– By Dr. Alok K. Bohara

The curse of the Murphy’s Law does not seem to leave the shadow of King Gyanendra. In his New Year message to the nation on Friday, he chose not to act like a caring monarch, and instead went on a path to behave like a desperate ruler looking for a bargain. The royal duty of a monarch would have been to seize this opportunity to hear out the people, the international community, and friends and put an immediate end to this bloodshed and violence waging all across the country.

It is his loss in fact to deny himself of an opportunity to give back what he had taken from them in February of 2005. Like in a chess game, it looks like he has one move left, which will determine the future of monarchy in Nepal. Unfortunately, he chose not to use it, and instead called for a dialogue with the political parties, prolonging the street conflict, police brutalities, suffering, and polarization.

The political parties should call his bluff and enter into a dialogue with one unconditional demand – the House revival. The rest of the future political deliberations, including the interim government, negotiation with the Maoists, and the arrangement to produce a better constitution, should all be determined by the revived House. Nepali people have suffered enough, and avoiding conditions to prevent the country to spiral out of control should be the prime responsibility of the people’s representatives. Taking a high road by the political parties seems to be a better choice at this juncture.

The political parties should call his bluff and enter into a dialogue with one unconditional demand – the House revival. The rest of the future political deliberations, including the interim government, negotiation with the Maoists, and the arrangement to produce a better constitution, should all be determined by the revived House.
It is no secret that the February 1 move of King Gyanendra has been a total failure. The only question now is how he is going to salvage what’s left. The only move he can make is the House revival and save the country from a total collapse. This should have been the essence of his message while some of the institutions are still intact.

His inability to see the political steps and the growing pain of the Nepali people is going to cost us dearly. Under his leadership, Nepal has become more insecure, more unstable, more vulnerable, and more fractured. Even his staunch supporter like the US ambassador has given up any hope of seeing any logical judgment from King Gyanendra. The sad unfolding drama will have its conclusion, and all we can hope is to minimize unintended consequences.

The post February report card is as follows.

The country is internationally more isolated than ever. · The Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) has stopped receiving any military support. In the eyes of many observers, the RNA has now become the primary target of human rights violations. · The security forces have been forced into becoming agents of civilian brutality, and are likely to be a target of investigation if the brutality escalates further. India and the US have both withdrawn their support for the king and his regime. The political parties have been forced to make a pact with the Maoists. · The Maoists have entered the urban centers scoring victories at will. The demonstrating crowds are massive and widespread now than ever.

The Maoists could not have written a better script, and thanks to King Gyanendra, they are laughing all the way to the bank. They would have never imagined achieving all of these, especially without giving much in return.

The only lesson from this chapter is this: Nepali people will not tolerate any assault on democracy and freedom. This indeed is the triumph of democracy loving people of Nepal. The Maoists should also learn a lesson from this, and should abandon the path of violence and be a mainstream political force to chart the future of a new liberal democratic Nepal. Let’s hope to have a happy new year.

(Dr. Bohara is a professor of Economics at the University of New Mexico, USA. Please send your comments to [email protected] or [email protected])

(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])