Troubling signs

The more cynical interpretation would be that the protests had absolutely nothing to do with the needs and aspirations of the locals and were the outcome of local businessmen and politicians instigating people to serve their petty interests. The businessmen were afraid of loss in revenues by relocation of certain services. The Madhesh-based parties, still smarting from their humiliating outing in the second CA polls, were only too happy to fan the flames. So, at its heart, Gaur and Simara are a law and order problem and better policing is the only solution. Or, perhaps, most likely, both these factors are at play. The suspicion of the government in Kathmandu undoubtedly runs high in the Tarai belt. This is not helped by the brute force sometimes employed by police. Anecdotal evidence suggests that in Gaur police barged into the homes of those suspected of instigating violence and beat them up. If this is true, the offending police personnel must be punished.

But atrocities have been committed by the protestors as well. Some police personnel in Gaur are in critical condition after being beaten mercilessly by protestors. The National Human Rights Commission has expressed concern about grave rights violations from both the sides. Now there are reports of firing from across the border in India, undoubtedly to instigate Nepali law-enforcement officials to retaliate.

Nepali security personnel should not fall into the trap and should continue to exercise maximum restraint. Which brings us to why the government decided to relocate certain services right now. Frankly, it was a stupid decision, considering what happened in Simara only a month ago. Why do something knowing it could invite a bloody backlash? Let us for a moment assume they did it in good faith; it is indeed hard to fault the logic of bringing government services closer to people. But in these volatile times when the suspicion of politicians at the center runs high, the intent, however noble, behind any such top-heavy decisions are less important than their likely consequences. But what's done is done. It is extremely important that all channels of communication between the government and protestors be left open and the two sides sit down for talks at the earliest and hammer out their differences—before the Gaur incident snowballs into something ugly.

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