Although it was hurriedly convened, it looked all right, all natural. It was all rustic--minus the accident-prone ‘Lokmarga’ that connects Kathmandu with Kodari at the Chinese border. Filled with human poverty and post-conflict miseries probably at their worst, the Sindhu-Kavre border setting was definitely a bit far from the maddening crowd, too.
RAFTING MAOISTS
So, it all looked quiet and peaceful. It was definitely a break from mundane Paris-Dada or Naya-Bazaar Maoist meetings that usually yield “nothing but more confusion”. Minus the eye-pleasing footages across the media, the Sukute Maoist meeting, too, did not yield anything substantive and promising as far as the constitution- and peace-building are concerned: Two pressing issues staring present-day Nepal.
The Maoist escape to Sukute definitely was a confidence-building move. But the three-sided ideological split within the Maoist party didn’t quite end there. Even then, a new sight surely did come out: Even as their party and the country faced uncertainties, Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and most members of the standing committee sported orange-color life-jackets, safety helmets, held paddles and rafted down the Balefi-Sukute stretch of the Sunkosi River, about 80 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu.
“Paddle forward.”
“Comrade-haru agadi.”
As May 28 deadline draws nearer again, few are optimistic that the parties, with a dubious track record of never finishing missions on time, can complete the unfinished business. Still, the masses and the Civil Society—if that still exists--can nudge the parties to at least ready ´New Nepal´s New Constitution´.
“Hold on. Left forward; Right back.”
“Comrade-haru danya agadi; banya pachhadi.”
As the organizer, Mahendra Thapa, seated at the raft´s tail-end beamed, Dahal, Baburam Bhattarai, Agni Sapkota and others paddled the crystal waters. As the team paddled down, the Himalayan currents rocked the raft, often striking it against white-water rapids. In cruising the white-water rapids, the top brass, demonstrated a rare team spirit. But the onlookers want to know: Will the Maoist leaders remain as spirited and united?
QUESTION-MARKS
What guarantee is there that the Maoist’s intra-party conflict w ill not affect the country’s political process? Most fundamentally, will the Maoist plus the non-Maoist leaders work together, or paddle together, to cruise the current process to its logical end within two months? Are the big parties’ big leaders serious at all?
Judging from the internal-squabble and rifts dogging the country’s major parties – chiefly, the CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, Madhesi Forum/s in addition to the Maoist party – the parties do not even stand united, let alone serious.
Add to it the inter-party dynamics: NC has been vehemently opposing the very basis of Maoist-CPN-UML amity; the Nepal-Oli faction does not want CPN-UML to be carried away by "pro-Dahal" Jhalanath Khanal faction; former Panchas´ parties, too, want the ruling parties to change their modus operandi; a few Madhesi parties, fresh from Delhi, want all the ‘pahadi’ parties to ‘change’; meanwhile, the underground outfits have unleashed a new wave of ‘terror’ by planting explosives on public buses and places.
As international pressure mounts on the Jhalanath Khanal government, internal problems do not seem to be lessening; in fact they seem to be multiplying. But sweet-talking aside is Khanal serious? Are his comrades-in-arms, meaning Dahal and company, serious? Will the weekend excursion have any positive impact on them? The white-water cruise did give an adrenaline rush of a different kind to the ex-rebel top brass.
Word is: The spectacular sights of the basin should have given them rare insights, too. And the outing should have reminded them all their key responsibility, or their mandate: of ending intra-party divisions; of making peace and consensus with the other parties—both big and small—in the process of constitution-making; of realistically and rationally integrating and rehabilitating the 19,000 ex-combatants; of declaring the whereabouts of the thousands disappeared during 1996-2006; and eventually taking the five-year-old peace process to its logical finish.
´NATURALLY NEPAL´
Their images so strong and memories often life-long, the sights of ´Naturally Nepal´ definitely are delightful to the eyes and souls. But for Nepal, these are precious moments in history. And this should be the turning point. With less than two months to go for the big deadline—May 28, 2011—it’s not just the Maoists, who engineered the worst conflict in Nepal’s history, that need to act and behave responsibly.
All their compatriots of the 2005 seven-point-agreement signed in the Indian capital, Delhi, need to act now. It’s time the ex-SPAM got a new lease of life. It’s time the former Seven Parties’ Alliance and the Maoists got together to finish the unfinished business. It´s time the parties and their key leaders sat together and found amicable solutions to all the differences relating to: a) constitution-making and; b) integrating the ex-combatants into the security organs or back into the society.
As the big deadline draws closer, few are optimistic that the parties, with a dubious track record of never finishing missions on time, can finish the unfinished business. Still, the masses and the Civil Society of Jana-Andolan II – if that still exists today – can, and must, nudge the parties and hold them accountable for their repeated failures. On May 28, 2011, the parties will likely find an excuse or two; and they will likely get away with it.
Against such backdrop, new constitution will continue to remain a Nepali pipe-dream. But what about peace? It´s easy to pray for, and much easier to pronounce, but peace is something that’s eluding much of humanity today. Lord Buddha was born here for sure, 2,500 years ago, but there are no reliable signs yet of everlasting peace in Nepal.
BOTTOMLINE
Missions complete or incomplete, Nepal offers plenty of adventure opportunities. Days before the Maoist top brass´ Sunkosi plunge, CPN-UML veterans Madhab Kumar Nepal and K.P. Oli, too, got splashed as they rafted down the calm waters of the Trishuli, west of the Valley. Coming weekend, some senior leaders are expected to open International Canyoning Rendezvous in the Marshyangdi valley. Two spectacular venues—Syange and Ghurmi waterfalls—are expected attract hundreds of inter/national canyoning-lovers, showcasing more of Nepal´s top-class adventure destinations.
The lesson to be learned from the Himalayan rivers will remain the same: Even while rafting downstream you have to be extremely cautious about impending rapids and rocks; and daring to raft upstream or against the flow will not just be impossible, it will get you nowhere.
Writer is a Correspondent with the BBC Nepali Service
nepal.surendra@gmail.com
Related story
Into the heart of once forbidden realm
