Nepal’s political architecture has undergone a fundamental and irreversible change after Jan Andolan II. The collapse of the more than two century long Shah dynasty that had dominated Nepal’s political, economic and social structures, has been a major political shift in the country. A historical and unprecedented proclamation of the Constitutional Assembly (CA) remodeled Nepal into a federal, democratic, republican state. The tasks assigned to the government by the CA and the 12-point agreements are yet to be accomplished. To manage this historical change in a cohesive manner is absolutely crucial for re-designing and managing the socio-political system of the country.
Since the CA is in the process of drafting a new constitution, one widespread and legitimate concern has been the democratization and restructuring of the security forces. The political committee of the cabinet recently constituted a three member committee to study and recommend the democratization of the Nepal army to the government and review the National Security Policy.
There are three aspects of democratization of the security forces (including the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department). First, the behavioral part that consists of their, attitude, culture, tradition and manner of dealing. This aspect can be addressed through rigorous training and orientation. It would also help change the mindset of the personnel. In fact, changing the mindset of the nearly 185 thousand personnel force is a core aspect of the democratization of security forces.
The second major part of democratization is the restructuring of organizations, in tune with the proposed federal structure of the new constitution. What kind of structures would be appropriate to accommodate the needs of the federal states, while maintaining the delicate balance between the centre and state is a vital question to be addressed in the new constitution. To address this issue, a series of meetings and seminars in the government and non-government sectors have recently been conducted, but with weak and unsatisfactory recommendations. Protection of national integrity and sovereignty, balancing centre-state as well as inter-state linkages, maintaining the chain of command, public security and safety, mobilization mechanism of forces and formation of a separate Security Service Commission(SSC) are some of the fundamental questions to be taken care of.
In order to ensure free and fair recruitment in security organizations, an autonomous constitutional SSC is absolutely imperative. Such a constitutional body shall select, recruit, appoint and promote the personnel at the central as well as state levels, depending on the security force in question.
The third aspect of democratization of our security forces pertains to logistics and equipments. The security forces should be equipped with adequate modern equipments and logistics so that the country is prepared to deal with intelligence-based warfare, command and control warfare, economic info warfare and cyber warfare—major challenges in days to come.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had submitted a draft proposal on National Security Policy (NSP) to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Council of Ministers (OPMCM) for its approval a couple of years ago that is still being assessed. Without a separate NSP, no other ministry level policies can be implemented effectively because sectoral policies are often linked to the country’s overall national security policy.
In order to possess emergency preparedness, ensure the resilience of critical infrastructure, use intelligence services, detect and defeat threats and espionage, protect classified information ,use counter intelligence services and effectively protect the nation from internal and external threats, a national security policy encompassing all these aspects is a must. Now that the political committee of the cabinet is scrutinizing the NSP draft, one can hope to see some concrete decisions soon.
The 21st century is full of new challenges and difficulties that must be trounced by developing national capacity and competitiveness. Information war is going to escalate in coming days but a developing country like Nepal may not be in a position to tackle it with sophisticated and modern means of information because of its small economy. This aspect, which needs to be dealt with some urgency, should also be highlighted in the NSP.
Nepal understands that India and China have security concerns in our country. Both have, time and again, raised their concerns about anti-India and anti-Tibet activities. It is said that the official visit of the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, was put off in December 2011 because of security concerns, putting question marks on our weak security system and also immature diplomatic dealings.
Both these neighbors have in the past raised concerns about security issues, emphasizing the need for greater cooperation in combating terrorism, curbing arms, insurgency, smuggling of fake currency, trafficking of narcotics and cross border crimes. Thus, a strong and cohesive security framework is essential not just to maintain internal security but also to sustain healthy and secure relations with neighboring countries, while emerging as a regional force to reckon with.
Another uncomfortable and complicated scenario has now been created by a few international groups, camouflaging as NGOs that are creating disharmony between various communities. Several such incidents have been exposed in the past. This situation needs to be dealt with deftly by monitoring their activities to prevent further ethnic tensions.
The debate surrounding ethnic federalism is going to get even more complex. It has been reported that some central level leaders and parliamentarians are widely divided on this issue, even within their own parties. If the concerned parties fail to strike a consensus on time, it would be difficult to predict the future of federalism. At this juncture, the government should be prepared to cope with any possible fallout and tension after May 27. Unfortunately, there may be a possibility of the civil disturbances and riots once the deadline expires. Our security apparatus should be fully prepared to prudently deal with any adverse outcome in such a scenario.
The entire security related discourse today is, and rightly so, centred on the contents of the NSP and the provisions the government is likely to incorporate in it because it is a key national document in the current context that could define much of the country’s future. This is, indeed, the time to act and upgrade our security framework.
The writer is former home secretary
Kusum100@hotmail.com
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