapa, Thapa and Thapa

By CK Lal

For a former AIGP, Govind Prasad Thapa, PhD, is unusually erudite and surprisingly unassuming. Like most scholars, he refrains from making hasty comments and prefers to qualify even well argued remarks with ifs and buts. When a person of his stature decides to call the excessive use of force on peaceful protestors “shameful” there is reason to believe something is really wrong rotten.

AIGP Thapa says nothing about the person responsible for the excesses of the security forces, but history will hold King Gyanendra ultimately responsible for them. On the day of reckoning, which is getting closer by the day, Messrs Thapa, Thapa, Thapa, Thapa and Thapa (the Home Minister, the Law Minister, the Army Chief, the Chief of the Armed Police Force and the chief of Nepal Police) will all point their fingers at the chairman. The buck has to stop somewhere, that’s the way it works in all authoritarian systems: once the statue is toppled the most trusted lieutenants of the dictators turn out to be their loudest detractors.

The idea of a benevolent dictator has been discredited almost everywhere it has been tried. There is something in the notion of an all-powerful saviour that appeals to aristocrats and plebeian alike. Actually the moment a dictator tries to be benevolent, he risks losing his chair because a more ruthless despot emerges to oust him. That’s the way it has been from Roman times to Rana times. Almost every Rana prime minister lost his throne that way. Whenever a Sri Tin tried to introduce even cosmetic reforms, his brothers and nephews would pounce upon him. Autocrats need a permanent state of crisis to survive and thrive.

(From left) Home Minister Kamal Thapa, Chief of RNA Pyar Jung Thapa, Chief of Nepal Police Shyam Bhakta Thpa and chief of Armed Police Force Sahabir Thapa (File Photos)
(From left) Home Minister Kamal Thapa, Chief of RNA Pyar Jung Thapa, Chief of Nepal Police Shyam Bhakta Thpa and chief of Armed Police Force Sahabir Thapa (File Photos)
When King Gyanendra assumed all state powers in October 2002 in a carefully orchestrated putsch, the comfortable classes gave him full benefit of doubt. They hoped the king would eliminate the Maoists, discipline wayward politicos, mobilise moribund administrators, restore normalcy in the country, conduct elections and
hand over power to the representatives of the people.

We somehow assumed that the all-powerful ‘international community’ had enough clout to keep the ambitions of the monarch in check. But the king continued with his phased coup until 1 February 2005. All the donors and lenders could do once the deed was done was to issue by the pronouncements. Recent statements of US State Department and European Union are a continuation of the routine. Like fellow-Third World rulers, King Gyanendra has chosen to ignore these censures and his ministers are allowed to label it “foreign interference in our internal affairs”. Frankly, they have a point there.

Parliamentary parties have been paying too much attention to what minor functionaries of international agencies say about the situation in Nepal. The NC and the UML blundered by withholding anti-monarchy protests upon the requests of certain ambassadors who have since been refused customary audiences by the king. You have to hand it to our king, he knows how to deal with meddling dips. He once said: “They will say what they have to say, we must do what we have to do.” Maybe the parliamentary parties should adopt that approach to fend off international criticism of their 12-point pact with the Maoists.

Kathmandu’s comfy classes have been feeling claustrophobic in the curfews and are hoping the king will extend an olive branch towards political parties through his new year message. Even if there is a branch, olive or not, it will be too little, too late. Only unconditional unity between the forces of the people on the need for a constituent assembly can help rescue us.

Courtesy : Nepali Times

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