To find out why Nepal is stuck, we may need to psychoanalyse our political leadership

By Dr Shyam Chalise

As a psychiatrist it isn’t difficult to categorise the personality types of King Gyanendra, GP Koirala, MK Nepal, Dr Tulsi Giri, or for that matter Comrades Prachanda and Baburam. Doing so may actually help us psychoanalyse this nation and its leadership which in turn could provide us with clues about what is wrong with the country.

Some general features of personality disorders afflicting 10-15 percent of the general population seems to be much more prevalent among the country’s political leadership at present. Such people are inflexible, maladaptive and have only one way of responding to a given situation. It is reflected in all areas of life and is life-long, and the patients are born with the syndrome they don’t acquire it.

There are more than a dozen types of personality disorders. Narcissists have grandiose sense of self-importance and demand constant attention and they meet criticism with indifference and rage. Those with paranoid personalities are preoccupied with issues of trust and are reluctant to confide in others. They tend to dwell into hidden meanings of comments and events and carry grudges throughout life. Unstable is the word to describe borderline personality type as their behaviour and self-image are all unstable. They use splitting as a defense mechanism in which everything is evaluated as two extremes there is no room for anything intermediate.

People with personality disorders are like a clocks that no longer work: it still gives you the right time at least twice a day.

Interpersonal relationships form an important issue in people with personality disorders because of what we in the trade call ‘ego-syntonic’ effects. They think nothing is wrong with them, it is the others with the problem and thus they seek to change the world, not themselves.

These personality types exist in the general population but if they are clustered in the arena of politics they tend to distort society’s functioning. That is when the result is irrational, chaotic, undemocratic and indecisive as we see in Nepali politics.

The interpretation by the king and his cohorts that the Maoists are terrorists, and the futile claims by the rebels that a majority of the country is under their control are examples of narcissistic behaviour.

This ‘I am the best, only what I do is correct’ are attempts to receive universal acceptance and approval and characterises the personalities of the king, G P Koirala and several other personalities.

Joining the royal government with a view that regression has been corrected only to wake up the next morning to realise the truth and regret earlier moves exemplify people with borderline personality disorders. How can your principles be so unstable, swinging like a pendulum between the extremes of constitutional monarchy and complete republican state within days?

Lack of trust, failing to respect each other’s existence and looking for hidden motives and perspectives of every activity are ubiquitous features of a paranoid personality type and is probably the most prevalent disorder among Nepali political figures.

The royal regime dismissed the unilateral ceasefire called by the Maoists, saying it was a ploy to regroup. Then it attacked the rebel-party pact saying it was addressed at the parties and not themselves. Meanwhile, the parties are unwilling or are pretending to avoid reconciliation with the king suspecting he might use them to provide legitimacy to his rule. There is a lack of trust and extreme paranoia on the part of the regime which hides a deep-seated hunger for authoritarian rule.

To untangle ourselves from the political and social impasse the first step is to detect the above personality disorders prevalent in all political players to be followed by thorough psychiatric counselling.

(Dr Shyam Chalise is pursuing further studies in psychiatry. )

Courtesy : Nepali Times

(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected])

The dissident faction of Nepal Students’ Union (NSU) has threatened to form a parallel central committee if the existing committee continued working against the NSU principles and did not withdraw the action taken against seven students, who were alleged of vandalizing NSU central office on March 16.

Organising a press conference in the capital on Suday, Bikash Koirala, former central member said the number of students not satisfied with the present working committee are increasing every day.

“Whoever dared to go against the existing committee and criticised the party’s wrong doings have been thrown out citing various reasons, so we will be left with no alternative but to form a parallel NSU central committee to challenge the existing one if it continues to go beyond the NSU bylaws,” said Koirala.

Earlier, the NSU central committee had expelled seven students: Bikash Koirala, former central member, Ramesh Karki, former central member, Lila Baldev Dahal (Kaka) – NSU Saraswati Campus unit president, Ramesh Upreti, NSU Saraswati Campus former president, Subodh Acharya, former vice president of Tri-Chandra Campus Free Students’ Union, Shivaraj Fago, NSU Patan Multiple Campus secretary, Anil Khanal and former member of NSU Kathmandu district, from the union.

The Om Namo Buddha Tapaswi Sewa Samiti (ONBTSS) has claimed that Ram Bahadur Bomjan, described as “Buddha Boy”, who had gone missing on March 11 from under a peepal tree at Ratanpuri on the banks of the Bakaiya river in Charkose Jhadi in Bara district briefly appeared in a forest, talked to committee members and disappeared again promising to return after six years.

Bomjan was found in a forest at Gopeni, three kilometres southwest from Ratanpuri on Suday.

Chairman of ONBTSS Bed Bahadur Lama said the Buddha Boy was seen walking with seven members of the committee in the forest at Gopeni.

According to Lama, Bomjon vanished after reappearing for half an hour. “He said he would reappear after six years. He has asked monks to perform prayers in the meditation spot,” Lama claimed.

According to reports, the committee members also screened a video which they claimed they had filmed during Bomjan’s brief reappearance.

The National Human Rights Commission has expressed dissatisfaction over a provision in the government’s recent Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy 2062, that allows the Maoists to surrender at NHRC premises.

The commission on Sunday forwarded a letter expressing its concern on the matter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Council of Ministers.

NHRC, in a letter to the government, said that facilitating Maoists who want to surrender, as mentioned in the policy endorsed recently by the government, does not fall within its jurisdiction, a press statement issued by the NHRC on Sunday said.

“The government’s decision of allowing the rebels to surrender and lay down their arms in our premises, as per the recently announced policy is not acceptable to us,” report quoted NHRC chairman Nain Bahadur Khatri as saying.

The policy’s seventh point has listed the NHRC as one of the places for the rebels to surrender.

According to the policy made public by Home Minister Kamal Thapa last week, Maoists can surrender before regional/zonal/district administration offices, RNA bases/barracks, security bases of Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, temporary operation bases, mobile service of the government, Home/Defense Ministry and the NHRC.

The government, however, is yet to respond to the NHRC objection.

Life is returning to normalcy from Monday after Maoists withdrew the blockade they had announced in the capital and district headquarters since the last six days.

Vehicles started plying on long routes from early morning. Most transportation remained obstructed from Tuesday following the blockade announced by the Maoists.

However vehicles are facing problems in some places due to the barricade placed by the Maoists.

Issuing a joint statement on Sunday, CPN (Maoist) chairman Prachanda and senior Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattrai said the party has called off the blockade and all other protest programmes with effect from March 20 (Monday).

Meanwhile a report from eastern town of Rajbiraj said several eye patients from Biratnagar who were taken to Lahan for treatment had a narrow escape, Sunday, when Maoist rebels fired several shots at the bus they were traveling in at Kharchuia section of Mahendra Highway.

Though the vehicle was damaged, no one in the vehicle was hurt.

His Majesty King Gyanendra will be invited as a special guest to the concluding ceremony marking the Golden Jubilee anniversary of the establishment of the Supreme Court on May 22.

The celebration will run through May 20 for three days.

Reports quoted members of the celebration committee as saying that they have unanimously decided to invite the king during the conclusion session, but would alter the schedule if the king were willing to address the inaugural ceremony or other sessions.

The committee is waiting for a response from the Palace about the presence of the king in this historic ceremony.

However, the court decided not to invite the Chief Justices of SAARC because of the lack of budget.

The ministry of finance had recently agreed to release the sum of Rs 8 million, part of the desired amount, for the ceremony. Earlier the ministry had rejected the Court’s demand to allocate the money citing financial crunch.

There have been clashes between the security personnel and Maoist rebels at Dapcha area of Kavre district to the east of Kathmandu Monday morning.

According to the Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) of the Royal Nepalese Army, clashes took place as a team of security personnel had gone to ‘Panui Muhan’ area of Dapcha this morning to resume water supply allegedly blocked by the rebels.

“Clashes have stopped by now and body of a Maoist has been recovered so far,” a senior official at the DPR told Nepalnews. He said extensive search is underway in the region.

This is the first reported clash between the security personnel and rebels after the latter called off their six-day-long blockade with effect from Monday.

Meanwhile, sources quoted rebels as saying that they have lost three of their comrades during the clashes. They have also claimed that there has been casualty on the part of the security forces.

Two civilians were killed when an explosive placed by the Maoist insurgents to enforce their blockade exploded along the Biratnagar-Rangeli road Monday morning.

According to reports, rickshaw puller Domi Sardar and another civilian Tarachan Shah—who was riding on a bicycle—died on the spot when an improvised explosive placed by the rebels exploded near Loandra river in the eastern district of Morang at around 9 a. m.

Police said Shah’s body has been taken to the Koshi zonal hospital for postmortem while the badly damaged body of Sardar remained unattended.

Sardar and Shah are the first civilian casualties after the Maoist rebels called off their six-day-long blockade beginning Monday.

In a statement issued Sunday, Maoist chairman Prachanda thanked masses for what he called “grand success of the blockade.”

Dozens of hapless civilians have been killed or have turned disabled due to explosion of improvised explosives placed by the insurgents to enforce their frequent ‘bandhs’, `chakka jams’ and ‘blockades.’

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba left Kathmandu for the United States of America on Monday to attend a seminar on Nepal, among others.

Talking to reporters prior to his departure, Deuba said he would meet senior US officials and Congressmen during his visit and thank them – on behalf of the seven party opposition alliance (SPA)– for their continued support to the pro-democracy movement in Nepal.

Deuba is also the president of Nepali Congress (Democratic)—one of the constituents of the SPA.

Deuba will deliver keynote address at a seminar being organized by the Columbia University on Nepal crisis and would also interact with Nepali diaspora, NC (D) sources said.

Deuba is being accompanied by his wife, Dr. Arjoo Rana Deuba, during the visit.

This is the first foreign visit by Deuba after he was released from nine-month-long detention as per the Supreme Court verdict last month.

The apex court ordered dissolution of the controversial Royal Commission on Corruption Control (RCCC) and declared all its decisions null and void terming its formation as ‘unconstitutional.’

Described as the ‘kangaroo court,’ the RCCC had declared Deuba, his colleague Prakash Man Singh, among others, guilty of corruption while awarding contract for the construction of access road to the multi-million dollar Melamchi Water Supply Project.

Both of them dismissed any wrongdoing in the contract and alleged the RCCC of being politically motivated.

Deuba was sacked twice by HM King Gyanendra for the first time in October 2002 and again in February 2005 before taking direct control of the government.

The Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, Ian Martin (File photo)
The Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, Ian Martin, has urged the government to immediately release all the political detainees who have been detained illegally and restore the right to liberty and freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

Martin made this appeal after his meeting with the ten persons including leaders of political parties, human rights activists and representatives of civil society detained in Kathmandu under the PSA for the past two months on Saturday.

A press statement issued by the OHCHR on Monday quoted Martin as saying, “I am dismayed that these arbitrary detentions are going into a third month, and appeal again to His Majesty’s Government to restore the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly to these individuals.”

“Following my visits to Brussels, Geneva and New York, I was able to inform the detainees of the deep and widespread concern of the international community regarding the renewed resort to arbitrary political imprisonment in Nepal,” he added.

Martin described such detentions as violation of Nepal’s own law and Constitution, as well as of Nepal’s binding international human rights obligations, adding, “Whenever the legality of such detentions has been challenged in a Nepalese court, it has found them to be without justification and therefore unlawful.”

Martin on Saturday met with General Secretary of CPN UML Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nara Hari Acharya and Ram Chandra Poudel of Nepali Congress (NC), Gopal Man Shrestha of NC (Democratic), Prem Suwal of Nepal Workers and Peasant’s Party, Hridayesh Tripathi of Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandi-devi), rights activist Krishna Pahadi, Devendra Raj Panday and Dr Mathura Shrestha of the civil society and journalist Shyam Shrestha.

Prem Suwal was released on Sunday following a Supreme Court order terming his detention as illegal.

They were arrested on January 19, one day before the planned mass meeting of seven party alliance.